A DRAFT DEED IS NOT A CONVEYANCE, AND THE BUILDER'S FSI IS NOT HIS FOREVER

HPT SOCIETY DESK | MUMBAI The legal architecture of conveyance in Maharashtra has always been clear enough on paper. Section 11 of the Maharashtra Ownership Flats Act, 1963, as amended by Maharashtra Act 4 of 2008, obliges a promoter to convey title to the society and permits unilateral deemed conveyance through the competent authority where the promoter does not. What has changed recently is not the architecture but the enforcement posture around it, and three developments deserve to be recorded together. First, the Bombay High Court has upheld deemed conveyance in favour of a Vile Parle housing society, holding that developers cannot indefinitely delay transferring the land and building in order to exploit future floor space index, and that additional FSI accruing after conveyance belongs to the society. That second limb is the operative one: the commonest commercial reason for a promoter to sit on conveyance is the expectation of capturing future FSI, and a holding that post-conveyance FSI vests in the society removes the reward for the delay. Second, MahaRERA has held that merely forwarding a draft conveyance deed to a society does not discharge a promoter's statutory obligation under Section 17 of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016. On a complaint by Nirmaan Milestone Co-operative Housing Society, Kiwale, MahaRERA Member Shri Mahesh Pathak, by order dated 15 July 2026, directed Nirmaan Venture to finalise the draft within thirty days and to register the deed in the society's name within the following thirty days. Societies will recognise the practice addressed: a draft is circulated, revisions are exchanged, and years pass without a registered instrument. Third, and structurally the largest of the three, the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies (Amendment) Rules, 2026 were notified by the Co-operation, Marketing and Textiles Department on 18 June 2026 and published in the Maharashtra Government Gazette, Part IV-B, No. 366, dated 22 June 2026. The amendment inserts a new Chapter XI-B into the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Rules, 1961, dealing exclusively with cooperative housing societies, and took effect from 30 June 2026. Chapter XI-B records changes on the financial questions that generate most disputes in managing committees: uniform service charges apportioned equally across flats regardless of size; a ceiling of 12 per cent per annum on interest on delayed maintenance; and non-occupancy charges limited to 10 per cent of service charges. Parking allotment is placed with the general body. The rules also permit general body and redevelopment meetings by video conference, prescribe quorum at two-thirds of members or twenty members whichever is less, provide for minimum sinking and repair funds, and facilitate institutional finance for self-redevelopment. Not all of this is new in principle — the non-occupancy ceiling has a long history in Maharashtra — but its restatement in a gazetted rule matters, because bye-laws and past resolutions across thousands of societies still record different figures. Chapter XI-B also carves out a long list of the general Rules of 1961 that no longer apply to housing societies at all.

अभिहस्तांतरणानंतरचा वाढीव एफएसआय सोसायटीचाच — उच्च न्यायालयाचा निर्वाळा; महारेराचा किवळे प्रकरणी स्पष्ट आदेश महाराष्ट्र सदनिका मालकी हक्क कायदा, १९६३ च्या कलम ११ अन्वये विकासकाने सोसायटीच्या नावे मालमत्ता हस्तांतरित करणे बंधनकारक आहे; तसे न केल्यास एकतर्फी मानीव अभिहस्तांतरणाची तरतूद २००८ च्या सुधारणेने उपलब्ध केली आहे. विलेपार्ले येथील प्रकरणात मुंबई उच्च न्यायालयाने निर्वाळा दिला — भविष्यातील एफएसआयसाठी विकासक अभिहस्तांतरण अनिश्चित काळ लांबवू शकत नाही, आणि अभिहस्तांतरणानंतरचा वाढीव एफएसआय सोसायटीचाच असतो. दुसरीकडे महारेराने स्पष्ट केले की केवळ अभिहस्तांतरण दस्ताचा मसुदा सोसायटीकडे पाठवणे म्हणजे रेरा कायद्याच्या कलम १७ अंतर्गत विकासकाची वैधानिक जबाबदारी पूर्ण होत नाही. किवळे येथील निर्माण माइलस्टोन सहकारी गृहनिर्माण संस्थेच्या तक्रारीवर महारेराचे सदस्य श्री. महेश पाठक यांनी १५ जुलै २०२६ रोजी आदेश देत, निर्माण व्हेंचरला ३० दिवसांत मसुदा अंतिम करून पुढील ३० दिवसांत संस्थेच्या नावे दस्ताची नोंदणी पूर्ण करण्याचे निर्देश दिले. महाराष्ट्र सहकारी संस्था (सुधारणा) नियम, २०२६ हे १८ जून २०२६ रोजी अधिसूचित होऊन २२ जून २०२६ च्या महाराष्ट्र शासन राजपत्रात (भाग IV-ब, क्र. ३६६) प्रसिद्ध झाले आणि ३० जून २०२६ पासून अंमलात आले. या सुधारणेने १९६१ च्या नियमांत केवळ गृहनिर्माण संस्थांसाठी स्वतंत्र प्रकरण XI-ब समाविष्ट करण्यात आले आहे. प्रकरण XI-ब मध्ये सेवा शुल्क समान विभागणे, थकबाकीवरील व्याज वार्षिक १२ टक्क्यांपर्यंत मर्यादित ठेवणे आणि अनिवासी शुल्क सेवा शुल्काच्या १० टक्क्यांपर्यंत मर्यादित ठेवणे या तरतुदी आहेत. वाहनतळ वाटपाचा अधिकार सर्वसाधारण सभेकडे; सभा दृकश्राव्य माध्यमातून घेण्यास मुभा; गणसंख्या दोन तृतीयांश सभासद किंवा वीस सभासद, यापैकी जे कमी असेल ते.