"Senior-friendly" is printed on a great many brochures in Pune and Mumbai, and until 2024 no binding standard applied to it in Maharashtra: the Union housing ministry's 2019 model guidelines on retirement homes were advisory. A few grab bars, a ramp at the entrance and a doctor's phone number on a laminated card could carry the label. In May 2024, Maharashtra's regulator became, by its own account, the first housing regulator in the country to give the words a floor: a project sold as a retirement home or senior citizen housing must now meet specific physical standards, and must promise them in writing.
Key takeaways
- MahaRERA's order of 8 May 2024, after draft guidelines in February, made minimum physical specifications mandatory for retirement homes and senior citizen housing projects, with immediate effect and before advertising.
- They include a lift large enough for a stretcher and paramedics, doors at least 900 mm wide, ramps and handrails, bathrooms with grab rails, anti-skid tiles and outward-opening doors, emergency alarms and power backup in each apartment.
- The specifications must appear in the agreement for sale, which makes them enforceable terms rather than brochure language.
- The register cannot tell you which projects are senior housing: none of 55,995 published Maharashtra registrations carries senior, retirement or elder in its name, so the promoter's own marketing is what brings a project under the order.
- India's population aged 60 and above is projected to rise from 10.5 percent in 2022 to 20.8 percent by 2050 (UNFPA and IIPS, India Ageing Report 2023), and Colliers estimated in August 2026 that organised senior living supply is about 25,000 units against demand of 20 to 22 lakh.
Suresh and Kavita compare two brochures
Suresh and Kavita (illustrative, as our stories always are) were considering a move from their Pune retirement flat to something built for the decade after this one, and had two brochures on the table. One called itself a senior living community. The other called itself "ideal for retirees". Both showed the same smiling couple on a walking track. Names and numbers in this story are illustrative.
The difference between the two phrases could decide whether the project had to meet MahaRERA's specifications in writing, because the order covers projects advertised as retirement homes or under an equivalent description.
What the order is, and when it applies
The order applies to projects set up as retirement homes or senior citizen housing in Maharashtra. It took effect immediately on 8 May 2024, and it requires the specifications to be complied with before the project is advertised, and while it is built. Most importantly for a buyer, the promoter must include the provisions in the agreement for sale.
That last requirement is what gives the order teeth. A specification in the agreement is a term of a registered contract, and failing to build to it is a failure the RERA Act lets you take to MahaRERA. A specification in a brochure is only as good as your evidence that you relied on it.
- 1
Lifts
Buildings above the ground floor must have lifts usable by residents needing assistance, including wheelchair users. At least one lift must be large enough for a stretcher and paramedic staff, and lifts must have audio and visual signage.
- 2
Doors and circulation
Door openings of at least 900 mm, preferably sliding. Free movement for wheelchairs inside and outside the building, with ramps wherever levels change and no steps in corridors.
- 3
Corridors and stairs
Corridors without steps, and handrails on staircases, so a resident always has support within reach.
- 4
Bathrooms
Grab rails at the wash basin, shower and toilet, anti-skid tiles, and doors that open outward so a resident who falls against the door can still be reached.
- 5
Emergency systems
Alarm systems with emergency controls at the main entrance, in bathrooms, in bedrooms and in common areas.
- 6
Power and fittings
Power backup in each apartment, particularly bathrooms and kitchens. Easy-grip, lever-type handles and furniture designed for older users.
Source: MahaRERA Order No. 55/2024 on retirement homes and senior citizen housing projects, 8 May 2024
An analogy: a school's fire certificate
Parents choosing a school do not usually inspect the fire exits themselves. They rely on the fact that a school must hold a fire safety certificate before it opens, and that the certificate lists what was checked. The certificate does not tell them whether the teaching is good. It tells them the building meets a floor.
MahaRERA's specifications are that floor for senior housing. They say what the building must physically provide. They say nothing about the quality of the care, the food or the community, which is a different question with a different contract.
Why this matters at scale
The order arrived as the demand it anticipates began to grow.
