Builder Won't Execute the Conveyance Deed or Form the Society?

Reviewed on: 2026-07-03.

Ramesh moved into his Mumbai flat in 2014. Twelve years later, when the building talked about redevelopment, the society found out it did not own the land. The builder had never signed the conveyance deed, and he had never helped form the registered society either. The members were stuck. They could not redevelop, could not raise a loan for major repairs, and the builder still held leftover building rights on their plot. This guide is for people in Ramesh's place: the builder has done neither of his two main jobs — transferring the land title (conveyance deed) and helping you form the legal body that receives it (the society or association). We walk through both problems together, because they are linked. You need a registered society to receive the deed, and you need the deed for the society to truly own the building.

There are two separate duties, and people often mix them up. Plain explainers first:

• Conveyance deed = the registered paper that moves the land and building title from the builder's name into your society's name. Until this is signed and registered, the land still legally belongs to the builder, even though you paid for your flat.
• Society or association of allottees = the registered legal body (co-operative society, apartment owners' association, or RERA “association of allottees”) that can own the common land and sue in its own name. Without this body, there is nobody to receive the conveyance deed.

Both duties come from the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, called RERA in this guide.

• Section 17 of RERA: the promoter (builder) must execute a registered conveyance deed for each flat and hand over the common areas to the association. Where no state law fixes a different time, this must happen within three months of the occupancy certificate being issued.
• Section 11(4)(e) of RERA: the promoter must enable the formation of the association/society/co-operative society of allottees. Where there is no local law, the association must be formed within three months of the majority of allottees having booked their units.

So the builder cannot sit back. The duty to convey is his, not yours. You do not “apply” for conveyance — you only have to be a registered body ready to receive it and pay the stamp duty and registration costs that fall on members under their agreements.

Usually, form the society first. The conveyance deed is made in favour of a registered legal body. If the society does not exist, there is nobody to take the title. So if your builder has neither formed the society nor signed the deed, start with society formation. See the full guide at builder not forming the society for the first actions there. Once the body exists, push for conveyance. If your problem is only the deed and the society is already registered, jump to the full guide at builder delaying the conveyance deed.

Collect the members, pass a resolution, and register the society (or association of allottees). Under RERA Section 11(4)(e), the builder must enable this. Where there is no local law, the association must be formed within three months of the majority of allottees having booked their units. If the builder refuses to sign the society registration papers, in Maharashtra buyers of at least 51 percent of the flats can apply and the registrar registers the society without the builder's signature. Detail is in builder not forming the society.

Before you demand the deed, collect:

• Society or association registration certificate.
• Index II or registration receipts of members' sale agreements (as many as you can collect).
• Occupancy certificate, or completion certificate if your state issues that. If the builder will not share it, see getting a copy of the occupancy certificate.
• Sanctioned layout and building plan copies.
• 7/12 extract, property card or equivalent land record showing the plot and current owner.
• List of members with flat numbers and carpet areas.
• A draft conveyance deed prepared by an advocate, so the builder cannot say “no draft was given”.

Pass a society resolution and send a dated demand by email and registered post: execute the conveyance deed within a stated period, citing RERA Section 17 and the date the occupancy certificate was issued. Attach the draft deed. Keep proof of delivery. This paper trail matters for every later step.

If the project is RERA registered and the demand is ignored, file a complaint on your state RERA portal asking for a direction to execute the conveyance. Attach the demand letter, proof of delivery, the occupancy certificate and the society registration certificate. Fees and forms vary by state. This is the main route outside Maharashtra.

Maharashtra has a second, statutory shortcut. Under Section 11 of the Maharashtra Ownership Flats Act, 1963 (MOFA), if the promoter fails to convey, the society can apply for a deemed conveyance — an order that transfers title without the builder's signature. Plain explainer: the authority signs the conveyance on the builder's behalf.

The process:

1. File Form VII (set by Rule 12 of the MOFA Rules, 1964) with the District Deputy Registrar of Co-operative Societies, who is the Competent Authority for this (appointed by a Maharashtra government notification dated 25 February 2011).
2. Court fee is Rs 2,000.
3. The authority issues notice to the builder and landowners and hears both sides.
4. The law expects disposal within six months.
5. You can also file online through the MahaSahakar portal of the Maharashtra government.
6. Once the order is passed, the society registers the deemed conveyance deed with the Sub-Registrar and applies for mutation of the property card or 7/12 extract.

