Buying a home is one of the biggest financial and emotional decisions you will ever make. It relies heavily on trust in the developer, trust in the legal paperwork, and trust in the timelines you are promised. For decades, Indian home buyers had very little legal protection if a builder delayed possession, changed floor plans without notice, or simply disappeared with buyer funds.
That changed in 2016 when the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act came into force. Since then, every state in India has set up its own RERA authority and a dedicated online portal. For buyers in Maharashtra, including Navi Mumbai, this portal is MahaRERA, and it is one of the most powerful tools available to you as a buyer. This guide will teach you exactly how to use it, what to look for, and what each section means.
RERA stands for the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016. It is a central legislation passed by the Parliament of India that applies to the residential real estate sector across the country. Each state implements it through its own regulatory authority and online portal.
Before RERA, the Indian real estate market had very few checks and balances. Developers could sell units on the basis of floor plans that were not yet approved by local authorities. They could collect full or partial payments and divert funds to other projects. There was no mandatory disclosure of project progress, and buyers who faced delays had little legal recourse other than long-drawn civil court proceedings.
RERA was introduced to solve these specific problems. The key objectives of the act are
In short, RERA shifted the balance of power from developers to buyers and created a structured, transparent ecosystem in Indian real estate.
MahaRERA is the Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority. It is the state body responsible for implementing RERA in Maharashtra, including Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Pune, Nashik, and all other cities in the state.
The MahaRERA portal is hosted at maharera.mahaonline.gov.in. It is a free, publicly accessible database where you can find detailed information about every registered real estate project in Maharashtra. You do not need an account or login to search and view project details.
MahaRERA was one of the first state RERA authorities to go live in India and is considered among the most well-developed portals in the country. As of 2025, it has over one lakh registered projects and has resolved thousands of buyer complaints.
Under MahaRERA, the following types of real estate projects must be registered before they can be sold or advertised:
If a project does not fall within these thresholds, it is generally exempt from registration. However, many buyers consider RERA registration as a basic quality and compliance filter when shortlisting properties.
Open your browser and go to maharera.mahaonline.gov.in. The homepage shows you a dashboard with statistics on registered projects, promoters, agents, and complaints. At the top, you will see a navigation bar with options including Home, Registration, Search, Complaint, and more.
For buyers, the most useful section is the Search menu. Click on it to see a dropdown with options such as Registered Projects, Registered Promoters, Registered Agents, Lapsed Projects, and Revoked Projects.
Click on Registered Projects from the Search dropdown. You will be taken to a search form where you can filter projects by:
You can use any combination of these filters. If you are searching for a specific project, entering the developer name and district is usually enough to narrow down the results. The system will display a list of matching projects with their registration numbers and status.
Click on any project from the search results to open its full details page. This is the most important page on the portal for any buyer. Here is what you will find on this page and what each section means:
Project Overview
This section shows you the project's official RERA registration number, the date of registration, and the date of expiry of registration. A valid and active registration means the developer is currently authorized to sell units in this project. If the registration has expired and not been renewed, the developer cannot legally sell units.
Promoter Details
This section shows the developer's legal name, registered address, and contact details as submitted to MahaRERA. It also shows their history of projects registered under the same name.
Project Details
Here you will find the total number of apartments or units proposed in the project, the number of units for which agreements have been registered, and the number of units that are available. This gives you a real-time sense of how much of the project has been sold and how much inventory remains.
Proposed Date of Completion
This is the date by which the developer has legally committed to completing the project and obtaining an occupancy certificate. If this date is revised, the developer must submit an updated timeline to MahaRERA with justification. Repeated revisions without valid reasons are a red flag.
Financial Details
This section shows details of the project's escrow account. Under RERA, 70 percent of all collections from buyers must be deposited here and can only be withdrawn for construction-related expenses with certification from an engineer, architect, or chartered accountant. This is one of the most important consumer protections in the Act.
Click on the Documents tab on the project page. Here you can download the following:
Download and read these documents carefully. If you are not comfortable reviewing legal or technical documents yourself, take them to a property lawyer for a quick review.
From the Search menu, click on Registered Promoters and search for the developer's name. This page shows you all the projects registered by this developer across Maharashtra, both past and ongoing.
Look at the following:
A developer with a long history of timely completions and minimal complaints is a much safer choice than one with multiple lapsed or delayed projects.
If you are buying through a broker or real estate agent, you can verify whether they are registered with MahaRERA by searching under Registered Agents. Under RERA, any agent facilitating the sale of a registered project must hold a valid RERA registration. An unregistered agent is operating outside the law, which is a concern worth noting.
You can search by the agent's name or RERA registration number. The page will show their contact details, the date of registration, and any complaints filed against them.
From the Search menu, you can also look up the complaints history for any project or developer. This section shows you how many complaints have been filed, how many are pending, and how many have been resolved.
A small number of resolved complaints is not necessarily a problem; it can simply mean that the developer and buyers were able to work things out through the official channel. However, a large number of unresolved or pending complaints against a developer is a significant warning sign.
If you have already purchased a unit in a RERA-registered project and are facing issues such as delayed possession, deviations from the approved plan, non-refund of the booking amount, or failure to provide promised amenities, you can file a formal complaint on the MahaRERA portal.
Here is how:
Once filed, RERA adjudicating officers are mandated to hear both parties and pass an order within 60 days. If the developer is found guilty, the order can include refund of money, payment of interest for the period of delay, and even compensation for mental agony in some cases.
Occupancy Certificate (OC): Issued by the local municipal authority after inspecting the completed building. It confirms that the building has been constructed as per the approved plans and is safe for occupation. You should never move into a property that does not have an OC.
Completion Certificate (CC): Issued when the construction of the building is complete. This is different from an OC, which also certifies that the building is fit for occupation.
Commencement Certificate: Grants the developer permission to begin construction. Without this, construction on the site is technically illegal.
Form 1: The standard declaration form filed by the developer at registration, containing all project details.
Form 2: The architect's certificate confirming the project details and compliance with approved plans.
Quarterly Progress Report (QPR): A mandatory report submitted every three months by the developer, detailing construction progress, funds received, and funds utilised.
Lapsed Project: A project whose RERA registration has expired and has not been renewed. Sales and marketing of a lapsed project are not permitted. If you find that a project you are interested in is listed under Lapsed Projects, ask the developer for an explanation before proceeding.
Revoked Project: A project whose registration has been cancelled by MahaRERA as a consequence of non-compliance. This is a serious status and should be treated as a strong warning.
When you buy from a developer whose project is RERA-registered, verified, and actively maintained on the portal, you are not just buying an apartment. You are buying into a legally protected transaction. You know the approvals are in place, the funds are protected in an escrow account, the timelines are on record, and you have a fast legal remedy if anything goes wrong.
This is fundamentally different from buying in an unregistered or non-compliant project, where your only recourse is a slow and expensive civil court process.
At Moraj Group, we have been building homes in Navi Mumbai since 1985. All our ongoing and upcoming projects are registered with MahaRERA. We encourage every prospective buyer to visit the portal, search for our projects by name, and review our documents, timelines, and compliance status independently.
Transparency is not just a legal obligation for us. It is a reflection of the trust that thousands of families have placed in us over four decades. Whether you are a first-time buyer or an experienced investor, we believe you deserve complete clarity before you make your decision.
You can search for our projects on MahaRERA by visiting maharera.mahaonline.gov.in and typing "Moraj" in the project or promoter search.
Before finalising any property purchase in Maharashtra, use this checklist:
Visit our ongoing projects at morajgroup.com/ongoingprojects.php