Nearly every risk in buying a plot is a verification failure. The land is fine or it is not; the layout is approved or it is not; the seller is entitled to sell or is not. Unlike an apartment, where you can at least see whether the building exists, a plot gives you very little to inspect. What it gives you instead is paperwork — and in Madhya Pradesh, most of that paperwork is publicly checkable.

This is the checklist. Work through it before you pay anything beyond a refundable token.

1. MPRERA registration

What to check: that the project is registered with the Madhya Pradesh Real Estate Regulatory Authority, and that the registration number on the marketing material matches a live entry on the portal.

How: go to rera.mp.gov.in and search the registration number. Do not accept a screenshot.

What you are looking for: the promoter's name, the project's declared area, the sanctioned plan, and the uploaded documents. Read the uploaded documents rather than the brochure — where they disagree, the uploaded documents govern.

A registration number should look like the ones used in this state: P-SWR-25-5891 is the registration for Verdania Estate, for example. P denotes a project. An A prefix denotes an agent.

Why it matters: under the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, a promoter cannot advertise, market, book or sell in a registrable project without registration. If it is not registered, nothing else on this list will save you.

2. Layout approval

What to check: that the layout has been sanctioned by the town planning authority, with a number and a date.

For Indore, this comes from the Joint Director, Town and Country Planning, Indore. Verdania Estate's, to use a worked example, is approval INDLP28032511945 dated 09.04.2025.

Why it matters: the layout approval is what makes the plot boundaries real. A plot on an unapproved layout is a line on a private drawing. It cannot be reliably registered, mortgaged or built on.

3. Development permission

What to check: permission from the Collector's office to develop the land — again, a number and a date. Verdania Estate holds permit 140/2025 dated 05.05.2025 from the Collector Office, Indore.

Why it matters: approval of a layout and permission to develop are separate consents. You want both.

4. Colonizer licence

What to check: that the developer holds a valid colonizer licence — the registration that permits a party to develop and sell plots as a colonizer in Madhya Pradesh. Verdania Estate's developer holds licence 125/2024 dated 26.11.2024.

Why it matters: it goes to whether the seller is legally entitled to be in this business at all.

5. Land use conversion

What to check: that the land is authorised for residential use. Much of the land on Indore's periphery began as agricultural land, and conversion to non-agricultural residential use is a specific process.

Why it matters: building a house on land still classified agricultural is not a paperwork technicality you can fix later. Ask to see the conversion order.

6. Title

What to check: a clean, marketable title tracing back through the chain of ownership, free of encumbrances.

How: commission a title search from an advocate who practises in Indore — not the developer's advocate, and not a template opinion. Ask specifically for an encumbrance certificate covering a meaningful period, and ask whether any part of the land is subject to litigation, acquisition notification or a mortgage.

Why it matters: this is the one item on the list that RERA registration does not fully substitute for, and the one where a few thousand rupees of independent legal fee protects a crore-scale purchase. Do not skip it because the developer is a large brand.

7. The agent's own registration

What to check: if you are dealing with a channel partner or broker rather than the developer directly, that they hold their own RERA agent registration — and that they display it.

Section 9 of the Act requires real estate agents to register, and registered agents must quote their registration number in advertisements, brochures and on their websites. The number carries an A prefix — this site is operated by Shashank Sharma under MPRERA agent registration A-UJN-25-2352.

Why it matters: an unregistered agent is operating in breach of the Act, which carries a penalty of ₹10,000 for each day of continuing default. More practically: an agent who has not bothered to register is telling you something about how they handle the rest of their obligations. If a site marketing a project does not display an agent registration anywhere, ask why.

8. What is actually promised

What to check: the amenities and specifications in the Agreement for Sale and the documents uploaded to the MPRERA portal — not the ones in the brochure.

Why it matters: the standard legal position, stated in the developer's own disclaimers, is that the specifications and amenities in the Agreement for Sale and on the RERA website are final and binding. Renders are explicitly indicative. If a clubhouse matters to your decision, confirm it appears in the binding documents.

9. Infrastructure commitments

What to check, specifically:

• What standard is the storm water drainage designed to? A flood risk analysis against a 100-year study is a materially higher bar than the norm.
• Is the power supply a dedicated substation for the community, or a shared connection?
• Is there a water treatment plant, and what is the source?
• Is there a sewage treatment plant, and where does the treated water go?
• What is the road construction — RCC concrete, or bitumen?
• Who maintains all of the above, at what charge, and what happens if the association cannot fund it?

Why it matters: these determine what living there is like, they are laid before the first plot is registered, and they cannot be retrofitted. They are also where projects differ most while looking identical in photographs.

10. Payment and possession terms

What to check: the payment schedule, what triggers each instalment, the possession or infrastructure-completion date, and the consequences on both sides for delay or default.

Why it matters: read what you are signing. A payment plan tied to construction milestones behaves very differently from one tied to calendar dates.

The quick version

| # | Check | Where | | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | MPRERA project registration | rera.mp.gov.in | | 2 | Layout approval | Joint Director, Town & Country Planning, Indore | | 3 | Development permission | Collector Office, Indore | | 4 | Colonizer licence | Collector Office, Indore | | 5 | Land use conversion | Conversion order | | 6 | Title & encumbrance | Your own advocate | | 7 | Agent RERA registration | The agent's site and MPRERA | | 8 | Binding specification | Agreement for Sale + RERA uploads | | 9 | Infrastructure standards | Ask the developer in writing | | 10 | Payment & possession terms | Application Form + Agreement |

Verdania Estate's position on this list

For transparency, here is where the project this site markets stands, with numbers you can verify yourself:

• MPRERA: P-SWR-25-5891 — verify on rera.mp.gov.in
• Layout approval: INDLP28032511945, 09.04.2025, Joint Director, Town and Country Planning, Indore
• Development permission: Permit 140/2025, 05.05.2025, Collector Office, Indore
• Colonizer licence: 125/2024, 26.11.2024
• Developer: Godrej Projects Development Limited
• Marketing agent: Shashank Sharma, MPRERA agent A-UJN-25-2352

Items 5 and 6 — conversion and title — are ones you should verify independently regardless of who is selling. That is not a reservation about this project; it is what an advocate is for.

The full approvals table and the master layout are on this site. This guide is general information, not legal advice.