Reference

Property terms every home buyer should know

21 terms you will come across when you buy a home in India: what each one means and why it matters when you buy. Where Rajasthan has its own rule or its own word, we say so.

We have checked these explanations with care. They are general information, not legal advice, so please also confirm anything important with the official source and your own advocate before you pay or sign. Read the full note

Area and measurement

Carpet areaalso: RERA carpet area: Carpet area is the floor area inside a flat that you can actually use. Section 2(k) of RERA defines it: it includes the walls between the rooms inside the flat, but leaves out the outer walls, the service shafts, and the flat’s own balcony, verandah or open terrace. Shared spaces such as the lobby, stairs and lifts are not part of it. A builder has to declare the carpet area of every home when registering a project under RERA, and the agreement for sale that Rajasthan prescribes gives the price on the carpet area. It is the smallest of the three area figures and the only one the law defines, so it is the one to compare between projects.
Built-up area: Built-up area is a figure builders use for the carpet area plus the thickness of the flat’s outer walls. RERA does not define it, so what else is counted, such as the balcony, can differ from one builder to another. Ask what has been included before you compare two flats.
Super built-up area: Super built-up area is a figure builders use for the built-up area of a flat plus a share of the spaces everyone in the building uses, such as the lobby, stairs, lifts and corridors. It is the largest of the three area figures. For example, a flat with 1,000 square feet of carpet area may be sold as 1,300 square feet or more of super built-up area. RERA does not define it, so what is counted can differ from one builder to another, and two flats with the same super built-up area can have quite different usable space. Always ask for the carpet area as well.
Loadingalso: Loading factor: Loading is the extra area added on top of the carpet area to reach the super built-up area. It is made up of the outer walls, the balcony and your share of the shared spaces. It is given as a percentage, so ask what it is a percentage of. If the carpet area is 1,000 square feet and the super built-up area is 1,300 square feet, the loading is 30% when it is worked out on the carpet area and about 23% when it is worked out on the super built-up area. RERA does not fix or limit the loading.

Money and charges

Booking amountalso: Advance payment: The booking amount is the first payment a buyer makes to the builder to reserve a particular home. Under section 13 of RERA, a builder cannot take more than 10% of the price of the home before signing a written agreement for sale with the buyer and registering it. When you buy through GroupBuyProperty, you pay the booking amount directly to the builder, and only after your price has been agreed with you in person. What happens to it if you cancel depends on your agreement with the builder. The agreement that Rajasthan prescribes lets the builder keep the booking amount if the buyer cancels and the builder is not at fault, so read the terms before you pay.
Stamp duty: Stamp duty is a tax the state government charges on property documents, mainly the sale deed. It is worked out on the price you agreed or on the government’s circle rate for that property, whichever is higher. The buyer normally pays it, on top of the price of the home. Each state sets its own rate and changes it from time to time. In Rajasthan a smaller duty is also charged on the agreement for sale and is adjusted against the duty on the sale deed later, and the state adds a surcharge on top of the duty. If your agreed price is above the circle rate, a lower price also means lower stamp duty. If it is below the circle rate, the duty is still charged on the circle rate.
Registration charges: Registration charges are the fee paid to have the sale deed registered at the sub-registrar’s office. Registration puts the sale on the government’s record. The fee is set by the state and is separate from stamp duty, and the buyer normally pays both. When you buy a property, you become the owner only when the sale deed is registered. An agreement to buy does not make you the owner.
Circle ratealso: Guidance value, DLC rate: The circle rate is the lowest value the state government accepts for a property in a given area when it charges stamp duty. If you buy below the circle rate, stamp duty is still charged on the circle rate. If you buy above it, duty is charged on the price you agreed. In Rajasthan it is called the DLC rate, after the District Level Committee that recommends it for each area. The state government can also fix rates, and the higher of the two is used. The rate differs by locality and by use, such as residential or commercial, and it is revised from time to time. You can look it up on Rajasthan’s e-Panjiyan portal or ask at the sub-registrar’s office.
Brokeragealso: Commission: Brokerage is the fee a property agent charges for helping to arrange a sale. It is a private charge agreed with the agent, and is separate from government charges such as stamp duty and registration charges. Before you deal with any agent, ask whether you will have to pay brokerage, and how much.
EMIalso: Equated monthly instalment: An EMI is the equal amount a borrower pays the lender every month to repay a loan, such as a home loan. Each EMI has two parts: interest on the loan, and repayment of the amount borrowed. The interest part is largest at the start and gets smaller with every EMI, while the repayment part grows, even though the amount paid each month is the same. The EMI depends on how much you borrow, the interest rate and the number of years. A longer loan means a smaller EMI but more interest paid in total. If the loan has a floating rate, a change in the rate changes the EMI, the number of years, or both. Reserve Bank of India rules require the lender to let the borrower choose between a higher EMI, a longer loan or a mix of both.

