Housing society can get deemed conveyance, if builder says no

MUMBAI: A housing society can apply for deemed conveyance, if the developer fails to do so within a stipulated time period, the Bombay high court (HC) held recently, in an order which could set a precedent for new housing societies across the state.

Conveyance is the ownership right to the building and the plot on which the structure is built. Deemed conveyance is the one obtained through the competent authority, if the developer doesn’t give it.

Mayfair Kumkum Co-operative Housing Society at Andheri (West) in May 2018 obtained the conveyance certificate through the authority formed under the Maharashtra Ownership Flats Act (Mofa). The developer moved HC, seeking scrapping of the certificate on the grounds that the move violated the terms of the agreement between the society and the developer.

Saket Mone, the lawyer who represented the developer, said the developer completed the construction by 2014 and processed all relevant documents by 2015. According to the agreement with the society, conveyance was to be transferred in favour of the society after five years of the agreement. However, before the completion of the period, the society approached the authority and got deemed conveyance, without the consent of the developer.

The society, represented by lawyer Arun Panicker, argued the five-year period started from 2012, when the first agreement was signed between the developer and purchaser, and hence it expired in 2017. As the developer failed to effect the conveyance deed by then, the society approached the relevant authority. After hearing all submissions, a division bench of justices Indrajit Mahanty and AM Badar upheld the authority’s order stating: “We are of the view that the petitioner (developer) by not affecting the conveyance deemed in favour of respondent no 2 (society) has infringed on requirement of section 11 (1) of the MOFA and the authority is justified in issuing the direction.”

The HC held invalid the developer’s plea to get benefit of the extra FSI, which became available from November 2018, too, as the conveyance was done before the new rules came into force.