Source: UNFPA and the International Institute for Population Sciences, India Ageing Report 2023: 149 million people aged 60 and above in 2022, 347 million projected by 2050
One in five Indians will be 60 or older by 2050 on UNFPA's projection, and the organised market is only beginning to respond. Colliers estimated in August 2026 that India's senior living market is worth about Rs 30,000 crore and could exceed Rs 1 lakh crore by 2030, with organised supply of roughly 25,000 units expected to reach about 1 lakh by 2030, against current demand it puts at 20 to 22 lakh units. A market growing that fast from that small a base is exactly where labels outrun substance, which is why the specifications are worth knowing by heart.
What the register can and cannot tell you
A buyer might expect the MahaRERA register to flag senior housing. It does not. There is no category, field or tag on a registration that marks a project as a retirement home, and a search of all 55,995 published Maharashtra registrations, as updated on 29 September 2026, finds none with senior, retirement or elder in its project name. Senior living projects are registered like any other residential project, often under brand names that say nothing about age.
So the order is triggered by how the project is set up and sold, and the practical test is the one Suresh and Kavita applied: ask the promoter, in writing, whether the project is being marketed as a retirement or senior citizen housing project, and if it is, ask to see the specifications in the draft agreement. A promoter that sells to retirees while declining to call the project senior housing has told you something useful too.
Where buyers get it wrong
Trusting the label. "Ideal for retirees" is marketing. Whether the order applies depends on how the project is set up and advertised, as a retirement home or under an equivalent description, and the specifications belong in the agreement either way.
Reading the brochure instead of the agreement. The specifications have force as terms of the agreement for sale. If they are missing from the draft, ask why before paying anything more than the booking amount.
Assuming the building includes the services. The order covers the physical building and the flats. Medical support, a caretaker, meals and housekeeping are usually a separate contract, often with a separate operator, priced separately and terminable.
Not asking what happens if the operator leaves. Services contracts can end. Ask who runs them, for how long, at what cost, how the charges can rise, and what the residents' association can do if the operator exits.
Not asking who you can sell to. Some senior projects restrict resale or occupancy by age. That can be exactly what residents want, and it also narrows the market for your flat. Read the clause before booking.
Take a tape measure and a wheelchair question to the sample flat. Measure a door opening against 900 mm, open the bathroom door to see which way it swings, and ask which lift is the stretcher lift and to see it. Three checks, five minutes, and they tell you whether the specifications are being built or only promised.
What Suresh and Kavita chose
The project calling itself a senior living community produced a draft agreement with the specifications annexed, a stretcher lift in each tower, and a separate services agreement with an operator, which they read twice. The one describing itself as "ideal for retirees" declined to call itself senior housing, and its agreement had no such annexure. The second was cheaper, and it may be a perfectly good building. But only the first had promised, in a document they could enforce, the things they were paying for.
What the filings add
For a buyer paying largely from savings, whether a senior project will be finished on time matters as much as how it is specified. For any covered Maharashtra project, the Rs 499 ReraGenie buyer report reads the promoter's record across its other registrations against their promised dates, this project's extension history with the reasons filed, its construction progress building by building, and its complaints and litigation with case numbers. Start with the project's free page. The broader case for reading a promoter's history before booking is in how to check a builder's track record, and the safety provisions that apply to every building, senior or not, are in your lift is not a fire escape. Accessibility rules that apply more widely are covered in barrier-free access, ramps, lifts and toilets.
The one-line summary
A project sold in Maharashtra as senior housing must build to MahaRERA's minimum specifications and write them into the agreement: check the stretcher lift, the 900 mm doors and the outward-opening bathroom door, read the separate services contract as carefully as the flat's, and treat a retiree-friendly brochure without the annexure as marketing.
Methodology and sources
- The specifications: MahaRERA Order No. 55/2024 on retirement homes and senior citizen housing projects, 8 May 2024, after draft guidelines circulated for comment in February 2024.
- Population: UNFPA and the International Institute for Population Sciences, India Ageing Report 2023.
- Market size: Colliers, senior living in India, 18 August 2026.
- The register search: ReraGenie analysis of the names of all 55,995 published MahaRERA registrations, as updated on 29 September 2026.
Evaluating a project right now?
The ReraGenie buyer report reads every filing for one project and sets out the red flags, the checks that came back clear and what to verify before you book, each fact with its filing date. Rs 499, one time.
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