Buying a Villa Near Hyderabad: RERA, HMDA Layout Approval and Bhu Bharati

Near Hyderabad, one "approved" sticker on a brochure is not enough. A villa or plot in a new layout rests on three separate papers from three separate offices, and all three have to describe the same piece of land. The first is the project's registration with the Telangana Real Estate Regulatory Authority (TG-RERA). The second is the layout permission (LP) from the planning authority. The third is the land's Record of Rights (RoR) on Bhu Bharati, the state's land records portal. For a Non-Resident Indian (NRI) buyer who cannot easily walk the layout or sit in a revenue office, the useful news is that all three can be searched online from abroad. This guide explains what each check shows, how to make the three agree, and when to stop before paying. Official points were read on 29 October 2026 unless stated.

The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, usually called the RERA Act, requires most projects to be registered with the state's real estate regulatory authority before they are sold. In Telangana that authority is TG-RERA, and its public project search lets you look a project up by project name, promoter name, registration number, district, taluka or village, proposed completion date and project type, such as residential or plotted development (TG-RERA search page, read 29 October 2026).

TG-RERA's own frequently asked questions say that advertisements for a real estate project must carry its TG-RERA registration number, under section 11(2) of the Act, and that buyers can check registration on the TG-RERA website (TG-RERA FAQ, read 29 October 2026). So a number on a brochure is the start, not the end: type it into the search yourself and read the record, rather than relying on a screenshot. The record should name the same promoter you are dealing with, the same village, and a proposed completion date you can hold the seller to. Our guide to how to read project status explains what an under construction record should show, and our guide to buyer protection on under-construction property covers what happens to your money while the project is built.

If a project you are offered has no registration number, ask the promoter in writing why, and check the answer with TG-RERA before going further.

A layout permission is the planning authority's approval for a piece of land to be divided into plots or developed with housing to an approved drawing. Within its area, the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) publishes a Layout Permission Report you can search by year, file number, district, mandal and village (HMDA planning site, read 29 October 2026). Its Development Permission Management System (DPMS) also has a public search by file or temporary number, applicant and location, with project types that include "Layout Open Plot" and "Layout with Housing" (HMDA DPMS search, read 29 October 2026). A record on DPMS carries fields including the sanction layout number and sanction layout date (HMDA DPMS citizen information page, read 29 October 2026).

Not every layout near Hyderabad sits with HMDA. Some district collectorates publish lists of layouts approved by the Directorate of Town and Country Planning (DTCP), as Adilabad does (Adilabad district site, read 29 October 2026). Which authority covers a given village is a question to put to the seller and confirm with the authority itself; we do not set out the boundary here.

What you want in hand is the LP or file number, the sanction date, and a copy of the approved layout drawing, so you can match your plot number and the survey numbers on the drawing to the other two records. Our guide to checking a developer's track record covers how to look at the promoter's earlier layouts too.

The Telangana Bhu Bharati (Record of Rights in Land) Act, 2025 received the Governor's assent on 3 January 2025 and was first published in the Telangana Gazette on 4 January 2025 as Act No. 1 of 2025 (Gazette copy on the Bhu Bharati portal, read 29 October 2026). It extends to the whole state, and section 1(3) lets the government bring it into force on different dates for different areas or provisions.

Several of its definitions and duties matter to a buyer:

• Section 2(25) defines the RoR Portal as the digital platform for the Record of Rights, called Bhu Bharati.
• Section 2(2) and section 9 give every land parcel a Bhudhaar, a unique identification number in the Record of Rights, which is temporary until the parcel is geo-referenced and permanent after that.
• Section 10 provides for a Pattadar Pass Book-cum-Title Deed, issued by the Tahsildar to owners recorded in the Record of Rights.
• Section 12 says an extract of the Record of Rights is to be available on an online portal, and certified copies are to be given to anyone who applies, on payment of a fee.

So for any land offered to you, ask for the survey numbers and the Bhudhaar, and read the Record of Rights extract online. The name of the recorded owner, or pattadar, should be the landowner on the sale papers, or the promoter where the land has been transferred to them. Our guide to patta, chitta and encumbrance checks in Tamil Nadu shows how the same kind of check works in a neighbouring state.

We could not confirm from an official source whether a villa plot in a layout on land no longer used for farming still appears on Bhu Bharati or only on other registers. If the land has been converted, ask for the conversion order and check with the sub-registrar or local authority.

Bhu Bharati replaced Dharani, the portal earlier land records ran on. Section 23 of the 2025 Act repeals the Telangana Rights in Land and Pattadar Pass Books Act, 2020, and says that wherever "Dharani" or "Dharani Portal" appears in the Panchayat Raj Act, 2018, the Municipalities Act, 2019, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation Act, 1955 or any other Act, it is to be read as "RoR Portal". Actions taken under the 2020 Act remain valid, and passbooks issued under it are treated as issued under the new Act (section 10; read 29 October 2026).

