Redevelopment Document Checklist for Mumbai Housing Societies

Every Mumbai housing-society redevelopment stands or falls on paperwork. Before your society invites a single developer, it should have four document sets ready: (1) title and society documents that prove who owns the land and who the members are; (2) tender-stage documents that let developers bid on equal terms; (3) stage-wise records collected from feasibility right through to possession; and (4) the documents needed to register the development agreement (DA) and each member's Permanent Alternate Accommodation Agreement (PAAA). This guide gives you all four as printable checklists, names the office that issues each paper, and flags which papers matter for conveyance under Section 11 of the Maharashtra Ownership Flats Act (MOFA), 1963 and which relate to MahaRERA. It also gives you the one figure to confirm for yourself before you tender: your permissible FSI band under Table 12 of DCPR 2034, which is decided by the certified width of the road your plot faces.

Why a complete document file matters

Redevelopment is governed by several laws at once. The Section 79A directive dated 4 July 2019 sets out how a society must run the whole process — from the requisition by not less than one-fifth of members, to a Special General Body Meeting (SGBM) with a quorum of two-thirds of total membership, to approval by not less than 51% of total membership strength. That directive also requires the development agreement and each member's PAAA to be registered, and it requires a video-recorded developer-selection meeting attended by an authorised officer of the Registrar. Missing paperwork at any of these points can stall the project or expose the society to a dispute under Section 91 of the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies (MCS) Act, 1960 before the Co-operative Court. A clean file is your best protection.

Checklist 1 — Pre-redevelopment title and society documents

Collect these before you appoint a project management consultant (PMC) or float a tender. They establish ownership, membership and the society's legal standing. Documents marked (Conveyance) relate to transfer of title under Section 11 of MOFA, 1963.

The FSI check — the one number to confirm before you tender

Every paper above is worth collecting, but one figure decides what the project is actually worth: the permissible FSI on your plot. FSI (Floor Space Index) is simply the multiple of your plot area you are allowed to build — a 1,000 sq m plot at FSI 2.00 means 2,000 sq m of built-up area. In Greater Mumbai that multiple is fixed by Table 12 of DCPR 2034 and turns on two things only: the certified width of the road your plot faces, and whether you are in the Island City or the suburbs. Confirm it yourself before a developer quotes a figure at you.

Source: DCPR 2034 (sanctioned), Table 12. Basic (zonal) FSI is 1.33 in the Island City and 1.00 in the suburbs; the balance in each row is premium FSI plus TDR.

Read the first band carefully. The sanctioned table says "less than 9 m", not "up to 9 m". A road measured at exactly 9.00 m therefore sits in the higher band. Nine metres is a very common nominal layout width in Mumbai, so this one line decides real projects — and many circulating summaries still quote the withdrawn draft thresholds of 12.20 m, 18.30 m and 30 m, which understate a society's potential.

Then check the area the FSI is applied to. Under Regulation 30(A)(2) of DCPR 2034, permissible FSI is computed on plot area excluding land under DP roads, land under a sanctioned Regular Line, land under Regulation 16 and under Regulation 14 amenity plots, and any Regulation 17 DP reservation to be surrendered. It is not the gross plot area. If a bidder's feasibility multiplies FSI by the gross figure, the buildable area in that offer is overstated. TDR is separately available for the land you surrender, under Regulation 32.

Premium FSI is also not free. Under Regulation 30(A)(6) it is charged at 50% of the ASR (Annual Statement of Rates, the ready-reckoner) land rate for FSI 1, for the year in which the FSI is granted. Ask every bidder to show the premium payment as a separate line in the offer rather than burying it in "project cost". Run your own figures first in the FSI calculator.

Extra papers if your building is cessed, MHADA, cluster or slum

Checklists 1 to 4 apply to every society. If your building also falls under one of the special schemes in Regulation 33 of DCPR 2034, there is one more file to open — and one authority to write to. Settle which regulation applies to you in writing before you accept any entitlement figure, because the regimes are not interchangeable.

Source: DCPR 2034 (sanctioned), Regulations 33(5), 33(7), 33(9), 33(9)(B) and 33(10).

Checklist 2 — Tender-stage documents

These are the documents your society prepares and issues so developers can bid on the same information, and the documents you ask each bidder to submit in return. Fair, uniform tender papers are what let members compare offers on a like-for-like basis.

What the society issues to bidders

• Feasibility report and carpet-area entitlement working (order a feasibility report first). Check that it states the road width, the Table 12 band it puts you in, and the net plot area it has applied the FSI to.
• Tender document / request for proposal with the society's minimum requirements — extra carpet area, corpus, rent, hardship/shifting allowance, bank guarantee and timelines. State each as a number, not as "as per market norms".
• The certified road-width statement and the ward's DP remarks, issued identically to every bidder, so no bidder can quote a lower FSI band than another.
• Existing plans and the flat-wise carpet-area statement on the RERA Section 2(k) definition. Use the FSI calculator and the additional area calculator so members see a realistic band, not a single guessed figure.
• A uniform offer format so every bid can be read side by side in the offer comparison tool.

