[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":208},["ShallowReactive",2],{"navigation":3,"\u002Fblog\u002Frera-ten-percent-booking-cap":40},[4,8,12,16,20,24,28,32,36],{"title":5,"path":6,"stem":7},"Getting started","\u002Fdocs\u002Fgetting-started","1.docs\u002F1.getting-started",{"title":9,"path":10,"stem":11},"Core concepts","\u002Fdocs\u002Fcore-concepts","1.docs\u002F2.core-concepts",{"title":13,"path":14,"stem":15},"Sales & CRM guide","\u002Fdocs\u002Fsales-crm-guide","1.docs\u002F3.sales-crm-guide",{"title":17,"path":18,"stem":19},"Construction progress guide","\u002Fdocs\u002Fconstruction-progress-guide","1.docs\u002F4.construction-progress-guide",{"title":21,"path":22,"stem":23},"Payments & collections guide","\u002Fdocs\u002Fpayments-guide","1.docs\u002F5.payments-guide",{"title":25,"path":26,"stem":27},"RERA compliance guide","\u002Fdocs\u002Frera-compliance-guide","1.docs\u002F6.rera-compliance-guide",{"title":29,"path":30,"stem":31},"Exports & audit trail","\u002Fdocs\u002Freports-and-exports","1.docs\u002F7.reports-and-exports",{"title":33,"path":34,"stem":35},"Roles & permissions","\u002Fdocs\u002Froles-permissions","1.docs\u002F8.roles-permissions",{"title":37,"path":38,"stem":39},"Frequently asked questions","\u002Fdocs\u002Ffaq","1.docs\u002F9.faq",{"id":41,"title":42,"body":43,"date":199,"description":200,"extension":201,"meta":202,"navigation":203,"path":204,"seo":205,"stem":206,"__hash__":207},"blog\u002F2.blog\u002F4.rera-ten-percent-booking-cap.md","Why your booking amount stops at 10%",{"type":44,"value":45,"toc":191},"minimark",[46,50,53,58,61,73,76,79,84,87,91,94,102,105,108,111,115,118,124,130,134,137,146,149,152,155,160,186],[47,48,49],"p",{},"Every developer knows the booking amount is about 10%. Fewer treat it for what it is: a rule\nabout timing. Section 13 of the RERA Act doesn't say what a flat should cost or how a payment plan\nshould look. It says that until one piece of paperwork exists, you can't collect more than a tenth\nof the price. Everything after that waits.",[47,51,52],{},"That makes the speed at which you register agreements a cash-flow question, not a legal chore.",[54,55,57],"h2",{"id":56},"what-section-13-actually-says","What Section 13 actually says",[47,59,60],{},"Section 13(1) is one sentence. A promoter \"shall not accept a sum more than ten per cent. of the\ncost of the apartment, plot, or building\", as an advance or an application fee, \"without first\nentering into a written agreement for sale with such person and register the said agreement for\nsale ...\".",[47,62,63,64,68,69,72],{},"Two words in there do the work. ",[65,66,67],"strong",{},"Written",": a verbal understanding or a receipt is not an\nagreement. ",[65,70,71],{},"Register",": signing is not enough. The cap lifts when the agreement is registered,\nnot when the buyer puts pen to paper.",[47,74,75],{},"Section 13(2) then says what the agreement has to contain. Among other things, it must specify\n\"the dates and the manner by which payments towards the cost of the apartment, plot, or building\n... are to be made by the allottees\", the possession date, and the interest rates either side pays\non default.",[47,77,78],{},"Read together, the two halves give you the whole shape of a payment plan:",[80,81],"illustration",{"alt":82,"src":83},"A bar representing the full cost of a flat. The first ten per cent is shaded in gold and labelled as the most you can collect before a registered agreement for sale. A marker at ten per cent shows the agreement being registered. The remaining ninety per cent is labelled as collected on the dates written into that agreement.","\u002Fillustrations\u002Fblog-ten-percent-rule.svg",[47,85,86],{},"Up to 10% before the agreement is registered. After that, whatever schedule the registered\nagreement itself sets out.",[54,88,90],{"id":89},"a-letter-of-intent-does-not-change-the-count","A Letter of Intent does not change the count",[47,92,93],{},"The way developers get into trouble here is rarely a deliberate grab. It is usually a document\nthat feels like an agreement but isn't one.",[47,95,96,97,101],{},"LiveLaw reported in April 2024 on a Maharashtra Real Estate Appellate Tribunal ruling in ",[98,99,100],"em",{},"Kakad\nHousing Corporation v. Rajkumari Singh",". The builder had issued the buyers a Letter of Intent and\nreceived more than 20% of the flat price under it. It then demanded a further payment before it\nwould execute the agreement for sale. When the buyers didn't pay, it terminated the Letter of\nIntent.",[47,103,104],{},"The tribunal held that the