RERA compliance for agents and property managers
RERA registration for agents is state-by-state, mandatory for dealing in registered projects, and enforced with penalties calculated per day. This is what it requires and where property managers sit.
Under the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act 2016, real estate agents must register with the RERA authority of each state in which they operate before facilitating the sale or purchase of units in registered projects. Registration is state-specific, must be renewed, and non-compliance attracts penalties accruing daily.
RERA basics every agent must know
The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act 2016 established a regulatory framework for the sector, with a Real Estate Regulatory Authority in each state. It requires registration of projects above prescribed thresholds and, separately, registration of the agents who facilitate transactions in those projects.
The agent registration requirement is the part most often overlooked. Section 9 of the Act requires a real estate agent to be registered before facilitating the sale or purchase of any plot, apartment or building in a registered project, and Section 10 sets out the functions and obligations that follow. An unregistered agent facilitating such a transaction is in contravention regardless of how long they have been in the business.
The single most important structural point is that RERA is implemented at state level. Each state has made its own rules, set its own fees and validity periods, and runs its own portal. Registration with one state’s authority does not permit operating in another, and an agent working across a metropolitan region that spans a state boundary needs registration in each.
- Agent registration is separate from project registration. And is required before facilitating a transaction.
- It is state-by-state. Rules, fees and validity all differ; registration does not travel.
- It applies to registered projects. Which is the bulk of primary market activity above the thresholds.
Agent registration: process and validity
Registration is applied for through the state RERA authority’s portal. The application typically requires the applicant’s details — individual, partnership or company — PAN, address proof, photographs, particulars of the business including any brand name, details of registration in other states, income tax returns for preceding years in several states, and the prescribed fee, which differs substantially between states and between individual and corporate applicants.
Validity periods differ too. Several states issue registration for five years, others for shorter periods, and renewal must be applied for before expiry rather than after — an expired registration means an agent is unregistered, with the same consequences as never having registered. Some states additionally require completion of a training or certification programme, either at registration or at renewal.
Because the requirements genuinely differ, check your own state authority’s current rules rather than a general summary. The states an agent operates in, not the state they are based in, determine what registrations they need.
- Apply through the state authority’s portal. Fees and documents differ by state.
- Validity is commonly five years, but varies. Renew before expiry, not after.
- Some states require training or certification. At registration or at renewal.
- Register in every state you operate in. Not only where you are based.
Dos and don’ts under RERA
Most agent enforcement action follows from two things: operating unregistered, and making representations the project’s filings do not support.
| Do | Do not |
|---|---|
| Quote your registration number in every advertisement, listing and document | Facilitate a transaction in a registered project without being registered |
| Deal only in projects that are RERA-registered where registration is required | Market a project before its RERA registration is obtained |
| Give the buyer access to the project’s RERA-published information | Make representations about a project that its RERA filings do not support |
| Maintain books, accounts and records of transactions facilitated | Rely on a developer’s brochure for carpet area or completion dates |
| Facilitate the buyer’s inspection of documents the Act entitles them to see | Take payments in a manner inconsistent with the Act’s requirements |
| Renew before expiry and register in each state you operate in | Assume registration in one state covers operations in another |
Penalties for non-compliance
The Act provides for penalties on agents that accrue daily. Contravention of the registration requirement under Section 9 attracts a penalty of ten thousand rupees for every day the default continues, which may extend cumulatively to five per cent of the cost of the plot, apartment or building for which the sale or purchase was facilitated. For contravention of orders of the Authority, and of the Appellate Tribunal, the Act provides further penalties, including in the latter case the possibility of imprisonment.
The daily accrual is what makes this serious. An agent who operated unregistered for a period does not face a single fine but an amount computed across the days of default, and the ceiling is a percentage of transaction value rather than a fixed cap.
Registration can also be revoked for contravention, for unfair trade practices, or for breach of the conditions of registration. Revocation is more damaging commercially than any fine, because an agent whose registration has been revoked cannot lawfully operate at all and the revocation is a matter of public record on the authority’s portal.
- ₹10,000 per day of default under Section 9. Extending up to five per cent of the transaction cost.
- Further penalties for contravening orders. Including imprisonment in the case of Tribunal orders.
- Registration can be revoked. Which is commercially worse than a penalty.
What RERA means for property managers
Property management as such — running buildings, collecting maintenance, coordinating repairs, managing tenancies for owners — is not itself the activity RERA’s agent registration provisions target. Those provisions are directed at facilitating the sale or purchase of units in registered projects.
The boundary matters because many property managers do both. A firm that manages a portfolio and also assists owners in selling units, or that markets units in a registered project on a developer’s behalf, is carrying on agent activity for that part of its business and needs registration for it. The safe reading is that the activity determines the requirement, not the description on the letterhead.
Rental-only activity is a genuinely grey area and states have taken different views. Where a manager’s work is confined to letting and management and does not touch sale or purchase in registered projects, the registration requirement may not apply — but this is exactly the kind of question to put to your state authority or to a lawyer rather than to resolve by reading a general guide, including this one.
- Management alone is not the targeted activity. The provisions address facilitating sale and purchase.
- Mixed practices need registration for the agent part. Activity determines the requirement.
- Rental-only is unsettled and state-dependent. Ask your authority; do not assume.