Deemed conveyance now reaches RERA projects

For years a developer could argue that MOFA, the old Maharashtra flats law, didn't apply to a project registered under RERA. If MOFA didn't apply, neither did its deemed conveyance procedure, the route a housing society uses to get title when the developer won't hand it over.

That argument is now closed, and it is closed backwards to 1 May 2016.

What changed

In December 2025 the state introduced the Maharashtra Ownership Flats (Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2025 (L.A. Bill No. CVIII of 2025). I read the English text the state published with it. It does three things.

It says which parts of MOFA still apply to RERA projects. A new Section 1A says MOFA does not apply to projects under the RERA Act, "except sections 5A, 11A, 13B, 13C, 13D and other provisions relating to the Competent Authority". In plain terms: most of MOFA steps aside for RERA projects, but the conveyance machinery stays.

It adds Section 11A. If the promoter of a RERA-registered project "fails to execute a registered conveyance deed" in favour of the allottees or their association, as Section 17 of the RERA Act and rule 9 of the Maharashtra RERA Rules require, the allottees or association are "entitled to have a unilateral deemed conveyance executed in their favour". They apply to the Competent Authority using the procedure MOFA already has.

It back-dates both, and protects what came before. Sections 1A and 11A are treated as inserted from 1 May 2016. A validation clause says deemed conveyances already granted, and orders already passed, are valid as if the amended law had always been in force.

The bill as introduced is what I could read in full. LiveLaw's report of a later Bombay High Court judgment refers to "the Amendment Act of 31st December, 2025", so it did become law. I haven't compared the final Act word for word with the bill.

This mostly confirms what was already happening

Here's the concession that matters. The bill's own Statement of Objects and Reasons says Competent Authorities were already issuing unilateral deemed conveyances to societies in RERA projects, under MOFA, before this amendment. The government's stated aim was "clarity" in how MOFA applies to RERA projects, and to validate what had already been done.

So if you were counting on the Competent Authority refusing a society because your project is under RERA, that was never a strong position. The amendment removes it entirely.

The High Court has already applied it. As reported by LiveLaw on 4 March 2026, the Bombay High Court in Mahanagar Realty v. Ganga Ishanya Co-operative Housing Society (Writ Petition No. 14936 of 2023) held that a deemed conveyance order passed in November 2023, before the amendment, was saved by the validation clause. The developer's petition was dismissed.

The clock you are actually on

The amendment doesn't create a new deadline. It gives teeth to the one you already had.

The bill's Statement of Objects summarises both: MOFA asks the promoter to convey within the agreed period, or four months from the society's registration, and RERA's Section 17 asks for conveyance within the period set by local law, or, where there is none, within three months of the occupancy certificate. Section 11A is what a society reaches for when that clock runs out.

The reason societies push, according to the same document, is often redevelopment: a society can't redevelop a building on land it doesn't hold. Those societies are organised, they take advice, and the route to the Competent Authority is now expressly open to them.

What I would do

If you have completed RERA projects, list the ones where conveyance is still pending. For each, note when the society or association was formed and when the occupancy certificate came, and work out where it sits against the deadlines above.

Then treat any project past its deadline as a conveyance you will execute on your own timing, or one that will be executed for you on the society's. Deemed conveyance is unilateral. You are a party to the proceeding, not the one in control of it.

The old argument was always weak. Now it's gone, and it went back to 2016 with it.

Sources

• Bill text: Sections 1A and 11A, the retrospective date of 1 May 2016, the validation clause, and the Statement of Objects and Reasons (including the MOFA and RERA Section 17 timelines, and that Competent Authorities were already issuing deemed conveyances): Maharashtra Government Gazette, L.A. Bill No. CVIII of 2025, via PRS Legislative Research
• The Amendment Act of 31 December 2025 and the Bombay High Court judgment in Mahanagar Realty v. Ganga Ishanya CHS: as reported by LiveLaw, 4 March 2026

This is commentary, not legal advice. Conveyance depends on your project's documents and approvals; take advice on your specific case.