Deemed conveyance: what a society must actually file

Most societies in Maharashtra hold possession of their building and no title to the land under it. Deemed conveyance is the statutory route out of that, and it turns almost entirely on which documents are filed.

The promoter's duty comes first

Section 11(1) of the Maharashtra Ownership Flats Act, 1963 requires the promoter to complete his title and convey his right, title and interest in the land and building to the registered organisation of flat takers — the society, not the individual members — in accordance with the agreement executed under Section 4. Bye-law 5(a) makes obtaining that conveyance the first stated object of every co-operative housing society.

Where the agreement fixes no period, Rule 9 of the MOFA Rules, 1964 gives the promoter four months from the date the society or company is registered, or the association of flat takers is duly constituted — subject to his right to dispose of the remaining flats.

What "deemed" adds

Mah. 4 of 2008 inserted sub-sections (2) to (5) into Section 11 with effect from 25 February 2008.

1. 1The society applies to the Competent Authority under Section 11(3).
2. 2Under Section 11(4) that authority, after enquiry and after giving the promoter a reasonable opportunity of being heard, issues a certificate — in the words of the section, "within reasonable time and in any case not later than six months".
3. 3Section 11(5) then allows the Sub-Registrar to register the instrument unilaterally, after summoning the promoter to show cause.

The promoter's signature is dispensed with. His hearing is not — he gets one at both stages.

The Competent Authority is an officer not below the rank of District Deputy Registrar of Co-operative Societies (Section 5A). In practice the District Deputy Registrars hold the office; in the CIDCO area it is the Joint Registrar, Co-operative Societies (CIDCO), Navi Mumbai.

For newer buildings, Section 11A — inserted by Mah. 65 of 2025 with retrospective effect from 1 May 2016 — extends the same machinery to RERA-registered projects where the promoter defaults on Section 17 of RERA.

The documents

The Government Resolution of 22 June 2018 sets both the document list and the sequence: application, adjudication of stamp duty, registration, and mutation in the property card.

• •Clause A(1)(viii) is the one societies miss. Where there is no occupancy certificate, the self-certificate in Appendix-5 is filed in its place, recording that possession has been taken and that the society will apply for the certificate afterwards.
• •The absence of an occupancy certificate is therefore not a bar. It is not a licence to skip the declaration either.
• •The application goes to the co-operation department's online system in Form 7; that GR also requires a hard copy with a Rs. 2,000 court-fee stamp. The portal has been reported to have changed since — confirm the current route before filing.

What the order will not do

A deemed conveyance transfers only what the promoter actually held. A lessee-promoter must assign the whole leasehold interest; a halfway arrangement in which he keeps the superior right and passes down a lesser one is not permitted (Radhakrishna Properties Pvt Ltd v. District Deputy Registrar, Bombay High Court, 24 February 2026, paras 72-75). It does not convert leasehold into freehold.

On duty, the instrument is chargeable as a conveyance under Article 25 of Schedule I to the Maharashtra Stamp Act, 1958, but stamp duty already paid on the members' agreements for sale is credited under the proviso to Article 5(g-a). What remains, if anything, is what the Collector of Stamps determines on adjudication under Section 31.