Deemed conveyance for a co‑operative housing society in Maharashtra

Governing law

MOFA, 1963 — s. 11

Authority

District Dy. Registrar

Application

Form VII

Statutory period

6 months to decide

When does a society become eligible?

Eligibility turns on three things, and a society that is clear on all three can apply without waiting for the promoter to respond. First, the society must be registered under the Maharashtra Co‑operative Societies Act, 1960. Second, the promoter must have failed to execute the conveyance within four months of registration, or within the period agreed in the agreement for sale. Third, the flats must have been sold under agreements to which MOFA applies. Neither completion of the building nor registration of every agreement is a statutory precondition to filing — both affect the strength of the paper book, not the right to apply.

In practice the question we are asked most is whether an incomplete occupancy certificate blocks the application. It does not block the filing, but it shapes what the Authority can order and it is the single most common reason an application takes longer than the statutory six months.

The procedure, step by step

1. 01Resolution of the managing committee and the general bodyAuthorising the application and appointing an authorised representative. Keep the minutes — the Authority asks for them.
2. 02Title search and collection of recordsProperty card for a city-survey plot (7/12 extract where the land is still on revenue record), index II of each flat, approved plans, commencement and occupancy certificates.
3. 03Notice to the promoter and the land ownerCalling upon them to execute the conveyance. Proof of service matters more than the reply.
4. 04Application in Form VII to the Competent AuthorityFiled with the prescribed fee and the full paper book. The Authority issues notice and fixes hearings.
5. 05Hearing and orderThe Authority is to decide within six months. On allowing the application it issues a certificate of entitlement.
6. 06Adjudication of stamp duty and registrationThe deemed conveyance is unilaterally executed and lodged for registration. Stamp duty is adjudicated separately.
7. 07Mutation of the property cardThe society's name is entered in the revenue records. Until this is done the exercise is not finished.

Questions we are asked

Can a society apply if the builder is untraceable?

Yes. That is precisely the situation the provision addresses. Service of notice is effected in the manner the Authority directs, including by publication, and the matter proceeds ex parte.

Is deemed conveyance the same as a regular conveyance?

In effect on title, yes. The difference is how it is obtained — one is executed by the promoter, the other is executed unilaterally on the strength of the Authority's certificate.

Does the society need conveyance before redevelopment?

Not as an absolute bar, but without title in its own name a society negotiates a redevelopment agreement from a materially weaker position, and lenders and developers both raise it.

What if some flat purchasers never registered their agreements?

Unregistered agreements weaken the paper book but do not by themselves defeat the application. They are usually regularised alongside, and this is worth addressing before filing rather than at the hearing.