Check any Gurugram project on HARERA in ten minutes

Before you pay anything for a new home in Gurugram, check that the project is registered with the real estate regulator, and that its registration is still valid. It takes about ten minutes. You don't need to sign in, and it costs nothing.

Why registration matters

Under section 3(1) of the RERA Act, a promoter may not advertise, market, book, sell or offer for sale any plot, apartment or building in a real estate project without first registering the project with the authority.^[1]

Section 3(2) leaves out three kinds of project:^[1]

• land of not more than 500 square metres, or not more than eight apartments, counting all phases;
• a project that received its completion certificate before the Act came into force;
• renovation, repair or redevelopment that involves no marketing, advertising, selling or new allotment.

So a new project being advertised to you should have a registration number, unless it fits one of these. Each phase of a project counts as a project of its own, and needs its own registration.^[1]

Step 1:Open the right authority's list

Haryana has two real estate regulatory authorities: one for Gurugram district, and one, in Panchkula, for the rest of the state.^[2] HARERA Gurugram's area is the whole of Gurugram district.^[3]

1. Go to haryanarera.gov.in and choose HRERA Gurugram.
2. Open Registered Projects. There is no login and no captcha.^[4]
3. The list is long: it had 1,082 rows when we read it.^[4] Use your browser's find (Ctrl+F on a computer, “Find in page” on a phone) to search for the project's name as advertised, or its registration number.

There is also a Search Project form, but it asks for the project number and a captcha.^[5] The full list is quicker.

Step 2:Read four columns

Each row of the list is one registered project. These four columns tell you the most.

The validity date

A registration is valid for the period the promoter declared, when it applied, for completing the project.^[1] On the day we read the list, 562 of its 1,082 rows showed a date that had already passed.^[4] That isn't always a problem: the project may be complete. If it is still being built, ask whether the registration was extended, and ask to see the order.

Section 6 lets the authority extend a registration on the promoter's application, and caps the extensions it may grant in reasonable circumstances at one year in all.^[1] In Haryana the promoter applies in Form REP-V, three months before the registration expires.^[10][12]

Two more links in the row

• Details of Project (Form A-H) opens the promoter's application: the land, the DTCP licence numbers and the approvals. You'll need the licence numbers for our licence guide. The page also shows directors' personal contact details; please don't copy or share them.
• Monitoring Orders shows “View Monitoring Cases” where the authority has opened one. Read what it says.

Step 3:Check the other lists

Three more lists sit in the same menu. None needs a login.

• Lapsed Projects: projects whose registration has lapsed.^[6]
• Defaulter, Cancelled, Suspended and Abeyance Projects, each with a link to the order.^[7]
• Ruling and Judgements: the authority's orders on complaints, with the complainant, the respondent and the date of decision.^[8] The page is very large, so open it on a computer and search for the promoter's name exactly as it appears in the registration.

An order on one buyer's complaint is not a verdict on the whole project. It does tell you what other buyers have raised, and what the authority decided.

Step 4:Check the ad

Section 11(2) of the Act says a promoter's advertisement or prospectus must prominently mention the authority's website and the project's registration number.^[1]

HARERA Gurugram's directions of February 2021 go further. The registration number and the website must be in bold letters at the top right of the ad, and radio, TV and video ads must say an abridged registration number clearly, with the website.^[9] The promoter is liable for its ads, and can't shift that onto an advertising agency.^[9]

If an ad, brochure or social media post about a project doesn't show its number this way, ask why.

Before you pay anything

• The 10% limit. A promoter may not take more than ten per cent of the cost of an apartment, plot or building before signing a written agreement for sale with you and registering it.^[1]
• The agent. A real estate agent must be registered to help with the sale of a home in a registered project, and must quote the registration number in every sale.^[1] You can check any agent on HARERA Gurugram's Registered Agents list.^[11]

What this check doesn't tell you

A registration puts a project on record with the regulator. It isn't a rating. It doesn't tell you that the land title is clear, that the project will finish on time, or that the price is fair. Read the progress reports and the licence, and ask a lawyer before you pay anything.