What is an agreement for sale?
An agreement for sale is the registered contract between builder and buyer that fixes the flat, the price, the payment schedule and the possession date. Under RERA, a builder may take at most 10% of the cost before it is registered.
Also called agreement to sell, builder-buyer agreement.
The agreement for sale is signed after the booking and before most of the money is paid. It sets out the unit and its carpet area, the price and what it includes, the payment plan, the possession date, the specifications, and what happens on delay or cancellation.
Two rules in section 13 of the RERA Act shape it:
- The 10% limit. A promoter “shall not accept a sum more than ten per cent of the cost of the apartment, plot, or building” as an advance or application fee without first entering into a written agreement for sale and registering it (section 13(1)).
- The prescribed form. The agreement must be in the form the state’s rules prescribe (section 13(2)), which is why each state publishes a model agreement.
The agreement is a promise to sell. Ownership passes later, by the conveyance or sale deed after the occupancy certificate. Stamp duty may fall on the agreement, the deed or both, depending on the state.
Source, read on 29 Oct 2026: the Act (Gazette copy hosted by MahaRERA).