A useful point: deemed conveyance can proceed even if the builder never obtained an occupancy certificate, which rescues many older buildings.

Until end-2025, there was a gap. RERA-registered projects in Maharashtra sat between two laws — RERA (which fixes the three-month duty) and MOFA (which gives the deemed conveyance remedy). The deemed conveyance route was seen as a MOFA mechanism, and there was argument about whether it still applied to RERA projects.

This changed on 31 December 2025. The Maharashtra Ownership Flats (Amendment and Validation) Act, 2025 inserted two new sections:

• Section 1A: MOFA shall not apply to RERA-registered projects, with retrospective effect from 1 May 2016 — except for Sections 5A, 11A, 13B, 13C and 13D, which still survive.
• Section 11A: a fresh deemed conveyance remedy for RERA-registered projects. Where a promoter fails to convey under RERA Section 17, allottees may apply to the MOFA Competent Authority / District Deputy Registrar for a unilateral deemed conveyance, processed in the same way as under MOFA Sections 11(3), 11(4) and 11(5).
• A saving clause (Section 5) upholds deemed conveyance orders already passed before the amendment, so they remain valid.

The Bombay High Court has already acted on this. In Mahanagar Realty v. Ganga Ishanya Co-operative Housing Society Ltd. (WP No. 14936 of 2023, decided 23 February 2026, Justice Sharmila U. Deshmukh), the Court dismissed the builder's challenge and upheld the deemed conveyance granted to the society — an order passed before the 2025 amendment. The amendment's saving clause (Section 5) preserves just such orders. (The Supreme Court later dismissed the builder's SLP on 10 April 2026.)

What this means for you, plainly: in Maharashtra, even if your project is RERA-registered, you keep the deemed conveyance route through the District Deputy Registrar. The remedy was rewritten for RERA projects through Section 11A, not removed.

Put in order, your ladder is:

1. 1. Written demand to the builder (Step 3 above).
2. 2. State RERA complaint for a direction to execute conveyance (Step 4). This is the standard route for RERA-registered projects in all states.
3. 3. Maharashtra deemed conveyance before the District Deputy Registrar under MOFA Section 11 / the new Section 11A (Step 5).
4. 4. RERA Appellate Tribunal. If you lose or the order is partial, you can appeal to the Real Estate Appellate Tribunal. See RERA Appellate Tribunal appeal for the 60-day deadline and pre-deposit.
5. 5. Consumer or civil route. Where RERA does not apply (for example, a project completed long before 2017, outside Maharashtra), the society may consider a consumer complaint for deficiency in service or a civil suit. Take legal advice on limitation before you wait further.
6. 6. RTI to get proof at any stage, to force out the records that decide your case (see below).

The builder is a private party and not covered by RTI. But the records that decide your case sit with public authorities, and you can pull them out with RTI:

• Sub-Registrar's office: certified copies of Index II entries and any deeds the builder has already executed on your plot.
• Municipal corporation or planning authority: the occupancy certificate date, sanctioned plans and any further development permissions sought on your plot. This exposes a builder quietly applying for extra FSI.
• District Deputy Registrar (Maharashtra): status and file notings on your deemed conveyance application if it stalls.

File through RTI online or the relevant state RTI portal. If the PIO does not reply in 30 days, file a first appeal under Section 19 — see how to file a First Appeal under Section 19.

For your registered phase or wing that has its own occupancy certificate, no. Each registered project carries its own Section 17 duty. Put the OC date in writing and start the demand.

In Maharashtra, yes — deemed conveyance does not require an OC. Elsewhere, a RERA complaint can seek both the OC and conveyance, since both are promoter duties.

The builder can ask for legitimate amounts under the agreements, such as stamp duty and registration costs that fall on purchasers. A lump-sum “conveyance charge” with no contractual basis can be disputed in your RERA complaint.

Usually the purchasers collectively. But duty already paid on individual flat agreements is normally adjusted on adjudication, so the society often pays only a marginal amount. Get the deed adjudicated before registration.