Approvals and paperwork

RERAalso: Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016: RERA is the 2016 law that makes a builder register a real estate project in a planning area with the state’s regulatory authority before advertising, booking or selling anything in it. The name is also used for the authority itself. The law covers plots, flats and commercial buildings. Very small projects are exempt, as are a few other cases the Act lists. In Rajasthan, the authority allows the small-project exemption only when both limits are met: the land is 500 square metres or less, and there are eight apartments or fewer, counting every phase. To register, the builder files the project’s approvals, plans and completion date with the authority. The builder must also put 70% of the money collected from buyers into a separate bank account, to be used only for that project’s land and construction. Every registered project gets a registration number that anyone can check on the authority’s website. Check on the Rajasthan RERA portal(opens in a new tab)
RERA registration number: The RERA registration number is the number the state authority gives a project when it registers it. In Rajasthan a project’s number starts with RAJ/P/, followed by the year and a serial number. Search for the number on the authority’s website and you will see what the builder filed, including the approvals, the plans and the promised completion date. The law requires the builder to print this number on every advertisement for the project. Advertising or selling a project that needs registration without registering it is against the law. Check on the Rajasthan RERA portal(opens in a new tab)
Pattaalso: Lease deed or freehold deed (Rajasthan): A patta is the document by which a government body in Rajasthan grants a plot to a named person, on lease or as freehold. In cities it is issued by a development authority such as the JDA, an urban improvement trust or a municipal body, and in villages by the gram panchayat. A patta from the JDA is either a lease deed, usually for 99 years, or a freehold deed. A patta is about the land only. It does not tell you whether a building standing on that plot was ever approved.
JDA approvalalso: Jaipur Development Authority sanction: JDA approval means the Jaipur Development Authority has passed the layout plan of a colony or the building plan of a project. It means the plan, as submitted, was found to follow the authority’s planning and building rules. The JDA approves plans only in the area it controls. Where another body is in charge, such as a municipal corporation, an urban improvement trust or another city’s development authority, the approval comes from that body. JDA approval and RERA registration are two separate things, and a project that needs both must have both.
Occupancy certificatealso: OC: An occupancy certificate is the official certificate that a building may be occupied. It is issued under local building rules, by the local authority or by an architect the state has authorised to issue it, for a finished building that has water, sanitation and electricity. Under RERA, a buyer is expected to take possession within two months of the occupancy certificate. Unless a local law says otherwise, the builder must register the conveyance deed in the buyer’s name within three months of it. If you move into a flat that has no occupancy certificate, you are living in a building that has not yet been cleared for use.
Possession date: The possession date is the date by which the builder promises to hand over the finished home to the buyer. It is written in the buyer’s agreement for sale. It is not the same as the completion date the builder gives the authority for the registered project or phase, which you can look up with the registration number. Possession normally comes after the occupancy certificate. If the builder misses the date in your agreement and you stay in the project, RERA entitles you to interest for every month of delay.
Sale deedalso: Conveyance deed: The sale deed is the document that makes the buyer the owner of a property. Stamp duty has to be paid on it, and it has to be registered at the sub-registrar’s office. It is different from an agreement for sale, which only sets out the terms on which the sale will happen later. Until the sale deed is registered, you have rights under your agreement but you are not yet the owner.
Encumbrance certificatealso: EC: An encumbrance certificate is a record, issued by the registration office in many Indian states, that lists the registered dealings on a property over a chosen period, such as sales and mortgages. It is used to check whether a property already has a registered mortgage or an earlier registered sale. It shows only what has been registered. A loan or a deal that was never registered will not appear in it. Under the Registration Act, anyone may pay a fee and inspect the sub-registrar’s records of registered property documents, which is how the same check is made where no such certificate is issued.

Group buying

Group buying (property): Group buying is when several separate buyers show interest in the same project, so the builder deals with many likely buyers instead of one. That is what can make a better price possible than a single buyer would usually be offered. Each buyer still books their own home directly with the builder, at a price agreed with them personally, and signs their own agreement. Nothing is bought jointly and nothing is owned jointly.
Buyer group: A buyer group is the set of buyers interested in one project. It has no fixed size and no closing date. It stays open as long as the builder has homes available in that project. On GroupBuyProperty, asking to join a group is free and you pay nothing to join. A booking is counted in the group once the builder confirms it. The price is agreed with each buyer separately, not with the group as a whole.
Group discount: The group discount is the amount taken off the developer price (the builder’s own list price) for buyers in a group, shown as a percentage of that price. A discount shown on a listing is a range, not a quote. Your final price and any offers are agreed with you in person. The discount applies only to the builder’s price. Stamp duty and registration charges are set by the government and are not discounted, though a lower agreed price can mean lower stamp duty and registration charges when that price is above the circle rate. Check the developer price first, because a discount only means something against the price it is taken from.

A note on using this glossary

Last checked: September 2026

We have checked the definitions on this page with care against the law and the Rajasthan rules, most recently in September 2026.

Even so, we may have missed something, and laws, government rates and orders do change. So please also confirm the points that matter to you with the official source, such as the Rajasthan RERA website or the sub-registrar’s office, and with your own advocate or chartered accountant, before you pay or sign anything.

This page is here to help you understand the terms. It is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice, and your own case may be different.

Where this page and the law, or your agreement with the builder, say different things, please go by the law and your agreement.

As this is general information, we cannot take responsibility for a decision made on this page alone.

If something here looks wrong to you, please tell us and we will gladly check it. Our Terms of Use also apply to this page.

Every listing carries its RERA registration number

Use these terms to check any listing, ours included. Start with the RERA number: you can look it up on the Rajasthan RERA website yourself, without taking anyone's word for it.

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