What each bidder must submit

• Company profile, incorporation papers, PAN and GST registration. Verify the company's status and directors on the MCA portal against the names signing the bid.
• Proof of at least one MahaRERA-registered project — a hard requirement under the 4 July 2019 directive for any developer the society shortlists. Ask for the registration number and search it yourself on the MahaRERA portal; check the promoter name, the project's declared completion date and whether any complaints are listed. (MahaRERA)
• Audited financials for the last three years and banker's / net-worth certificate. Check the auditor's UDIN and that the net-worth certificate is dated within the current financial year.
• Track record with completion certificates of past projects — each with the project's OC number, so you can verify it with the issuing authority rather than taking a brochure on trust.
• A written offer on the society's format, and a commitment to furnish a developer bank guarantee of 20% of project value (as the directive requires). Make the bidder write the rupee amount into the offer — if the bid puts project value at, say, Rs 40 crore, the guarantee is Rs 8 crore. A bidder who will not write the number down will not furnish the guarantee either.
• Declaration that the bidder is not a managing-committee member, office-bearer, or a relative of one — such persons cannot be the developer under the directive.

Have a professional check every bid before shortlisting; our tender review service exists for exactly this. For the full statutory sequence, read the Section 79A process guide.

Checklist 3 — Stage-wise document checklist

Beyond the one-time title and tender files, your society keeps generating records at each stage. Collect and file them as you go — chasing them years later is far harder.

For deeper reading on the last two stages, see our guides on transit and construction and possession and corpus.

Checklist 4 — Documents to register the DA and PAAA

Registration is not optional. Section 17 of the Registration Act, 1908 makes registration compulsory for any document that creates rights in immovable property — and that squarely covers the development agreement, each member's PAAA and the eventual conveyance deed. The 4 July 2019 directive independently requires both the DA and every PAAA to be registered. An unregistered agreement is weak evidence in court and can be challenged, so treat this checklist as mandatory.

For the development agreement (DA)

• Final DA engrossed on stamp paper, stamped under the Maharashtra Stamp Act, 1958.
• Society resolution approving the DA and authorising signatories.
• Society registration certificate, bye-laws and members' list.
• Title documents — conveyance / deemed-conveyance certificate, Property Card, approved plans. (Conveyance)
• Developer's PAN, incorporation papers and authorised-signatory board resolution.
• Photographs and identity/address proof of the signatories, and the developer's 20% bank guarantee.

For each member's PAAA

• Individual PAAA engrossed and stamped for that flat.
• Member's share certificate, identity and address proof.
• Existing carpet-area statement and the agreed new entitlement, corpus and rent figures — every one written as a number in that member's own PAAA, not left to the DA's general clauses. If your building is cessed, the entitlement clause should also record which Regulation 33 sub-clause it is worked under.
• Photographs of the member and developer's representative for registration.

After registration, collect the registration receipt and the Index II for the DA and for every single PAAA, and keep them in the binder. A PAAA that was signed but never lodged is the gap that surfaces years later, when the member who signed it is no longer on the committee.

Which documents relate to conveyance and MahaRERA

Two threads run through all four checklists, and members often confuse them.

Conveyance (MOFA Section 11)

Conveyance documents prove the society owns the land it is redeveloping. The conveyance deed or the deemed-conveyance order and certificate, the Property Card, Index II and the chain of title all belong to this group. If the original promoter never conveyed the land — a very common problem in older Mumbai buildings — the society should secure deemed conveyance under Section 11(3) before or alongside redevelopment, so the new building is constructed on land the society clearly owns.

MahaRERA

MahaRERA documents protect members during construction. Under Section 3 of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, a project must be registered before it is advertised, marketed or sold (projects on land up to 500 sq m or with up to 8 apartments are exempt under Section 3(2)). Section 4(2)(l)(D) requires 70% of buyers' money to be kept in a separate scheduled-bank account and withdrawn in proportion to construction, with an annual CA audit. Section 14 bars changing the sanctioned plans without the consent of at least two-thirds of allottees, and Section 14(3) makes the promoter liable for structural or workmanship defects reported within five years of possession. Keep the MahaRERA registration certificate, the quarterly progress updates and the defect-liability record in your file — they are your leverage if things go wrong. Note also that RERA, 2016 defines a "promoter" to include a person who constructs or causes to be constructed a building of apartments for sale, so a society undertaking self-redevelopment can itself fall inside that definition. Settle in the agreement, in writing, who is the promoter and who is the co-promoter for MahaRERA purposes. Read more on RERA for redevelopment.

What this means for your society

A society that keeps all four checklists ready sends developers a clear signal: this is a serious, well-run committee that will hold the builder to the agreement. Practically, a complete file lets you (a) shortlist only genuine, MahaRERA-experienced developers; (b) register the DA and every PAAA without last-minute scrambling; (c) enforce the 20% bank guarantee, the completion timeline written into your development agreement and the five-year defect-liability period under Section 14(3) of RERA, 2016; and (d) defend the project if a member or an outsider challenges it. Assign one committee member to own the binder, scan every document, and store copies safely. Before you sign anything, run the draft agreement past our red flags in a development agreement guide. When you are ready to begin, register your society with us for a structured, step-by-step start.