Before you pay anything for a flat in Maharashtra, whether it is called a token, a booking amount or an expression of interest, check the project on the MahaRERA website. It takes a few minutes, and it is the most useful few minutes in the whole purchase.
First, where Codename Vybe stands. A MahaRERA registration number has not yet been published for Codename Vybe. It will be displayed on this website as soon as it is issued. Until then, the steps below are how you check any project, and how you will check this one when its number arrives.
What Section 3 says about pre-launch projects
Section 3 of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 says that no promoter shall advertise, market, book, sell or offer for sale, or invite people to buy, any apartment in a real estate project without first registering the project with the state’s real estate regulatory authority. Only small projects are exempt: land of not more than 500 square metres, or not more than eight apartments across all phases.
“Pre-launch” is a market term, not a legal stage. A pre-launch project is simply one that has not been registered yet. The practical rule for a buyer is short: until a project shows a registration number that you can find on the MahaRERA website yourself, do not pay any amount for a home in it. That includes refundable cheques, expression of interest payments and tokens.
On this website, registering interest means leaving your contact details so the plans and the price list reach you when the developer releases them. It is not a booking.
Checking a project, step by step
- Go to maharera.maharashtra.gov.in directly. Type the address yourself rather than following a link in an advertisement or a message.
- Open the project search. On the home page, under “Search for MahaRERA Information”, choose Projects. You can also reach it from the Home Buyers menu, under Projects and then Registered Real Estate Projects.
- Search. Use the registration number if you have one. If not, search by project name or promoter name and filter by Pune district. Projects are registered under the promoter company’s legal name, which can differ from the brand on the hoarding.
- Check the promoter. On the project page, the promoter’s name should match the company named on your receipts and on your agreement for sale.
- Read the commitments. Look at the completion date the promoter has declared, the approvals and plans uploaded, and the apartment types with their carpet areas. Compare them with the brochure.
- Check its standing. Look at the progress updates, and check the abeyance and revoked lists under the Home Buyers menu.
- Look for complaints. Complaints can be searched by project and by promoter, from the home page or the Complaint Redressal menu.
- Check the agent. If you are dealing with a broker, look up their registration under the Real Estate Agent search.
Reading the number
A MahaRERA project number starts with P and a district code, and projects in Pune district begin P521. You can see the pattern in the developers’ existing projects on our developer page: Ranawat Group’s Aura Waters Phase I is registered under P52100047184, and Welworth Realty’s Welworth Bluescapes under P52100028477.
Larger projects are often registered in phases, each with its own number. When Codename Vybe is registered, check which buildings and floors the number actually covers. Since 1 August 2023, MahaRERA has also required a QR code beside the registration number in project advertisements, which opens the project’s page on the MahaRERA website.
Once a project is registered
Registration is where the buyer protections begin. Two are worth knowing before you pay anything:
- The ten per cent line. Under Section 13, a promoter cannot take more than ten per cent of the cost of the apartment as an advance or application fee without first entering into a written agreement for sale and registering it.
- The separate account. Under Section 4, seventy per cent of the money collected from buyers has to be kept in a separate bank account and used only for the land and construction cost of that project.
Registering the agreement brings stamp duty and the registration fee, which are covered in the piece on stamp duty, registration and GST. The registration is also where the developer’s carpet areas become a public record; the piece on carpet area explains what to compare.
Where Codename Vybe stands today
To say it plainly once more: no MahaRERA registration number has been published for Codename Vybe yet. The plans and figures on this website come from the developer’s working presentation and are indicative. When the number is issued, it will appear on this website, and the registration will be the place to check the carpet areas, approvals and completion date the developer commits to.
Verify it yourself on maharera.maharashtra.gov.in before you pay anyone anything. This is general information about the Act rather than legal advice, so have your agreement read by a lawyer before you sign it.
If you would like to be told when the registration is issued, or to receive the plans and price list when they are released, leave your details on the contact page.
