Deemed Conveyance for a Housing Society: How the Land Moves

Three hundred flats sold. Three hundred registered sale deeds, stamp duty paid on every one, possession taken years ago. And the land the building stands on is still owned by a private limited company whose directors are the builder's sons. That is the normal state of affairs in a great many Indian housing societies, and most members find out only when a redevelopment proposal arrives and the first question is who owns the plot.

Your flat deed conveys the flat. Somebody has to convey the land and the building to the society as a legal body, and that step is the one builders leave undone.

Key takeaways

• Maharashtra gives a society a unilateral remedy. Deemed conveyance, added to the Ownership Flats Act in 2008, lets a competent authority order the land transferred without the builder signing anything.
• The builder's deadline is four months. Under Section 11 of MOFA and the rules under it, the promoter must convey title within four months of the society being registered.
• RERA gives everyone else three months. Section 17 of the Real Estate Act requires the promoter to execute conveyance and hand over common areas within three months of the occupancy certificate, subject to state rules.
• Registration fee is capped at Rs 30,000 in Maharashtra, and where full stamp duty was already paid on the flat agreements and no balance FSI remains, the society's conveyance is generally chargeable at a nominal Rs 100.
• The 2025 amendment extended it to RERA projects. A new Section 11A lets allottees in a RERA-registered Maharashtra project apply for deemed conveyance when the promoter ignores Section 17.
• No conveyance means no redevelopment. A society that does not own its land cannot grant development rights, cannot use additional FSI or TDR, and cannot borrow against the asset.

Why builders hold on to the land

It is not inertia. Four reasons, and they all favour the promoter.

• Unused development potential. If the sanctioned plan used less than the permissible FSI, or the FSI rules were later relaxed, the residual construction right sits with whoever owns the land. Handing over the plot hands over that upside.
• Open space, terrace and parking. While the land is his, the builder can and does sell stilt parking, terrace rights and podium space that in law belong to the members.
• Borrowing power. The land can be mortgaged, and often has been. Societies discover an existing charge on their own plot at the point of deemed conveyance.
• Leverage at redevelopment. A society that must ask the builder to sign is a society that negotiates from a weak position 20 years later.

Conveyance, and what makes it "deemed"

An ordinary conveyance is a registered deed by which the promoter and the landowner transfer the land and building to the society or apartment owners' association. Both sides sign. Where the builder refuses, has dissolved, has died or cannot be found, that route ends.

Deemed conveyance replaces the builder's signature with a state order. The society applies to a competent authority, the authority hears both sides, and if the society makes out its case it issues a certificate declaring the society entitled to conveyance. The sub-registrar then registers the deed unilaterally, executed by the competent authority on the promoter's behalf. The title moves without the builder's consent.

One change is recent enough that most published guides have not caught up with it. Until 2025 it was arguable that projects registered under RERA after 1 May 2016 sat outside MOFA, leaving Section 17 of RERA with an obligation and no unilateral remedy. The Maharashtra Ownership Flats (Amendment and Validation) Act, 2025, enacted on 31 December 2025 with retrospective effect from 1 May 2016, closed that gap. A new Section 11A lets an allottee or association of allottees in a RERA-registered project apply to the MOFA competent authority for deemed conveyance where the promoter has not complied with Section 17, and it validates orders already passed under the earlier regime — the Bombay High Court has since confirmed that pre-amendment orders stand. The same Act narrowed MOFA's criminal provisions against developers, so the trade-off was deliberate.

The Maharashtra process, step by step

Maharashtra is the model every other state's proposals copy, so it is worth knowing outside the state too.

• Form the society and pass a resolution. The managing committee resolves to apply for deemed conveyance and authorises one member to act.
• Serve notice on the promoter and landowner. A legal notice calling on them to execute conveyance is a prerequisite, and the refusal or silence is your evidence.
• Apply to the competent authority — in practice the District Deputy Registrar of Co-operative Societies — in the prescribed form, with the document set below.
• Attend the hearing. The authority issues notice to the promoter and the landowner and hears objections. The statute contemplates the matter being decided within six months of the application.
• Collect the certificate and order, then have the draft deed adjudicated for stamp duty by the collector of stamps.
• Register the deed at the sub-registrar's office and apply for mutation of the property card so the society's name appears on the record.

Documents the application needs

The list is long and gathering it is where most societies stall for a year. Society registration certificate and bye-laws; the list of members with flat numbers and areas; registered agreement for sale and Index 2 for every flat; the 7/12 extract or property card of the plot; the sanctioned building plan and commencement certificate; the occupancy or completion certificate; the non-agricultural order; the development agreement and any power of attorney between landowner and builder; the architect's certificate of area; proof of stamp duty paid on the flat agreements; and copies of the notices served on the promoter.

Two cause the most trouble. Older societies frequently cannot produce agreements for flats that changed hands three times, which is why the share certificate and transfer record matters far beyond the resale it was made for. And a missing occupancy certificate is often the reason the builder never conveyed at all.

What it costs

Those ranges are wide because published figures genuinely disagree, and because the largest variable — whether a stamp duty differential is demanded on the land — is decided at adjudication, not in advance. Get the adjudication done before the society budgets.

Where the equivalent exists, and where it does not

For a Gurgaon or Noida buyer the answer is blunt: there is no deemed conveyance here, and Maharashtra's 2025 amendment does nothing for you. What you have is Section 17 of RERA — a real obligation with a real forum — and an association filing as a body rather than as individual owners. Slower than Maharashtra's route, and it works.

What a society without conveyance actually loses

• Redevelopment is off the table. No developer will fund a project on land the society does not own, and no bank will lend against it.
• Additional FSI and TDR go to the builder. Where rules change, the upside belongs to the landholder.
• Parking, terrace and open space stay contestable. Members find themselves buying back what they already paid for.
• Insolvency risk. If the builder's company is liquidated, the plot is an asset in the estate and members become one more class of claimant.
• Resale takes a discount. Buyers' lawyers ask about conveyance, and a society without it prices below the one across the road that has it.

FAQ

What is deemed conveyance in simple terms?

It is a state order that transfers the land and building to a housing society when the builder will not sign the conveyance deed. The competent authority executes and registers the deed on the promoter's behalf, and the society becomes the owner of the plot.

How long does deemed conveyance take?

The statute contemplates a decision within six months of a complete application. In practice, most of the time goes into assembling documents before filing, and societies commonly take a year to eighteen months from resolution to registered deed.

Is deemed conveyance available in Gurgaon or Noida?

No. Neither Haryana nor Uttar Pradesh has a deemed conveyance mechanism. The remedy is a complaint under Section 17 of the Real Estate Act, filed by the association, requiring the promoter to execute conveyance and hand over the common areas.

Do individual flat owners lose their title if the society has no conveyance?

No. Your registered sale deed for the flat stands on its own. What the society lacks is ownership of the land and common areas, and that is what blocks redevelopment and leaves parking and terrace rights open to dispute.

What does deemed conveyance cost per member?

Roughly Rs 2,000 to Rs 10,000 per member in a mid-sized society where full stamp duty was already paid on the flat agreements. Where a stamp duty differential is demanded on the land, the figure changes substantially, so get the deed adjudicated before budgeting.

If your society is still waiting

Start with two dates: when the society was registered, and when the occupancy certificate issued. They decide whether the builder is in breach and which forum you use. For what conveyance itself costs to register, our note on registration charges sets out the stamp duty side — and if your committee wants a second reading of where it stands, send the papers across.