When Farhan booked a flat in Chembur, the broker who arranged it was confident, well dressed, and quick with paperwork. He was also, it turned out, not registered with MahaRERA. When the deal soured over a payment the builder denied receiving, Farhan discovered the man had no accountability trail with the regulator, no registration number to trace, and no reason to answer his calls. In Maharashtra, a real estate agent is not just a salesperson. The law requires the agent to be registered, and since 2023 to be certified as well. Verifying that before you deal is a two minute check that decides whether the person guiding your largest purchase is answerable to anyone.

The short answer. Any agent who facilitates a sale in a MahaRERA registered project must hold a valid MahaRERA agent registration, and since 1 November 2023 they must also hold a Certificate of Competency earned by passing a MahaRERA exam. You can verify both free at maharera.maharashtra.gov.in by searching the agent's name or registration number. The trade off to understand is that a registered agent is accountable and traceable, while dealing through an unregistered one saves nothing and strips away a layer of legal protection precisely when the stakes are highest.

Why does the agent's registration matter to a buyer?

An agent's registration is your accountability trail. Under Section 9 of the Real Estate Regulation and Development Act 2016, a real estate agent who negotiates or facilitates a transaction in a registered project must themselves be registered with the authority. That registration ties the agent to a public record, a code of conduct, and the regulator's power to act on complaints. An unregistered agent has none of that. If they mislead you, pocket a payment, or vanish, you are left chasing an individual with no filed identity rather than a registered professional the authority can penalise. The registration does not guarantee honesty, but it guarantees there is someone the law can hold responsible.

This matters more in Mumbai than almost anywhere, because so many deals here pass through an intermediary rather than directly between buyer and builder. The agent is often the person who quotes the price, collects the initial cheque, and shapes what you understand about the project. If that person sits outside the regulatory system, every one of those touchpoints becomes a place where a promise can be made and later denied with no record. A registered agent, by contrast, has agreed to a set of obligations and can be reported to the same authority that oversees the builder. The check is not about distrusting a particular individual; it is about refusing to let your largest transaction run through a channel with no paper trail.

What does a registered agent owe you?

A registered agent carries duties, not just a number. Under the Act, an agent must not facilitate the sale of a unit in a project that is not registered where registration is required, must not make false statements or misrepresentations about a project, and must provide the buyer the information and documents they are entitled to see. In practice that means a compliant agent should be willing to show you the project's registration, the approved plans, and the agreement terms without evasion. When an agent resists sharing basic documents or pressures you toward a quick payment, they are behaving in a way the code of conduct is designed to prevent, and that behaviour is itself informative regardless of whether a dispute ever arises.

What is the Certificate of Competency and why is it new?

The Certificate of Competency, or CoC, is a qualification MahaRERA made mandatory to raise the standard of the profession. Under MahaRERA Order 41 of 2023, an agent must complete an approved training course and pass a certification exam to obtain the certificate, and the resulting certification number is required to register, renew, or continue an agent registration. Since 1 November 2023, only agents holding a valid CoC can apply for registration or renewal. For a buyer, this is a useful second filter: an agent who cannot show a certification number is either newly non compliant or operating outside the system, and both are reasons to be cautious before you rely on their advice.

How do you verify an agent on the MahaRERA portal?

Verification is free, public, and quick. Go to the official MahaRERA portal, open the search for registered agents, and enter the agent's name, registration number, or phone number. The portal returns the agent's registration record, including the status and validity. Ask your broker for their registration number in writing and check it yourself rather than trusting a business card, because a card can print any number. Confirm that the name on the record matches the person you are dealing with and that the registration is active, not expired. A mismatch or a blank result is a signal to slow the transaction down and ask direct questions.

It helps to know what a genuine record looks like. A registered agent appears with a registration number, a validity period, and, for anyone registering or renewing after the certification rule took effect, a link to their competency credential. Some agents operate as firms and some as individuals, so if you are told the registration sits with a company, ask for that entity's exact registered name and search it directly. The portal is deliberately public so that a buyer can do this without anyone's permission, and a broker who is genuinely registered will have no reason to discourage you from checking.

How long is an agent registration valid?

A MahaRERA agent registration is valid for five years unless it is revoked, after which the agent must renew it. This matters because an expired registration is effectively no registration: an agent who has let theirs lapse is not currently authorised to facilitate transactions, even if they once were. When you check the portal, look past the mere existence of a number to its validity dates and current status. The regulator has, in the past, suspended large numbers of agent registrations for non compliance with the certification requirement, which is a reminder that a number seen on an old document may no longer be live. Always read the current status, not a historical one.

The agent checks to run before you rely on a broker

Run this short routine the moment a broker becomes involved, well before any money or signatures. Each step takes minutes.

1. Ask the agent for their MahaRERA registration number in writing.
2. Search that number on the MahaRERA portal and confirm it is active.
3. Check the registration is within its five year validity, not expired.
4. Confirm the agent holds a Certificate of Competency number.
5. Match the registered name to the person actually handling your deal.
6. Verify the project itself is MahaRERA registered, not just the agent.
7. Keep any commitments the agent makes to you in writing, not verbal.

What can you do if an agent is unregistered?

Treat an unregistered agent as a reason to change how you transact, not necessarily to abandon the property. If the flat itself is in a registered project, you can deal directly with the registered promoter and insist that any intermediary be properly registered before you rely on them. The Act provides penalties for agents who operate without registration, which is the regulator's lever, not yours, but the practical protection is simpler: do not route payments or trust representations through someone who has no filed accountability. If a dispute has already arisen, the same authority that registers agents is where a complaint is filed, and our guide to filing a MahaRERA complaint explains that route. For the project side of the same discipline, our walkthrough of verifying a MahaRERA project registration completes the picture.

The theme across both checks is consistency. A safe Mumbai purchase runs through a registered project and a registered, certified agent, each traceable on the same public portal. Spending a few minutes to confirm both turns a broker from an unknown quantity into a professional the law can hold to account, which is exactly the position a buyer wants to be in. The cost of the check is nothing, and the cost of skipping it can be the entire advance you hand over on a stranger's word.

Frequently asked questions

How do I check if a property agent is MahaRERA registered?

Go to the official MahaRERA portal at maharera.maharashtra.gov.in, open the registered agents search, and enter the agent's name, registration number, or phone number. The portal shows the agent's registration record and its status. Verification is free, so always confirm the number yourself rather than trusting a business card or a verbal claim.

Is a MahaRERA agent registration compulsory in Mumbai?

Yes. Under Section 9 of the Real Estate Regulation and Development Act 2016, any agent who facilitates a transaction in a MahaRERA registered project must be registered with the authority. An unregistered agent is not legally permitted to facilitate such deals, so dealing through one removes an important layer of accountability and legal protection.

What is the MahaRERA Certificate of Competency?

It is a qualification introduced under MahaRERA Order 41 of 2023 that requires an agent to complete approved training and pass a certification exam. Since 1 November 2023, the certification number is needed to register or renew an agent registration. An agent without a Certificate of Competency cannot validly hold registration under the current rules.

How long is a MahaRERA agent registration valid?

A MahaRERA agent registration is valid for five years unless it is revoked earlier, after which the agent must renew it. An expired registration means the agent is not currently authorised, so always check the validity dates and current status on the portal rather than assuming an old registration number is still active.

Last updated 2026-08-12. PropNewz Team.