The National Informatics Centre's (NIC) Telangana report records that the Chief Minister launched the Bhu Bharati portal on 14 April 2025, replacing the Dharani portal (NIC Telangana report, read 29 October 2026). The state said it would then open the portal in all districts; we could not confirm the date of that statewide opening from an official source, so we give none. For a buyer, the practical point is simple: if a seller shows you a Dharani printout, ask for the current Bhu Bharati record as well.

For agricultural land, section 5 of the Act sets the order of events (read 29 October 2026). A person transferring or acquiring agricultural land by sale, gift, mortgage, exchange or partition applies through the prescribed website for a date and time to present the document to the Registrar; the document is registered if it matches the Record of Rights and no prohibition applies, and the Record of Rights is then amended in the buyer's name. Section 2(22) defines the Registrar as the Tahsildar-cum-Joint Sub-Registrar of the mandal for agricultural land, and the Sub-Registrar for non-agricultural land and abadi, the village settlement area. A villa buyer in a layout on non-agricultural land therefore deals with the Sub-Registrar.

If a Record of Rights decision goes against you, section 15 sets out appeals (read 29 October 2026). Against an order of the Tahsildar or Sub-Registrar amending or refusing to amend the Record of Rights, an appeal lies to the Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO) within sixty days, and a second appeal to the District Collector within thirty days, whose decision is final. Against certain orders the RDO makes itself, an appeal lies to the District Collector within sixty days, and a second appeal to the Land Tribunal within thirty days, whose decision is final and conclusive. Section 14 provides for Land Tribunals by notification, and until a Land Tribunal is constituted, the Commissioner acts as one (Bhu Bharati Act section 14, gazette, read 29 October 2026). Appeals take time, so they are a reason to check the record before you pay, not a remedy to plan on. Our guide to stamp duty and registration by state covers the costs of registering.

The point of the three checks is that they describe the same land. For each item below, compare the TG-RERA record, the layout permission, the Bhu Bharati record and the draft sale deed or agreement.

Survey numbers and village

• TG-RERA: the project's land details.
• Layout permission: the proceedings and the approved drawing.
• Bhu Bharati: the Record of Rights and Bhudhaar.
• Sale deed: the schedule of property.

Extent of land

• TG-RERA: the total land area.
• Layout permission: the layout area.
• Bhu Bharati: the extent in the Record of Rights.
• Sale deed: the schedule.

Owner and promoter

• TG-RERA: the promoter.
• Layout permission: the applicant.
• Bhu Bharati: the pattadar.
• Sale deed: the seller and the landowner, plus any joint development agreement between them.

Reference numbers

• The TG-RERA registration number, the LP or file number with its sanction date, and the Bhudhaar and passbook number should all appear, and the deed should refer to the registration number and the LP number.

Status

• TG-RERA should show a proposed completion date and current updates, the layout should be a final approval rather than a draft, and the Record of Rights should show no dispute or prohibition entry.

Any blank or mismatch is a reason to stop and ask in writing before paying anything. Our questions before signing a land deal, our land documentation checklist for NRIs and our site visit checklist cover the rest of the paperwork and what to look at on the ground, and our guide to power of attorney for NRI buyers covers acting through someone in India.

As listed on avacasa.life on 29 October 2026, we have 23 listings in Telangana, all marked under construction: 20 villas, 2 managed farmland projects and 1 plot, spread across places such as Mokila, Mahabubnagar, Medchal and Vikarabad. Of the 23, 11 carry a registration number with the same shape as the examples on the TG-RERA site, which is 11 out of 23, or about 48%. Another 10 show "Not Available" for the number, and 2 show a number in a different shape. We have not looked up the 11 numbers on TG-RERA ourselves, so a number on our listing is a starting point for your own search, not a result. None of our Telangana listings has our occupancy certificate or permits fields filled in.

For the managed farmland projects, our guide to managed farmland contracts and land law by state applies, and our guide to NRIs buying non-agricultural plots covers plots. Our Hyderabad guide, Telangana guide, Mokila guide, Mahabubnagar guide and India guide describe the places.

This is not a guide to whether any project near Hyderabad is a good purchase, or to prices, rents or future values; we make no such claims. It does not cover the size rules for which projects must register, the boundary between HMDA and DTCP areas, encumbrance certificates, or land conversion, which are questions to put to the sub-registrar or local authority. And it is not legal advice: for a specific purchase, a lawyer in Telangana should read the documents.

Near Hyderabad, a project is only as sound as its weakest paper. Look the project up on TG-RERA, find the layout permission on the planning authority's site, read the Record of Rights on Bhu Bharati, and then lay the three side by side with the sale deed. If the survey numbers, extent and names agree, you have a basis to proceed. If any record is missing or disagrees, stop and ask in writing before any money moves.

• Telangana Gazette: Telangana Bhu Bharati (Record of Rights in Land) Act, 2025 (Act No. 1 of 2025), on the Bhu Bharati portal
• NIC Telangana: report on the launch of the Bhu Bharati portal, 14 April 2025
• TG-RERA: project search
• TG-RERA: frequently asked questions
• HMDA: Layout Permission Report search
• HMDA DPMS: public search
• HMDA DPMS: citizen information record
• Adilabad district: list of layouts approved by the DTCP