builder had breached Section 13 of the RERA Act and Section 4 of MOFA,\nand that terminating the Letter of Intent over those unpaid demands was illegal. The Letter of\nIntent didn't count as the agreement, so everything above the cap had been taken too early, and\nthe demand for more on top of it couldn't stand.",[47,106,107],{},"If your sales process has a stage between booking and agreement, whether it's a Letter of Intent,\nan allotment letter or a booking form with a payment schedule attached, check what you collect at\nthat stage against the cap. The document's name doesn't matter. What matters is whether a\nregistered agreement for sale exists yet.",[47,109,110],{},"One limit I'd flag rather than guess at: what exactly counts as \"the cost of the apartment\" for the\n10% calculation, and whether taxes and other charges sit inside it, is a question for your lawyer\nand your agreement draft. I wouldn't assume either way.",[54,112,114],{"id":113},"what-this-means-for-a-payment-plan","What this means for a payment plan",[47,116,117],{},"If you design payment plans for a sales team, the cap gives you two rules.",[47,119,120,123],{},[65,121,122],{},"The booking milestone stays at or under 10%."," That includes everything collected before\nregistration, across however many instalments you split it into. A \"booking amount\" plus a\n\"confirmation amount\" plus a \"Letter of Intent amount\" is one number for Section 13.",[47,125,126,129],{},[65,127,128],{},"The next milestone should be triggered by registration, not by a date."," If the second\ninstalment is due 30 days after booking, and registration takes 45, your own plan asks the buyer\nto break the cap for you. Tie it to the registered agreement instead, so the demand can't fall due\nbefore the paperwork that permits it.\nAfter that, the plan has to match the agreement. Section 13(2) puts the payment dates and the\nmanner of payment inside the agreement for sale, so the schedule your accounts team chases should\nbe the same one the buyer signed and registered. When the two drift apart, it is the registered\nagreement that the buyer, and the authority, will read.",[54,131,133],{"id":132},"the-cash-flow-point","The cash-flow point",[47,135,136],{},"Here's the part that rarely gets said. Every week between booking and registration is a week in\nwhich 90% of that sale is legally out of reach. A slow registration process doesn't just delay\npaperwork. It delays your construction money.",[47,138,139,140,145],{},"The same logic makes a ban on signing agreements so expensive. A project MahaRERA keeps in\nabeyance can't execute agreements for sale at all, which is why\n",[141,142,144],"a",{"href":143},"\u002Fblog\u002Fmissed-qpr-freezes-project-account","a missed QPR costs more than its fine",".",[47,147,148],{},"So the useful question isn't \"how much can we take as booking?\" It is \"how quickly can we get from\nbooking to a registered agreement?\" That one is in your control.",[150,151],"post-cta",{},[153,154],"hr",{},[47,156,157],{},[65,158,159],{},"Sources",[161,162,163,174],"ul",{},[164,165,166,167,173],"li",{},"Section 13(1) and 13(2) text: bare act via\n",[141,168,172],{"href":169,"rel":170},"https:\u002F\u002Fcourtbook.in\u002Freal-estate-regulation-and-development-act-2016\u002Fsection-13",[171],"nofollow","courtbook.in",".\nAn aggregator copy of the Act, not the official gazette; the wording matches the section as quoted\nin the tribunal report below.",[164,175,176,179,180,185],{},[98,177,178],{},"Kakad Housing Corporation v. Rajkumari Singh",", Maharashtra Real Estate Appellate Tribunal:\nas reported by\n",[141,181,184],{"href":182,"rel":183},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.livelaw.in\u002Famp\u002Fconsumer-cases\u002Fmaha-reat-additional-payment-homebuyers-executing-agreement-sale-illegal-254580",[171],"LiveLaw",",\nApril 2024",[47,187,188],{},[98,189,190],{},"This is commentary, not legal advice. Have your agreement for sale and payment plan reviewed by\nyour own lawyer.",{"title":192,"searchDepth":193,"depth":193,"links":194},"",2,[195,196,197,198],{"id":56,"depth":193,"text":57},{"id":89,"depth":193,"text":90},{"id":113,"depth":193,"text":114},{"id":132,"depth":193,"text":133},"2026-10-29","RERA Section 13 caps what you can take before a registered agreement for sale. A Letter of Intent does not get around it, as one Maharashtra builder found.","md",{},true,"\u002Fblog\u002Frera-ten-percent-booking-cap",{"title":42,"description":200},"2.blog\u002F4.rera-ten-percent-booking-cap","ProrY4Cway1qVhhyXhxW9CLUE7qc_tAzH-TXXb9bTGA",1793261826844]