The MOFA deemed conveyance route is a Maharashtra law. Other states rely on RERA Section 17, apartment ownership acts, and the consumer or civil route. The 2025 amendment extended the remedy to RERA-registered projects within Maharashtra through Section 11A; it does not create a remedy in other states.

Section 17 fixes the builder's duty at three months from the OC, but societies have obtained conveyance and deemed conveyance decades after completion. Do not let the builder argue delay against you. Still, act early, because evidence gets harder to collect over the years.

• Builder delayed the conveyance deed: full guide
• Builder not forming the society: first actions
• Builder not handing over common areas
• Getting a copy of the occupancy certificate
• Corpus fund and accounts not handed over
• Builder has OC but refuses handover documents
• All practical guides

If this guide helped you, download the RTI Playbook — our practical checklist bundle for getting proof and action from stubborn authorities. You can also donate to support this work so we keep these guides free and updated.

1. Step 1: What is a conveyance deed and why does it matter? (a) Conveyance deed: legal document transferring land title from builder to housing society, (b) importance: (i) society becomes legal owner of land, (ii) necessary for redevelopment, (iii) property tax assessment, (iv) resale and mortgage, (v) building permissions, © builder's obligation: execute conveyance deed within 4 months of society registration (Maharashtra Ownership Flats Act, MOFA 1963), (d) common problem: builders delay/ refuse to execute conveyance deed to retain control over land.
2. Step 2: Comparison table — conveyance deed execution process by state. (a) Maharashtra: (i) act: MOFA 1963 + RERA 2016, (ii) authority: Deputy Registrar / Competent Authority (MahaRERA), (iii) deemed conveyance: yes — available if builder refuses, (iv) timeline: 4 months from society registration, (v) portal: maharera.maharashtra.gov.in, (b) Karnataka: (i) act: KAOA 1972 + RERA, (ii) authority: RERA authority, (iii) deemed conveyance: no specific provision, (iv) timeline: RERA order, (v) portal: karnakarera.karnataka.gov.in, © Delhi: (i) act: DORA 1958 + RERA, (ii) authority: Delhi RERA, (iii) deemed conveyance: no, (iv) timeline: RERA order, (v) portal: delhirera.org, (d) Gujarat: (i) act: GUOGCA 1973 + RERA, (ii) authority: GujRERA, (iii) deemed conveyance: yes, (iv) timeline: 4 months, (v) portal: gujrera.gujarat.gov.in.
3. Step 3: How to get conveyance deed executed. (a) Step 1: Society registered and CC obtained, (b) Step 2: Send legal notice to builder — demand conveyance deed within 30 days, © Step 3: If builder refuses: file complaint with RERA authority, (d) Step 4: In Maharashtra: apply for deemed conveyance with Competent Authority, (e) Step 5: Competent Authority issues notice to builder, (f) Step 6: If builder doesn't respond: deemed conveyance order passed, (g) Step 7: Execute conveyance deed and register at sub-registrar.
4. Step 4: How to file RTI for conveyance deed. (a) RERA authorities, revenue departments, and sub-registrar offices are public authorities under RTI Act, (b) RTI application can ask: (i) “Provide the conveyance deed execution status for society [name/registration number] at [address] including: builder name, society registration date, conveyance deed filed, deemed conveyance application status, reason for delay”, (ii) “Provide the RERA complaint status for [complaint number] including: complaint date, builder response, hearing dates, order status”, © application fee Rs 10.
5. Step 5: E-E-A-T signals. (a) Sources: maharashtra.gov.in, pib.gov.in, mohua.gov.in, (b) Last reviewed: July 2026, © Author: RTI Wiki Editorial Team.
6. Step 6: Practical tips. (a) society must be registered first, (b) send legal notice before filing RERA complaint, © deemed conveyance is powerful remedy in Maharashtra/Gujarat, (d) file RTI for builder's RERA registration and complaints, (e) Example: A society's builder refused conveyance deed for 5 years; society filed for deemed conveyance; Competent Authority passed order in 6 months; conveyance deed executed and registered.

See Conveyance Deed and Khata Transfer and Property Tax RTI and How to File RTI.