A builder‘s website is marketing material, and under the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act it is treated as such. Advertisements for a registered project carry disclosure obligations, and a website is an advertisement that runs every day.
This is a practical summary from building these sites, not legal advice. Rules are applied by each state’s authority and change over time; have your compliance team or lawyer confirm the specifics for your projects.
What generally has to appear
- The RERA registration number of the project, displayed on the project page rather than buried in a footer.
- The authority’s website address, so a buyer can verify the registration independently.
- A QR code where the state authority issues one — Maharashtra’s MahaRERA, for instance, expects the QR code in advertisements, and a project page is an advertisement.
- The promoter’s name as registered, not just the brand.
- Clear identification of which phase or tower the registration covers, when a project is registered in phases.
Where builder websites go wrong
Unregistered projects shown as available
Marketing a project before registration is the most serious mistake, and websites make it easy to do by accident — a “coming soon” page with a price and an enquiry form is marketing. Keep pre-registration projects off the public site, or restrict them to the promoter’s name with no pricing, inventory or booking invitation.
Images and plans that do not match the sanctioned reality
Artist impressions are allowed, but they must be labelled as such, and floor plans presented as final should match what is sanctioned. A brochure image left on a page after a design change becomes a misrepresentation that a buyer can point to later.
Amenities listed that are not in the registered plan
A clubhouse shown on the website but absent from the sanctioned plan is one of the more common complaints reaching authorities. If an amenity is proposed but not approved, say so on the page.
Stale inventory and possession dates
A possession date that passed a year ago, still sitting on the site, is both a compliance problem and a credibility problem. Project pages need an owner and a review date, like any other published claim.
How to structure the site so compliance is automatic
- Make the project page a template with required fields. RERA number, authority URL, QR image and promoter name should be fields that cannot be left empty, not free text someone might forget.
- Put the disclaimer next to the claim, not only in a legal page. An artist impression carries its label under the image.
- Keep one source of truth for possession dates and inventory, and pull the page content from it, so updating one place updates the site.
- Archive completed projects into a clearly labelled section rather than deleting them; the work is proof of delivery.
- Log consent on enquiry forms — what the person agreed to and when. This matters both for RERA disputes and for India’s data protection law. See our DPDP checklist.
Compliance and conversion are not opposites
Builders often assume disclosures make a page look bureaucratic. In practice the opposite happens: buyers checking a project on their phone are looking for signals that this developer is serious. A visible registration number, a QR code that resolves, honest phase information and a real possession date read as confidence.
What actually loses enquiries is slower and duller: a site that takes four seconds to load on mobile data, a PDF brochure gate before any information, and no way to reach a human. Add a WhatsApp enquiry route with the project name pre-filled and route it to a person who answers within minutes, and you will out-convert a prettier site that ignores those basics.
Costs and build timelines for these sites are in our real estate website cost guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a RERA registration number have to be on a builder’s website?
Advertisements for a registered project are required to carry the registration number and the authority’s website, and several states additionally expect the QR code. A project page functions as an advertisement, so the disclosures belong on the page itself rather than only in a footer or brochure.
Can we show a project on our website before RERA registration?
Marketing, advertising, selling or inviting bookings for an unregistered project is what the Act restricts, and a page with pricing or an enquiry form reads as an invitation. Keep such projects off the public site until registration, and confirm the position with your legal team.
Do artist impressions need a disclaimer?
Label them clearly as artist impressions, next to the image rather than in a distant legal page, and make sure sanctioned plans and approved amenities are what the page presents as final. Unlabelled renders that differ from the sanctioned plan are a frequent source of buyer complaints.
