First pick of the building, at the price of construction risk. Why most South Delhi rebuilds sit outside RERA, how payment schedules should actually be structured, the clauses that protect you when the statute doesn’t — and the handover checklist that ends the story properly.
It can be — but understand the legal terrain first: most South Delhi colony rebuilds are exempt from RERA registration, because projects on land of 500 sq m or less, or with 8 or fewer units, fall outside the mandatory net — and the typical 250–420 sq m plot carrying 4–5 floors is exactly that. There is no regulator, no escrow, no standard-form agreement watching your booking. Your protection is contractual and documentary: the builder’s title via the collaboration agreement, the sanctioned plan, a construction-linked payment schedule, a specifications annexure, delay penalties — and 5% GST plus 1% TDS per instalment priced in from day one.
Booking during construction is how you get the top floor with the terrace, the back-facing unit away from the road, and the marble you chose rather than inherited. It’s a genuine edge in a market where the best floors in new buildings sell before the shuttering comes off. It is also the one purchase format where the buyer carries construction risk with almost no statutory net beneath them. This guide is the net — built from what actually goes wrong.
| Stage | Money that moves | Paper you must hold before it does |
|---|---|---|
| Token / booking | Small token, then ~10–15% at agreement | Title chain + collaboration agreement verified; sanctioned plan seen; receipt naming the exact floor |
| Agreement to sell | Nothing new — it papers what’s paid | ATS with floor identification, specifications annexure, CLP schedule, delay penalty, CC commitment, exit/assignment clause |
| Construction milestones | Slab-wise instalments (e.g. per floor slab, brickwork, finishing) | Site verification against the milestone before each release — photographs and an architect’s eye |
| Completion | Bulk of balance | Completion certificate (or documented first occupation) — the document that also ends GST on later payments |
| Registration & possession | Final balance at the registry | Registered sale deed with full stamp duty (6–8% all-in), possession letter, keys — then mutation |
The single structural rule: payments follow construction, never the calendar. A time-linked schedule pays the builder whether or not the building rises; a construction-linked plan keeps your money and their progress honest. Equally, resist front-loading — a builder asking 50% before the first slab is financing the project on your risk. And every rupee moves through banking against receipts naming you and the specific floor; in an unregulated format, the paper trail is the regulation.
RERA’s protections — project registration, escrowed funds, standard disclosures, a tribunal for delays — attach to projects above 500 sq m or 8 units. The classic colony rebuild sits below both lines, so none of that machinery exists for your booking. That doesn’t make the purchase unsafe; it makes the agreement the entire safety system. Every protection RERA would have given you — defined possession date, delay compensation, specification enforcement, refund mechanics — must be written into your ATS, because nothing supplies it by default. A builder who resists those clauses is disclosing how the project will go.
The collaboration agreement fixes which floors are the builder’s to sell and which the landowner retains — your floor must be on the builder’s side of that split, and the underlying title clean per our 21-point checklist.
Floors, coverage, basement use and terrace rights must exist on the sanctioned plan, within the FAR envelope — a “4.5th floor” or extra coverage sold today is a demolition notice later.
Brand-and-grade annexure — stone, sanitaryware, lift, electricals, facade — signed on both sides. “Italian marble” is a mood; “Statuario, 18mm, X supplier or equivalent approved in writing” is a specification.
GST at 5% on every pre-CC instalment, 1% TDS deducted from each payment, and full stamp duty at registration — three separate obligations, all yours.
Delay penalty per month after the committed date, your refund rights with interest, and an assignment clause letting you sell your booking if life changes. In an unregulated deal, the exit you didn’t draft doesn’t exist.
Outside RERA, your agreement is your regulator. Draft it like one.
Usually not — projects on 500 sq m or less of land, or with 8 or fewer units, are exempt from mandatory registration, and the standard colony rebuild (a 250–420 sq m plot with 4–5 floors) fits inside both limits. Larger or multi-plot projects can cross the line, so check — but plan on contractual protection, not statutory.
Construction-linked: a token plus ~10–15% at agreement, slab-wise instalments verified on site, the bulk at completion certificate, and the balance at registration. Refuse time-linked schedules and heavy front-loading — your money should never be ahead of the concrete.
5% on every instalment paid before the completion certificate, with no input credit — roughly ₹40 lakh on an ₹8 crore floor. Payments for a floor bought after its CC carry no GST, which is the core trade-off of booking early.
Yes — 1% from each instalment (on the value excluding separately shown GST), deposited via Form 26QB within 30 days of month-end. Instalments each trigger their own filing.
Only what your agreement says: a committed possession date, a per-month penalty after it, and refund-with-interest rights on prolonged default. Without those clauses your remedies shrink to general contract law — slow and expensive. Negotiate them before the token, when you still have leverage.
Only if the ATS contains an assignment/nomination clause — many builders restrict or charge for transfers. If exit flexibility matters, write it in at the start; it cannot be retrofitted.
That the milestone actually exists — visit, photograph, and where amounts are large have your architect confirm the stage. Release against progress, hold receipts naming you and the floor, and keep every payment in banking channels.
The completion certificate (or documented first occupation), the registered sale deed on full stamp duty, the possession letter, and the specifications sign-off — followed by mutation and utility transfers. Possession without the deed is occupation, not ownership.
Often, yes: first choice of floor and finishes, and typically a keener price than the same floor completed — against which you carry construction risk, GST at 5%, and capital locked through the build. If the discount plus choice doesn’t compensate for those, buy the finished floor next door.
A builder selling floors the sanctioned plan doesn’t support — extra floors, converted stilts, habitable basements beyond sanction. Everything else in a deal can be negotiated; an illegal floor cannot be cured, only regularised at mercy or demolished.
Builder track record, collaboration and title verification, schedule structuring and the clauses that protect you — before the token moves. Clean deals only.
RERA applicability thresholds (registration required for projects exceeding 500 sq m of land or 8 apartments) reflect the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 as applied in Delhi in July 2026; GST, TDS and stamp duty positions follow the regimes detailed in our linked guides. Individual projects vary — verify registration status on Delhi RERA’s portal and take legal advice on your agreement.
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