RERA advertisement rules: a pre-launch checklist for property ads

Every property ad in India is a regulated document. The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 and each state's RERA rules decide what an ad must show and what it must never claim. Marketing teams now publish dozens of creatives a week across Meta, Google, portals and social media, so the old habit of checking ads by hand before launch no longer scales. This checklist covers what to verify on every ad before it goes live.

This is a practical summary, not legal advice. State authorities issue new orders often, so confirm the current rules with your legal team and your state RERA's website.

What the RERA Act says about advertising

• No advertising before registration. A promoter cannot advertise, market or sell plots, apartments or buildings in a project that needs RERA registration until it is registered (Section 3).
• Show the registration details. Every advertisement or prospectus must prominently show the RERA website address where the project's registered details are available, along with the project's registration number (Section 11).
• No false or misleading claims. A buyer who suffers a loss because of an incorrect or false statement in an advertisement or prospectus can claim compensation or withdraw with a refund and interest (Section 12).
• Penalties. Advertising an unregistered project can attract a penalty of up to 10% of the estimated project cost, and other contraventions up to 5% (Sections 59 and 61).

State rules go further

States build on the Act with their own orders, and this is where most mistakes happen. Maharashtra is the best-known example: MahaRERA requires a project QR code, alongside the registration number and the MahaRERA website, on every advertisement, and it has issued notices to developers whose ads left it out or made it unreadable. Gujarat RERA has its own QR code and disclosure requirements, and other authorities such as UP RERA, TNRERA and WBRERA set their own format and placement rules.

The practical lesson is that a creative made for Pune may not be compliant in Ahmedabad. Each ad needs to be checked against the rules of the state where the project is registered.

The pre-launch checklist

Run every ad, reel, post, hoarding and brochure page through these checks before it is published:

1. Project status: the project is registered and its registration is not lapsed, suspended or revoked.
2. Registration number: present, correct for this phase or tower, and legible at the size the ad will actually be seen.
3. Regulator website: the state RERA website address is shown where the rules require it.
4. QR code: present where the state requires it, readable on a phone screen, and pointing to this project's page, not a sister project.
5. Placement and size: disclosures follow the state's rules on where they sit and how large they are, including on small mobile formats.
6. Claims match the filing: carpet areas, amenities, possession dates, approvals and distances match the brochure and plans filed with RERA.
7. No guaranteed returns or assured appreciation unless you can back it up in writing.
8. AI-generated images are labelled: if a render or lifestyle image was made with AI, follow ASCI's guidance and label it clearly.
9. Channel partner ads: brokers and agencies advertising your project carry their own agent registration number where required, and use only approved creatives.
10. Audit trail: you keep a dated record of what was checked, by whom, and the final version that went live.

Selling to NRIs or in Dubai? Check Trakheesi too

If you advertise property in Dubai, the Dubai Land Department requires an advertising permit issued through the Trakheesi system, and the permit number and QR code must appear on the ad. In Abu Dhabi, listings and ads go through Madhmoun. Indian developers running campaigns for Gulf-based NRI buyers should check which rules apply to each campaign. Our Dubai real estate automation page explains how we handle both markets.

The most common mistakes we see

• A QR code that works on the print file but is too small to scan in a story or reel.
• The registration number of phase 1 reused on phase 2 creatives.
• Agency-made creatives published without anyone on the developer side checking them.
• "Possession in 2027" in an ad when the filed completion date is later.
• AI-generated lifestyle images with no label.

Automating the check

Manual checks work for five ads a month, not fifty. Supermations' RERA ad compliance checker reviews every ad, post and creative against your state's rules, the AI-label guidance and Trakheesi requirements before launch, and logs every check for audit. It sits inside our real estate ad automation, so nothing goes live without passing it. You can start with a free Ad Compliance Scan of your live ads.