"Prelaunch" is a marketing word, not a legal one. Under the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, what matters is whether a project is registered — and that one fact decides what a developer may lawfully take from you.
We use Elegancia, on the Kharar–Ludhiana Highway, as the example here because it is at exactly this stage: the developer's brochure calls it a prelaunch address, and as of 16 October 2026 we have not been given a RERA registration number for it. That is a reason to check, not a verdict on the project.
Can a project be booked before it is registered with RERA?
No. Section 3 of the Act says a promoter may not advertise, market, book, sell or offer for sale any plot or apartment in a real estate project without first registering it with the state authority. It applies to projects on more than 500 square metres of land or with more than eight apartments — which covers any high-rise group housing.
So before any money moves, ask for the registration number and look it up yourself on the Punjab Real Estate Regulatory Authority's website. The listing shows the promoter, the sanctioned plans, the project's declared completion date and its quarterly updates. A number you cannot find there is not a registration.
What should the registration actually show?
That the plans and approvals behind your unit exist. Registration requires the promoter to file the sanctioned plan and the approvals for the project. Read three things on the portal: the sanctioned layout (is your tower on it?), the declared completion date (this, not the brochure, is the date that binds), and the promoter's other projects (are they on time?).
A brochure site plan is a promise, not a sanction. The one that binds is the layout filed with the registration.
In the Kharar belt, check also that the land use for group housing is settled — a plot being sold as flats needs the change of land use and building plan sanction from the planning authority behind it.
Why does carpet area matter more than the brochure's figure?
Because the Act defines carpet area, and it is the area you can actually use. Section 2(k) defines it as the net usable floor area of an apartment, excluding external walls, service shafts and exclusive balconies or open terraces, but including internal partition walls. Brochures often quote super area instead, which adds a share of lifts, lobbies, stairs and other common space.
The figures in a brochure can therefore be well above what you will live in. We worked through one Elegancia plan to show the size of that gap in super area or carpet area.
How much can a developer ask for up front?
No more than 10% of the cost before a written agreement for sale is signed and registered — Section 13(1). Anything larger before the agreement is a red flag, whatever the receipt calls it. Once a project is registered, the Act also requires the promoter to keep 70% of the money collected from buyers in a separate bank account, used for that project's land and construction.
The short list
- RERA number — found on the Punjab RERA website, not just printed on a brochure.
- Sanctioned plan and approvals — your tower and unit on the registered layout.
- Carpet area — in writing, per unit, before you compare prices.
- Advance — 10% at most until the agreement for sale is registered.
If you are looking at Elegancia or any other prelaunch project on NH-05, send us the unit you are considering. We will tell you which of these four is already in place, and which is still to come.
Related notes
16 October 2026 · 5 min read
Elegancia on NH-05: what Divya Builders has announced, and what has not been yet
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Super area or carpet area? Reading an Elegancia floor plan
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