Most Indian apartment buyers think the property is theirs the day they get the keys. It is not. Until the Conveyance Deed is executed in favour of the apartment owners’ association, the land and common areas legally still belong to the builder — even if every flat is occupied and every EMI has been paid for a decade.
This is the single biggest post-possession legal gap in Indian real estate, and RERA Section 17 was supposed to close it. In practice, the Brickplot dataset shows that across our 1,800+ tracked projects in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Gurgaon and Mumbai, fewer than 1 in 5 RTM societies older than 24 months can produce an executed conveyance deed. Here is what the document actually does, why builders stall it, and how to force the issue.
Sale Deed vs Conveyance Deed: Two Documents, Two Different Owners
This trips up nearly every first-time buyer.
- Sale Deed — transfers ownership of your individual flat (the “undivided share” in the land plus the built-up unit) from builder to you. You sign this at registration, you pay stamp duty on it, you frame the copy.
- Conveyance Deed — transfers the freehold title of the entire project land, common areas, basement, terrace, clubhouse, STP and parking from the builder to the apartment owners’ association (the registered society). Without it, the builder is still the landlord of the land your tower stands on.
If only sale deeds have been executed, you own the flat but not the land. The builder can still claim rights over unsold parking, the terrace antenna lease, signage on the boundary wall, the unused FAR — and in worst cases, sell additional floors years after handover.
What RERA Section 17 Actually Says
Section 17(1) of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 is unambiguous:
“The promoter shall execute a registered conveyance deed in favour of the allottee along with the undivided proportionate title in the common areas to the association of the allottees… within three months from date of issue of occupancy certificate.”
Three months. Not three years. Not “after 51% of flats are sold”, not “after the maintenance corpus is transferred”, not “after the next AGM”. Three months from OC.
State rules vary slightly on the formation timeline of the association (Maharashtra requires it under MOFA within 4 months of 60% bookings; Karnataka under KAOA at a similar threshold), but the Central RERA 3-month clock for conveyance starts ticking at OC, not at society registration.
Why Builders Stall — the Four Real Reasons
- Unsold inventory. If 8% of flats are still unsold, the builder argues it needs to retain land title to register future sale deeds. RERA Section 17 does not actually allow this delay, but tribunals frequently accept it.
- Pending FAR or additional construction. Builders sit on unused FSI hoping to add a tower or a commercial block on the parcel later. Conveyance kills that option.
- Disputed common areas. Parking, basement, terrace, clubhouse — builders quietly retain commercial rights (rooftop telecom leases, signage, EV charger franchises). Conveyance transfers all of it to the association.
- Stamp duty on conveyance. The conveyance attracts stamp duty on the residual land value (typically 5–7% depending on state). Builders push this cost onto the association, which then refuses, and the deed sits in limbo for years.
The Four-Step Playbook for Buyers
If your project is more than 6 months past OC and no conveyance deed has been executed, here is the sequence that actually works:
Step 1: Form the association first
The association must be registered (Karnataka Apartment Ownership Act, Maharashtra Apartment Ownership Act, Tamil Nadu Apartment Ownership Act, etc.) before conveyance can be received. Without it, there is no legal entity to convey title to. Push for AOA registration the day OC is issued.
Step 2: Issue a written demand under Section 17
The association secretary sends a registered notice citing Section 17(1), enclosing OC copy, demanding execution within 30 days. Keep the postal receipt — this is the foundation document for any later complaint.
Step 3: File a RERA complaint — not a civil suit
Section 31 of RERA permits any association to file a complaint with the state authority for Section 17 default. Filing fee is ₹1,000–5,000 depending on state. Disposal timeline under Section 29(4) is 60 days. This is dramatically faster than the 4–7 years a civil suit will take.
Step 4: Deemed Conveyance (Maharashtra route)
In Maharashtra, MahaRERA + the Deputy Registrar of Co-operative Societies allow Deemed Conveyance under MOFA Section 11 — the title can be transferred unilaterally to the society without the builder’s signature. Karnataka and Telangana have no direct equivalent, but the RERA appellate route can produce a court-enforced conveyance order.
What This Means for Buyers Today
Conveyance status is one of the seven artefacts Brickplot verifies on every project page. We flag projects where:
- OC is older than 6 months but no conveyance has been executed
- The association exists but the builder is refusing to convey common areas
- The conveyance deed was executed but excludes the clubhouse, terrace or parking (a common builder trick)
For pre-launch and under-construction projects, the conveyance question is forward-looking — you ask the builder, in writing, to commit to a Section 17 timeline as part of the builder-buyer agreement. Refusal to commit is itself a red flag worth marking on your shortlist.
Check the Brickplot legal risk grade and conveyance status for the project you are considering → Browse 1,800+ verified projects or book a paid title verification if you want the registry pull and EC check done before you sign.