Buyers often use "RERA approved" as shorthand for "safe". It is a good start, but for a completed home two other documents matter more. Here is what each one certifies and how to check it yourself in ten minutes.
1. HARERA registration
The Haryana Real Estate Regulatory Authority registers projects (and agents) under the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016. A registration number — the format looks like RC/REP/HARERA/GGM/xxx/xxx/2024/xx — means the developer has filed the land title, approvals, timelines and bank-account details with the regulator, and that your agreement must follow the prescribed format. Projects completed before 2017 may not be registered, which is not by itself a red flag.
Verify: search the number on haryanarera.gov.in and check the project name, developer and completion date match what you were told. Your broker should also be a registered agent — ours is HARERA registered, and the number appears on every page of this site.
2. Occupancy certificate (OC)
Issued by the Department of Town and Country Planning (DTCP) once a tower is fit for habitation: fire NOC, lifts, structural completion and services are in place. Without an OC the society cannot legally be occupied, utilities may be provisional, and banks will hesitate on loans. For a ready-to-move purchase, insist on seeing the OC for your tower, not just for the first phase.
3. Completion certificate (CC)
Confirms the whole project was built according to the sanctioned plan. It is also the document that determines GST: a home purchased after the CC is issued is a completed property and attracts no GST. Partial completion certificates are common in phased projects — again, check the phase that includes your tower.
When something is missing
- No OC but families are living there: understand why (often a pending fire NOC) and ask for the DTCP correspondence. Price the risk in, or walk away.
- OC present, RERA absent: normal for pre-2017 completions.
- Resale in a registered project: ask for the original allotment letter and the builder's no-objection for transfer alongside the title chain.
Every project page on this site shows the RERA number where one exists. Our advisory desk verifies OC and CC copies before any site visit we arrange.
