MahaRERA Abeyance Projects: What the Status Means & Agent Risks

What 'Abeyance' Actually Means on MahaRERA

Abeyance is a hold status. MahaRERA places a project in abeyance when something has gone wrong with the developer's compliance, but the registration has not been cancelled. The project still exists in the records, the promoter still holds the registration number, yet the project is frozen for transactional purposes. This is the part many new consultants miss: an abeyance project is not the same as a registered, active project, even though both show a valid MahaRERA number.

Four triggers put a project into abeyance. First, the lapse of the declared completion date without an approved extension. Second, failure to file the quarterly progress report (QPR) as required under the registration conditions. Third, operating the project through a common bank account instead of the designated separate account under Section 4(2)(l). Fourth, a specific order from the Authority directing the project into abeyance for a stated reason.

Each trigger sits in its own category on the portal, and each carries the same practical consequence for anyone marketing the project.

Finding and Reading Abeyance Status on the Portal

Go to the MahaRERA website and open the Projects section. You will see a dedicated 'Abeyance Project List' tab alongside the registered and lapsed project lists. The portal splits abeyance entries into the four categories described above, so you can see exactly why a project was held. A project flagged under 'Lapsed on account of completion date' tells you the timeline has expired. A project under the QPR category tells you the developer stopped reporting.

Search by project name, promoter name, or registration number. Open the project page and confirm the current status line. Do not rely on a brochure, a hoarding, or the developer's own website, which may still claim the project is fully RERA registered.

If you are unsure whether a registration is merely expired or capable of renewal, read our explainer on registration renewal and certificate expiry timelines before advising any buyer.

What an Abeyance Developer Cannot Do

Once a project is in abeyance, the developer loses key permissions under the Act. No advertising. No marketing of the project, in print, online, or through hoardings. No fresh bookings or new agreements for sale. Any sale facilitated during this period is a violation, not a technicality.

In cases triggered by the bank account or by a specific Authority order, the designated account may be frozen, which blocks the developer from withdrawing construction funds. This is the mechanism MahaRERA uses to force compliance. The developer must clear the default, file pending QPRs, regularise the account under Section 4(2)(l), or obtain an extension before the project comes off the abeyance list.

For a property advisor, the rule is simple. If a project sits in abeyance, you do not market it and you do not close a booking on it, regardless of what the developer promises about getting reinstated next week. The frozen account often relates to the 70% designated account under Section 4(2)(l), which is worth understanding in detail.

Consultant Liability Under Section 65

Section 65 of RERA covers penalties on real estate agents who contravene the Act or the orders of the Authority. If you facilitate a booking, advertise, or broker a sale on an abeyance project, you are exposed to a penalty that may extend up to five percent of the estimated cost of the plot, apartment, or building for which the sale is facilitated. That is calculated on the property value, not a flat fee, so the exposure scales with the deal size.

The registered intermediary cannot hide behind ignorance. RERA imposes a positive duty to disclose accurate information to the allottee and to not engage in unfair practices. Marketing a frozen project breaches both.

Understand how Section 65 interacts with the other penalty provisions before you sit the exam. You can model the numbers using the RERA penalty calculator covering Sections 59, 60, 62, 63 and 65 to see exactly how much a single mistaken booking can cost a broker.

Five Portal Checks Before You Recommend Any Project

Run these five checks every time, before you put your name behind a project. Treat them as a fixed routine, not an optional step.

One, confirm the registration number exists and matches the project and promoter shown on the marketing material. Two, check the project status line: registered, lapsed, abeyance, or revoked. If it reads anything other than active and valid, stop. Three, open the Abeyance Project List tab and search the promoter name directly, because a developer with one held project often has compliance problems across others.

Four, check the declared completion date and whether an extension has been approved. A passed date with no extension is a common abeyance trigger. Five, verify the QPR filing history on the project page. Missing reports signal a developer heading toward abeyance even if the status has not flipped yet.

For agreements, also confirm the carpet area declared on the portal using a carpet area calculator aligned with Section 14(2).

Abeyance vs Lapsed vs Revoked: The Distinction That Trips People Up

Exam candidates and practising brokers confuse these three constantly. They are not interchangeable. Each has a different cause, a different legal effect, and a different path back.

Abeyance is a temporary hold. The registration survives, transactions are frozen, and the project can be reinstated once the developer fixes the default. Lapsed means the registration period or the completion date has expired without renewal or extension; the project needs to apply for an extension or re-registration to continue lawfully. Revoked is the most serious. Under Section 7, the Authority cancels the registration entirely for serious default, and on revocation MahaRERA can bar the promoter from accessing the website and may direct the association of allottees or a competent authority to take over the project.

Here is the quick comparison:

Status | Nature | Cause | Effect | Recovery Abeyance | Temporary hold | Lapsed completion date, QPR default, common account, or Authority order | No advertising, no bookings, account may be frozen | Cure the default and apply for reinstatement Lapsed | Expired registration | Period or completion date over without extension | Cannot lawfully sell | Apply for extension or re-registration Revoked | Cancelled (Section 7) | Serious or repeated default | Registration cancelled, promoter barred from portal | Project may be handed to allottees or authority

Why This Sits on Your Exam and in Your Daily Work

The agent certification exam tests whether you can read a project's status correctly and act on it. Questions on Section 65 penalties, Section 7 revocation, and the difference between held, lapsed, and cancelled registrations appear regularly because they separate a careful intermediary from a careless one. Knowing that abeyance has four specific triggers, and that one of them is QPR non-compliance, is the kind of detail examiners use to catch guesswork.

Build this into your study order alongside promoter obligations under Section 4 and agent duties under Sections 9 and 10. Review the MahaRERA exam syllabus and topic list to see where project status sits, then test yourself under timed conditions with a full-length RERA mock test.

In practice, the five portal checks above protect your registration and your client. A developer's problem becomes your liability the moment you facilitate a booking on a frozen project.