In the monsoon of 2026 a buyer in Thane was days away from paying a booking amount on a flat that a broker described as almost ready, with possession promised within a year. On a whim he opened the state real estate portal and searched the registration number on the brochure. The project was real and registered, but the status line read something he had not expected, and the completion date on file was two years later than the one he had been quoted. He kept his booking amount and his weekend. That one lookup is the most powerful and least used tool a Mumbai buyer has.

The short answer. Before you pay anything in Mumbai, search the project on the official MahaRERA portal and read two things above all, the registration status and the declared completion date. A status of new or renewed means an active registration, while lapsed or withdrawn is a red flag. The trade off is honest: the check takes a few minutes and can feel awkward when a salesperson is waiting, and in return it replaces a spoken promise with a public, dated record you can hold the builder to.

What is MahaRERA and why does the status line matter?

MahaRERA is the Maharashtra authority that registers real estate projects and holds their disclosures in public view. The law behind it made registration and quarterly reporting compulsory for larger projects, so that a buyer no longer depends only on a builder's word about approvals, funding and delivery. What makes the Mumbai market distinctive is how often projects run long, which is exactly why the registration status line repays close reading. A registration is not permanent. It is granted with a completion timeline, and it can be renewed, allowed to lapse, or withdrawn. The status tells you which of these has happened, and that single field often says more about a project's health than any brochure.

The law also reshaped how a builder is meant to handle buyer money. For a registered project a large share of the amounts collected, commonly cited as 70 percent, is expected to sit in a separate account meant for that project's construction, so that funds from one launch are not quietly diverted to another. You cannot audit that account yourself, but the certificates filed on the portal are the visible edge of it. Real estate agents are expected to be registered too, so confirming that the person selling to you appears on the portal is a small, useful second check.

Which projects have to register with MahaRERA?

Any project larger than 500 square metres or with more than eight units must register with MahaRERA before it is advertised or sold. In practice that threshold captures almost every apartment building and plotted layout you will consider in the Mumbai region, from a compact suburban tower to a sprawling township. A very small development can fall outside it, but those are the exception. The habit to build is simple. If a launch of any real size is being marketed without a registration number you can find on the portal, treat that gap as the first question to raise, not a detail to overlook.

Large townships add one more wrinkle worth knowing. A single project name can cover several phases, and each phase may carry its own registration with its own timeline and status. A tower that is ready today and a tower that is still a rendering can share the same brand while sitting in very different regulatory positions. When you search, make sure the registration you are relying on covers the exact building and unit you intend to buy, not a neighbouring phase that happens to share the marketing name.

How do you search a project on the MahaRERA portal?

You search on the official MahaRERA portal, using the project registration search rather than any number a hoarding shows you. Open the portal, go to the registration search, and look the project up by its registration number, or by the project name, the promoter name, the district or the promoter PAN. The search returns the registration record and a set of uploaded documents you can open and download. If a number on a brochure returns nothing, or returns a different project or promoter, that mismatch is precisely the signal the portal exists to reveal. The registered value that later appears on your sale record connects directly to the cost you plan for, which we set out in our guide to stamp duty and registration in Mumbai.

What does each registration status actually tell you?

The status field is a short label with large consequences, so it is worth knowing how to read each one. A new or renewed status points to an active registration, while lapsed or withdrawn should stop you in your tracks until you understand why. The table below sets out the common labels and the sensible response to each.

Reading the status alongside the completion date is the heart of the check. A project that has quietly extended its timeline twice, or let its registration lapse while the sales team talks of imminent handover, is telling you something the brochure will not.

An extension is not automatically bad. Genuine reasons exist, from approval delays to changes outside a builder's control, and a well run project will explain them. What matters is that you know the current date on file rather than the date on the sales sheet, and that you factor a realistic timeline into your own plans for rent, loan and possession. A single extension with a clear reason is a very different thing from a pattern of slippage that the marketing never mentions, and only the portal lets you tell them apart.

What documents can the portal show you?

The portal carries the regulated file, not the marketing gloss. On a registered project you can typically see the registration number and status, the declared completion date, the promoter's track record across projects, and a set of uploaded disclosures. Those disclosures often include the approved plan, the certificates filed by the project's chartered accountant, architect and engineer, and the legal title report for the land. The chartered accountant certificate matters more than buyers realise, because it ties into the rule that a large share of the money collected from buyers should sit in a dedicated project account. Reading these documents against the sales pitch is the single most useful cross check you can run, since it shows whether the promised pace and the filed reality actually agree. Our guide to verifying a Mumbai registration through the Index II document explains how the same rigour applies once a sale is registered.

How do you run the check before you pay a booking amount?

Run the check as a short, fixed routine so it never depends on how convincing a site visit felt. Work through the following steps before any money changes hands.

1. Ask the sales team for the project name, the promoter name and the MahaRERA registration number in writing.
2. Open the official MahaRERA portal and go to the project registration search.
3. Search by the registration number, then repeat the search by project and promoter name.
4. Read the registration status and confirm it is new or renewed, not lapsed or withdrawn.
5. Note the declared completion date and compare it with the date the sales team promised you.
6. Download the approved plan, the filed certificates and the latest progress report.
7. Keep copies, and raise a complaint on the portal if the record and the claims do not agree.

Run this routine on the specific launch in front of you. A buyer weighing Prestige Garden Trails at Mira Road, for instance, can search its registration number on the portal and read the filed documents rather than relying on the brochure. The status line and the completion date are public. Reading them before you pay is the quiet difference between a decision made on evidence and one made on a promise.

Frequently asked questions

How do I check a project's MahaRERA registration?

Open the official MahaRERA portal, go to the project registration search, and look up the project by its registration number, project name, promoter name or district. The results show the registration status, the declared completion date and the documents the promoter has uploaded, which you can open and match against the brochure you were given.

What does a lapsed MahaRERA registration mean for a buyer?

A lapsed registration means the project's MahaRERA registration has expired without being renewed, so the protections that come with an active registration no longer stand in the same way. Some builders keep selling after a lapse, so if the portal shows the status as lapsed or withdrawn, treat it as a serious warning and seek clarity before paying.

What details can I see on a MahaRERA project page?

The project page shows the registration number and current status, the promised completion date, the promoter's track record, and uploaded disclosures such as the approved plan, the architect and engineer certificates and the legal title report. Reading these against the sales pitch tells you whether the promised timeline and the filed record actually agree.

Which projects must register with MahaRERA?

Under the real estate law a project larger than 500 square metres or with more than eight units must register with MahaRERA before it is advertised or sold. That covers almost every apartment project around Mumbai, so if a real launch has no registration number, treat that absence itself as a reason to pause.

The search steps and status labels described here reflect the buyer facing process on the MahaRERA portal, as summarised in this guide to finding MahaRERA project details online. Because portals and rules change over time, always confirm the current process and a project's live status directly on the official MahaRERA portal before you act.

Last updated 2026-08-11. PropNewz Team.