The short answer
Before you pay a booking amount for an under-construction flat, spend an evening on five public sources. The state RERA portal shows the project's registration, approvals, quarterly progress and, for the promoter, earlier projects, complaints and orders. The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) portal shows the company behind the project, its directors, its filing history and the charges (mortgages) registered against it. The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) and National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) records show whether the company or a group company has been through insolvency. Court and consumer commission case-status portals show litigation.
Then go and see the builder's completed projects. Talk to residents, look at the common areas five years on, and ask when the occupancy certificate came and whether the society has been handed the building.
No single check is decisive. A builder with one delayed project in a difficult year may still be sound; a builder with a pattern of delays, refund orders and new companies for each project deserves caution.
Start with the project's RERA registration
Under the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, a project above the small-project threshold must be registered with the state authority before it is advertised or sold. Find the registration number on the advertisement or the site board and look it up on the authority's portal; our RERA number guide lists the portals by state, and our RERA lookup tool helps you find the right one.
On the project page, check the promoter's name exactly as registered, the land title documents uploaded, the sanctioned plans and approvals, the declared completion date, the number of units and any extension of registration. An extension is allowed for force majeure or, at the authority's discretion, for reasonable cause; repeated extensions are a signal to ask why.
Read the quarterly progress updates. Section 11 of the Act requires the promoter to update the project page each quarter with the number of units booked, the status of approvals and the construction status. A project where the updates have stopped, or where the reported progress does not match what you see at the site, is a warning sign.
Check that the project has a designated separate bank account. Section 4(2)(l)(D) requires 70 per cent of the amounts realised from allottees to be kept in a separate account and used only for the land and construction cost of that project. You cannot see the account balance, but the registration should name the account and the certificates of withdrawal.
Look at the promoter's earlier projects
When a promoter applies for registration, section 4(2)(b) of the Act requires it to give brief details of the projects it launched in the past five years, whether completed or under way, including their current status, any delay in completion, details of cases pending, the type of land and payments pending. Most state portals show this in the application or the promoter's profile. Read it, and then check each named project on the portal.
For each earlier project, compare the completion date first declared with the date the occupancy or completion certificate was actually issued. Look for extensions, for lapsed registrations and for projects that disappear from the list. Search the portal by the promoter's name and by the names of its directors, because developers often use a separate company for each project.
Our RERA pages bring together projects registered with each state's authority, copied from the authority's own register, and our builders directory lists developers with the projects attributed to them. Use these as a starting point and confirm every detail on the authority's own portal.
Read the complaints and orders
Most state RERA portals publish complaints filed against a project or promoter and the orders passed on them. Search by project and by promoter. Read a few orders in full rather than counting them: a large project naturally attracts some complaints, and what matters is what they are about and how the builder responded.
Patterns to watch for: orders for refund with interest under section 18 for failure to give possession; orders for interest for delay to buyers who chose to stay; recovery certificates issued because the builder did not pay what was ordered; orders about changes to sanctioned plans without consent; and penalties for advertising without registration. Recovery warrants in particular show that orders were not complied with voluntarily.
Also check for suo motu action by the authority, revocation of registration under section 7, and lists of projects whose registration has lapsed without completion, which several authorities publish.
Check the company on the MCA portal
The promoter is usually a company or LLP. On the Ministry of Corporate Affairs portal you can view its master data free: the corporate identification number, date of incorporation, registered office, status (active, strike off, under liquidation and so on), the directors or designated partners, and whether annual returns and financial statements are up to date.
Look at the index of charges. A charge is a mortgage or other security the company has given to a lender. It is normal for a developer to have a construction loan secured on the project, but you need to know who the lender is, because a flat in a mortgaged project needs the lender's no-objection certificate before it can be sold to you free of the charge. Ask the builder for the NOC and check that the bank named matches the charge.
Note the directors and look them up too. If the same people run several companies, check those companies for strike-offs, insolvency and defaults. You can buy copies of filed documents such as financial statements for a small fee if you want to look at the company's debts and revenue.
Check for insolvency: IBBI and NCLT
If a developer company is admitted into the corporate insolvency resolution process under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, a moratorium stops most actions against it and buyers must file their claims with the resolution professional. The IBBI website lists public announcements of insolvency processes, searchable by the company's name, with the date, the NCLT bench, the resolution professional and the last date for claims. The NCLT's own website has case status by party name.
Search the promoter company, any group companies you find on the MCA portal, and the names of earlier project companies. An insolvency in the group does not automatically mean the new project is at risk, but you should understand what happened, how many buyers were affected and whether those projects were completed.
