Real Estate Agent Certification in Maharashtra: What Buyers Should Verify

The only official site is maharera.maharashtra.gov.in

Check every agent, project and promoter on maharera.maharashtra.gov.in. Look-alike addresses circulate. The old maharera.mahaonline.gov.in no longer resolves, and maha-rera.in is a parked domain that has nothing to do with the regulator. Type the address yourself rather than following a link someone sends you.

Registration and certification are two separate things

An agent needs both. Section 9(1) of the RERA Act says an agent cannot facilitate a sale in a registered project without the agent's own MahaRERA registration. On top of that, MahaRERA's Order 41A of 2023 says that since 1 November 2023 only agents holding a MahaRERA Certificate of Competency can apply for or renew that registration. Since 1 January 2024, promoters may name only certified agents on their projects.

So an agent showing you a registered project in Nashik should have a registration number on the MahaRERA site and, behind it, a certificate of competency. There is no lawful middle ground where an agent works on registered projects without them.

Checking an agent takes five minutes

Ask for the MahaRERA agent registration number at the first meeting. A working agent prints it on cards and advertisements. Search it on the official site under agent registration and check three things: the name matches the person or firm in front of you, the registration has not expired or been revoked, and the address is the one they gave.

Take a screenshot with the date showing. If the agent works for a firm, the firm's registration is the one to check, and the person dealing with you should be able to show you where they sit in it.

What an agent cannot do with your money

An agent is not the promoter. Booking money goes to the project, and on a registered project section 13 caps it at 10% of the cost until a registered agreement for sale exists. Pay by bank transfer to the account named in the agreement, never to an agent's personal account, and never in cash.

Ask for the commission in writing, with who pays it. A commission carries 18% GST, as consistently reported under the service-tax heading for real estate agents, and a written quote should show it.

You can complain about an agent to MahaRERA

Section 31 of the Act lets any aggrieved person file a complaint with MahaRERA against a promoter, an allottee or a real estate agent. An agent who misrepresented a project, took money they had no business taking or worked without registration is within its reach.

Keep everything: the agent's card, messages, payment receipts, and the screenshot of their registration. If money was taken by someone posing as an agent, file a police complaint as well, because MahaRERA cannot recover money from a person it never registered.

Questions to ask before you sign

Ask for the project's MahaRERA registration number and check it yourself. Ask who the promoter is and whether the promoter's filing lists the projects it launched in the past five years, as section 4 requires. Check too whether the agent is named on the project's MahaRERA page.

Before any payment beyond the booking amount, get the agreement draft, the approved plans and the possession date in writing. JebuK Properties is registered with MahaRERA as A031222602911, valid to 21 July 2031, and you can check that number the same way.