A home bought before construction is complete is a purchase of promises: a plan, a specification and a date on which the keys are supposed to change hands. The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act sought to put those promises into a public, enforceable framework.
RERA required covered projects to be registered, specified the information promoters must disclose and created authorities and tribunals for the sector. Its most recognisable financial safeguard addressed an immediate concern for buyers: whether money paid for their project would remain available to build it. [1]
The money was tied to the project
Section 4 requires 70% of the amounts realised from allottees to be deposited in a separate scheduled-bank account for the project’s land and construction costs. Withdrawals must be proportionate to completion and certified by an engineer, an architect and a practising chartered accountant. [1]
The wording matters. The rule covers land as well as construction. It does not mean that 70% of every project’s sale price is held untouched until possession, or that the account by itself guarantees completion. Its purpose is to constrain the use of buyers’ money and provide records against which conduct can be examined.
A law with a longer legislative history
The preceding UPA government introduced a real-estate regulation bill in the Rajya Sabha in 2013. The NDA government subsequently carried the legislation through to enactment in 2016. Initial provisions commenced that year; the remaining provisions came into force on 1 May 2017. Crediting enactment and implementation does not require erasing the earlier legislative work. [2] [3]
Implementation also depends heavily on states and Union Territories, where the regulatory machinery handles registrations and complaints. The Union government’s September 2025 review reported 1,51,113 registered projects and 1,47,383 complaints disposed of nationwide. Those figures demonstrate a substantial operating framework beyond the passage of the central law. [4]
They do not tell the whole story of relief. A disposed complaint may end in different ways, and an order still has to be complied with. A registered project may still face financial or construction difficulties.
The enforcement question remained
In May 2025, the Prime Minister’s own PRAGATI review called for better quality and timeliness in RERA grievance disposal and asked states to ensure registration of all eligible projects. The official record thus recognises unfinished enforcement work alongside the scale of implementation. [5]
For a buyer, RERA’s value lies in making information, obligations and a route to redress more concrete. A disclosed completion date can be checked. A project’s accounts can be scrutinised. A complaint can enter a specialist system. The final test comes later, when the order is obeyed and the promised home—or the relief owed for its failure—is delivered.