Remember what the Supreme Court said on 12 September 2025 in Mansi Brar Fernandes v. Shubha Sharma: for genuine homebuyers, RERA is the first forum for delay and refund claims, and insolvency is a last resort. A builder's record on RERA orders is therefore often more informative than its insolvency record.
Courts and consumer commissions
Search the eCourts services portal and the relevant High Court's case-status page by the company's name for civil suits involving the project land, such as title or partition disputes, which can stall a project for years. The National Consumer Helpline and the consumer commissions' case-status portal (e-Daakhil and the commissions' own sites) show consumer complaints filed against the builder.
Check the land itself, not just the company. The RERA page should carry the title documents; ask your lawyer to check them against the land records, the encumbrance certificate and any development agreement with landowners. A dispute between the builder and the landowner is a common reason for delay.
Visit completed projects and talk to residents
Pick two or three of the builder's projects completed at least three to five years ago. Look at the condition of the facade, the lifts, the basement and the common areas, and whether the amenities promised in the brochure exist and work.
Talk to residents and, if you can, the association's office-bearers. Ask how late possession was, whether the occupancy certificate came before or after people moved in, whether the builder fixed defects in the five-year liability period, whether the association has been formed and the common areas handed over, and whether the land has been conveyed to the association. Ask whether parking, maintenance deposits and corpus funds were handed over as promised.
Visit the new project's site at least twice, a few weeks apart, and compare the progress with the quarterly update on the RERA portal. Count the workers and machinery; a quiet site during the working week is worth asking about.
Red flags
No RERA registration number, or a number that belongs to a different project or phase.
Pressure to pay a large amount before the agreement for sale is registered; under RERA no more than 10 per cent of the cost can be taken before a registered agreement.
Quarterly updates that have stopped, or reported progress that does not match the site.
A pattern of refund orders and recovery certificates against the promoter or its group companies.
A new company for every project with the same directors and a history of strike-offs or insolvency.
Assured-return or buy-back offers outside the agreement, which are not homebuyer protections and which the Supreme Court has treated as investment arrangements.
Unexplained changes in the plan, the number of floors or the open areas, without the consent of two-thirds of allottees that section 14 requires for changes to the layout or common areas.
Putting it together
Write a one-page note for each builder you are considering: earlier projects with promised and actual dates, the number and type of RERA orders, the company status and charges, any insolvency in the group, the residents' verdict and your own site observations. Comparing two builders side by side on the same page is more useful than any rating.
If the record is mixed, you can still buy but reduce your exposure: choose a construction-linked payment plan, prefer a phase close to completion, keep your payments tied to progress you can verify, and read the agreement's delay and refund clauses closely. Our under-construction guide and new-project checklist cover the rest.
Common questions
How do I check a builder's past projects on RERA?
Open the project's page on the state RERA portal and look for the promoter's details of projects launched in the past five years, which section 4(2)(b) requires. Then search the portal by the promoter's and directors' names and compare each project's declared completion date with the date its occupancy certificate was issued.
Can I see complaints against a builder online?
Most state RERA authorities publish complaints and orders on their portals, searchable by project or promoter. Consumer commission case status is available on the commissions' portals, and civil cases on eCourts.
How do I know if a builder is under insolvency?
Search the company's name in the public announcements on the IBBI website and in the NCLT case-status search. Check group companies with the same directors too.
What does a charge on the MCA portal mean?
It is a mortgage or other security the company has given to a lender. A project under a construction loan will usually show one; ask for the lender's NOC for your unit.
Is a builder with one delayed project unsafe?
Not necessarily. Look for a pattern: repeated delays, refund orders, recovery certificates and new companies for each project matter more than one late delivery.
What should I ask residents of a builder's older project?
How late possession was, whether the occupancy certificate came before move-in, whether defects were fixed in the liability period, and whether the association and common areas were handed over as promised.
Sources
- Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, sections 3, 4(2)(b), 4(2)(l)(D), 6, 7, 11, 13, 14 and 18; checked 2 October 2026
- Ministry of Corporate Affairs, MCA services: company and LLP master data and index of charges; checked 2 October 2026
- Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India, public announcements of corporate insolvency resolution processes (ibbi.gov.in); National Company Law Tribunal case status (nclt.gov.in); checked 2 October 2026
- Supreme Court of India, Mansi Brar Fernandes v. Shubha Sharma, 12 September 2025; checked 2 October 2026
- eCourts services portal and consumer commission case status (e-Daakhil); checked 2 October 2026
Last checked 2026-10-02.