A couple in Hyderabad had all but decided on a two bedroom flat near the Financial District. The brochure was glossy, the sample flat was ready, and the sales team promised registration paperwork would follow after booking. On a friend's advice they typed the project name into the official regulator's website first. It was not there. The promoter had been collecting bookings for a tower that had never been registered, and the couple walked away from an advance they would have struggled to recover. Nothing about the marketing had looked wrong. The only thing that separated a safe decision from a costly one was a search that took a few minutes and cost nothing.

The short answer. Before you pay any booking amount in Hyderabad, verify the project on the official Telangana RERA portal at rera.telangana.gov.in, where the Search Registered Projects and Agents tool is public, free and needs no login. Any residential project on land above 500 square metres or with more than eight apartments must be registered before it is advertised, marketed, booked or sold, and the promoter must keep 70 percent of the money buyers pay in a separate project account. The trade off is small but real. The check takes minutes and occasionally means walking away from a flat you liked, but it is the difference between money the law protects and money it does not.

How do I check if a Hyderabad project is registered with RERA?

You check it yourself on the official Telangana RERA portal, and you do not need an account to do it. Open the Telangana RERA portal and go to the Search Registered Projects and Agents section, where you can look a project up by its name, the promoter or developer name, the district or the registration number. The portal is a public facility, so no login, no fee and no request to the builder is involved, which is exactly why it is worth doing before you speak to anyone about price. When the project appears, the record shows its registration status, the promoter details, the approved plan and the declared completion timeline, and the Citizen Corner carries the quarterly progress updates a promoter is required to file. If a salesperson quotes a registration number to you, type that number in yourself rather than trusting the printed brochure, because a number that returns no match, or a match for a different project, is the first sign that something does not line up.

Which projects must register, and which are outside RERA?

A project must register once it crosses a size threshold, and smaller works sit outside the system. Under the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, a promoter has to register a project where the land proposed for development is more than 500 square metres or where more than eight apartments are proposed, counting all phases together, and registration has to happen before any advertising, marketing, booking or sale. Each phase of a larger development is treated as a separate project with its own registration, so a tower launched in a later phase needs its own entry even if the earlier phase is already registered. A handful of situations fall outside the requirement, and the table below sets out what a Hyderabad buyer can rely on for a registered project against what disappears when a project is not registered at all.

A project that has already received its completion certificate, or work that is only repair or redevelopment with no fresh marketing or allotment, does not fall under the registration duty. For a new flat you are being asked to book today, though, none of those exceptions apply, so an absence from the portal is a warning rather than a technicality.

What does the RERA registration number actually tell me?

The number is the key that links the flat you are buying to a verified public record, so it is only as useful as the record it opens. When you enter a valid registration number, you should see the same promoter, the same project name and the same location that appear on your paperwork, along with the sanctioned plan, the land details and the declared date of completion. Read these against the brochure and the draft agreement rather than glancing at them, because the value of the number lies in the details matching. Look in particular at the promoter name, since the entity that registered the project should be the entity you are paying, and at the completion timeline, since that declared date is what a delay is later measured against. A registration number that opens a record for a different developer, a different survey number or a project in another locality is not a clerical quirk to wave away. It is a mismatch to resolve in writing before any money changes hands.

Do agents and advertisements need RERA too?

Yes, the same law that registers projects also registers the people who sell them and governs how they are advertised. A real estate agent who markets or brokers the sale of flats in a registered project is required to be registered with the Authority, and the same Search Registered Projects and Agents tool lets you confirm that the agent handling your deal actually holds a registration. Advertisements and prospectus material for a registered project are also expected to carry the registration number so that a buyer can look the project up directly from the marketing itself. This matters because much of the early pressure in a purchase comes through a broker or a hoarding rather than the developer's own office, and a broker who cannot produce a registration, or who discourages you from checking the portal, is telling you something without meaning to. Verifying the agent costs nothing and takes the same few minutes as verifying the project.

Why does registration protect my money, not just my information?

Registration protects your money because the law ties the promoter's use of your payments to actual construction. Under the Act a promoter must deposit 70 percent of the amounts collected from buyers of a project into a separate account maintained for that project, and that money can be used only for the land and construction costs of the same project. Withdrawals from the account are allowed in proportion to how much of the project is complete, and they have to be certified by an engineer, an architect and a chartered accountant before the money is released. The practical effect is that funds you pay cannot lawfully be diverted to a different project or drawn ahead of the work, which is the failure that stranded buyers in so many pre RERA launches. A promoter who never registered has none of these obligations, so an advance paid into an unregistered project sits outside the protection the Act was written to give. That is the real reason the portal check is not a formality but a decision about which rules govern your money.

What should I verify before I pay a booking amount?

Run through these steps before any advance leaves your account.

1. Search the project by name on the official Telangana RERA portal and confirm it appears.
2. Enter the registration number the seller gives you and check the record matches the brochure.
3. Confirm the promoter named in the RERA record is the entity you are being asked to pay.
4. Read the sanctioned plan, land details and declared completion date on the record.
5. Verify that the agent or broker handling the sale is registered with the Authority.
6. Open the Citizen Corner and check the latest quarterly progress the promoter has filed.
7. Get any mismatch between the portal and your paperwork resolved in writing before booking.

How does the RERA check fit my other Hyderabad buying steps?

It is the first filter, the one that decides whether the rest of your checks are even worth doing. A registration search tells you the project is inside the regulated system, and from there the usual municipal and cost checks follow. The occupancy certificate confirms the finished building is legally fit to live in, which we cover in our guide to the GHMC occupancy certificate, and the stamp duty and registration charges decide what the transfer will cost, set out in our explainer on Telangana stamp duty and registration. When you are comparing registered options, you can pull each one up the same way, as you would with a listed project such as Prestige Golden Grove at Tellapur, and read its RERA record before you read its price list. Treat the portal search as step one, because a flat that fails it is not a flat to negotiate over.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to pay or log in to check a project on Telangana RERA? No. The Search Registered Projects and Agents tool on the official portal at rera.telangana.gov.in is public and free, so any buyer can look up a project or agent without an account, a fee or a request to the builder. Search by project name, promoter, district or registration number.

Which Hyderabad projects have to be registered with RERA? Any project on land larger than 500 square metres, or with more than eight apartments proposed, must be registered before it is advertised, marketed, booked or sold. Each phase of a bigger development counts as its own project. Only completed projects, or pure repair without fresh sale, fall outside this duty.

What if the project I want is not registered? Treat it as a serious warning. A promoter is barred from marketing, booking or selling an unregistered project that crosses the size threshold, and money you pay sits outside the Act's protections, including the rule keeping most of your payment in a separate project account. Verify it yourself before paying any advance.

Does the RERA number guarantee the flat is a good buy? No. Registration confirms the project is in the regulated system and that your money gets statutory protection, but it does not certify quality, title or timely delivery. Use the record to check the promoter, the sanctioned plan and the declared completion date, then continue with your own checks on title, approvals and the occupancy certificate before you commit.

Last updated 2026-08-31. PropNewz Team.