Three years after moving into a large Bengaluru apartment complex, the residents still did not control their own building. The clubhouse was run by the builder's team, the maintenance money went into an account no owner could see, and requests for the sanctioned plans and the records went unanswered. There was no registered owners' association, so there was no one with the legal standing to demand a handover. The flats had been sold and possession given, but the common areas that residents had paid for through the price of every flat were still, in practice, the developer's to hold. The gap was not the building. It was that no one had formed the body the law expects to take charge of it.

The short answer. Once a Bengaluru project has its occupancy certificate, the builder is expected to hand over the common areas to a registered association of the owners, generally within about three months, execute the deed of declaration, and convey the common areas to the association under Section 17 of the Real Estate Act. The builder also stays liable for structural defects for five years from possession under Section 14. The trade off is effort against drift. Forming the association and pressing for a documented handover takes organising, but without it the common areas, the records and the maintenance funds tend to stay with the developer long after the flats are sold.

Who owns the common areas after you buy a flat?

The common areas belong collectively to the flat owners, not to the builder, once the project is complete, and that is the principle the handover process exists to give effect to. When you buy a flat, the price covers not just your unit but an undivided interest in the lobbies, staircases, lifts, the clubhouse, the open spaces and the other shared parts of the project. The developer builds and holds these during construction, but they are meant to pass to the body of owners once the building is finished and occupied. Until that transfer happens formally, the owners have paid for common areas they do not yet legally control, which is exactly the situation a builder who is slow to hand over benefits from. Understanding that the common areas are already yours in substance, and that the handover is the step that makes it real, is what tells a buyer why the association and the conveyance matter rather than being paperwork to leave for later. It also explains why a builder who keeps running the clubhouse and holding the accounts long after the flats are sold is not doing the owners a favour but holding on to what is theirs, and why the cost of that delay falls on residents in higher charges and weaker control until the transfer is done.

When must the builder hand over the common areas?

The handover is tied to the occupancy certificate, and it is not meant to drag on indefinitely. After the project receives its occupancy certificate, the developer is required to hand over the common areas to the association of owners, along with physical possession, generally within about three months. That handover is not only of keys and spaces. The developer is also expected to execute the deed of declaration and to hand over the project records, which include the sanctioned plans, the approvals, the specifications and the working drawings, so that the owners hold the documents that describe their own building. Karnataka's real estate regulator has held that builders must hand over the common areas to the residents' association, reinforcing that this is an obligation rather than a courtesy. For a buyer, the practical marker is the occupancy certificate. Once it is issued, the clock on the handover has effectively started, and an association that is ready to receive can hold the builder to it.

What is the owners' association and how is it formed?

The association is the registered body of owners that can lawfully receive the common areas, so forming it is the step that makes a handover possible. Under the real estate rules the allottees form an association, which has to be registered under the applicable law so that it exists as a body capable of holding property and records, rather than as an informal residents' group. In practice this means registering the association and having its office bearers in place, because a builder cannot convey the common areas to a group that has no legal existence. This is why the order of events matters. Buyers who wait for the builder to volunteer a handover often find nothing happens, while buyers who organise, register the association and then formally seek the handover have a counterparty the developer must deal with. The association is also what later manages the maintenance, the corpus and the running of the building, so its formation is the hinge between a project the developer controls and one the owners run.

What must the builder actually hand over?

The handover covers spaces, documents and money, and the table below sets what a buyer should expect against what developers often leave undone.

The conveyance of the common areas under Section 17 is the one most often left pending, and it is the one that secures the owners' title to the shared parts and the land they sit on. A buyer weighing a project, or a resident chasing a slow handover, can use this list as the checklist of what a complete transfer looks like. Anything on it that is missing is something still owed, not something waived by the passage of time.

What is the five year defect liability, and how do I use it?

The five year defect liability makes the builder responsible for fixing structural and workmanship defects for five years after possession, at no cost to the buyer. Under Section 14 of the Real Estate Act, if a structural defect, poor workmanship or the use of inferior materials comes to light within five years of handover of possession, the promoter has to rectify it without further charge, and is expected to do so within thirty days of a written complaint. Where the promoter fails to rectify within that window, the allottee is entitled to compensation as decided by the state authority. For a buyer this is a right worth knowing at possession rather than discovering after a leak or a crack, because it is time bound and it depends on a written complaint. Keep the possession date on record, raise defects in writing, and hold the builder to the thirty day timeline. The liability sits alongside the handover, because a building that is properly conveyed to an active association is also one where these complaints have an organised body to pursue them. A single owner chasing a builder alone is easy to ignore, while a registered association raising the same defect on behalf of everyone is far harder to put off.

What should buyers and the association secure?

Work through these steps as a project nears possession and after.

1. Confirm the project has its occupancy certificate, which starts the handover clock.
2. Form and register the owners' association so it can lawfully receive the common areas.
3. Seek physical possession of the common areas within about three months of the OC.
4. Obtain the deed of declaration and the full set of sanctioned plans and approvals.
5. Take over the maintenance accounts and the corpus with a clear statement of balances.
6. Press for the conveyance of the common areas to the association under Section 17.
7. Record the possession date and raise any structural defect in writing within five years.

How does this fit my other Bengaluru checks?

The handover connects the certificate you insisted on at possession with the money the building runs on afterwards. It begins with the occupancy certificate, which we cover in our guide to the occupancy and completion certificates, and it hands the association control of the maintenance corpus and sinking fund that a project such as Prestige City on Sarjapur Road will collect from its owners. The certificate, the handover and the corpus are stages of the same transition from a builder run project to an owner run one. Getting the association in place early is what lets the later stages happen on the owners' terms rather than the developer's.

Frequently asked questions

When must a Bengaluru builder hand over the common areas? After the project receives its occupancy certificate, the developer is required to hand over the common areas to the registered owners' association, along with physical possession, generally within about three months. The handover includes the deed of declaration and the project records such as sanctioned plans and approvals.

Why does the owners' association have to be registered? Because the common areas can only be conveyed to a body that legally exists. Under the real estate rules the allottees form an association registered under the applicable law, so that it can hold property and records as a corporate body. A builder cannot convey to an unregistered set of residents, so forming and registering the association comes first.

What is the conveyance of common areas under Section 17? Section 17 of the Real Estate Act requires the promoter to convey the common areas to the association of allottees. This secures the owners' title to the shared parts of the project and the land they sit on, and it is the step most often left pending after possession. Insist that the promoter execute it.

How long is the builder liable for defects? Under Section 14 of the Real Estate Act, the builder is liable for structural defects, poor workmanship or inferior materials for five years from the handover of possession, and must rectify them free of cost, generally within thirty days of a written complaint. If the builder fails to do so, the buyer is entitled to compensation.

Last updated 2026-08-31. PropNewz Team.