A Mumbai buyer found what looked like a clean resale: a flat in a suburban society, the seller holding a share certificate transferred into his name after his father died, listed as the nominee. The society records showed him plainly as the member. Only when the buyer's lawyer asked about the seller's siblings did the picture change. The father had left no will, there were three other children, and none had given up their claim. The nominee could sit in the society register all he liked, but he was not the sole owner, and a sale by him alone would have handed the buyer a title that three other heirs could contest for years.

The short answer. In a Maharashtra housing society, being the nominee is not the same as owning the flat. When a member dies, the society transfers the shares to the nominee, but the nominee holds them in trust for the legal heirs, and ownership passes by succession law or a valid will, not by the nomination. For a buyer this matters enormously: purchasing from a nominee alone, without the consent of every legal heir, can leave you with a title others can challenge. The trade off is a little more paperwork before you buy, confirming who the heirs are and getting them to release their shares, against the risk of a dispute that can freeze your flat for years. Where there is a will, it usually needs to be proved before you can rely on it.

What does a nominee actually own?

A nominee owns nothing by virtue of the nomination; they hold the flat in trust for whoever is legally entitled to inherit it. Nomination is a mechanism to give the society a single person to deal with when a member dies, so that the shares and the flat have a caretaker while succession is sorted out. Courts have repeatedly held that this caretaker, the nominee, does not become the owner, and that the real title vests in the legal heirs under the applicable succession law or under a valid will. In other words, the nomination answers the question of who the society hands the keys to for administration, not the question of who owns the asset. For a buyer, that distinction is the whole game, because you can only get good title from the true owners, not from a person who merely holds the flat on their behalf.

Why does the society still transfer the flat to the nominee?

Because the society's job is to keep its membership records moving, not to decide inheritance. On a member's death the society is required to transfer the shares to the nominee on record, and it will show that person as the member going forward, which is exactly what misleads buyers. That transfer is an administrative step that lets the society collect dues and hold meetings with a clear counterpart; it is not an adjudication that the nominee is the owner. The society is neither empowered nor equipped to rule on who the rightful heirs are, so it does the limited thing it can and records the nominee. A buyer who reads the share certificate as proof of ownership is reading it for something it was never meant to prove. The register tells you who the society deals with, and nothing more final than that.

What does this mean when I am buying such a flat?

It means you cannot rely on the nominee's name alone, and you must establish who all the legal heirs are and secure their consent to the sale. If the deceased left no will, the flat devolves on the heirs under the succession law that applies to the family, and each of them holds a share whether or not their name ever reached the society records. A sale by the nominee without the others is a sale of only part of the title, and the missing heirs can later assert their shares, which is the classic way an apparently clean purchase turns into litigation. The safe path is to identify every heir, have them either join the sale or formally release their share, and, where there is a will, to see it properly proved. None of this is exotic; it is the standard diligence for any inherited property, and skipping it is what turns a bargain into a burden. It is worth understanding that inherited co owners each hold an undivided share, so a sale deed signed by one of them does not extinguish the shares of the others; it merely transfers that one person's portion, leaving you a co owner with strangers rather than the outright owner you thought you were becoming. That is why the consent of every heir, not just the one holding the keys, is what actually delivers a whole title.

Nominee, will and legal heirs, who has the real claim?

The people and documents involved each play a different role, and confusing them is where buyers go wrong. The table below sets out what each one actually gives.

Reading down the table, the pattern is that ownership sits with the heirs or the beneficiaries of a proved will, while the nominee and the society register are only about administration. A buyer's job is to move from the administrative record to the ownership reality before parting with money.

What documents make the title safe to buy?

You are looking for proof of who inherited and evidence that every other claimant has stepped aside. Where there is no will, that usually means establishing the legal heirs, often through a legal heirship or succession document, and obtaining a release or relinquishment deed from each heir who is not selling, so that the share consolidates in the seller. Where there is a will, it generally needs to be proved before you can safely rely on it, and in some cases that means a grant from the court, so a will waved across a table is not by itself enough. The society's no objection and an updated share certificate are useful, but remember they follow ownership rather than establish it, so they sit on top of the succession documents, not in place of them. A property lawyer should confirm that the chain from the deceased owner to your seller is complete before you commit. Where the estate is large or the heirs are scattered, that confirmation can extend to a grant of probate or letters of administration, which is the court's formal recognition of who may deal with the deceased's property. Building the cost and the time of these steps into your plan is far wiser than discovering mid purchase that a key document does not yet exist and cannot be produced overnight.

How do I check before buying an inherited flat?

Work through these steps before you pay any advance on a flat that came to the seller through a death.

1. Ask directly how the seller acquired the flat, and whether it came through inheritance or nomination.
2. Establish whether the previous owner left a will, and if so obtain and read it.
3. Identify every legal heir of the deceased under the succession law that applies.
4. Confirm each heir who is not selling has given a registered release of their share.
5. Check that any will has been properly proved where the law requires it.
6. Treat the society share certificate as supporting, not conclusive, proof of ownership.
7. Have a property lawyer verify the full chain from the deceased owner to your seller.

How does this fit the society transfer and title checks?

Nomination sits inside the wider society and title picture, and it is the piece most often misread as settling ownership when it does not. Our guide to the society transfer and share certificate explains the membership record you will be checking, and our note on deemed conveyance in Maharashtra covers how the land under the building is separately conveyed to the society. Read alongside those, the lesson here is narrow and important: the society register shows who the society deals with, but ownership of an inherited flat is decided by succession, so a buyer must look past the nominee to the heirs. Get that right and the share certificate and no objection fall into place afterwards; get it wrong and no amount of society paperwork will cure a missing heir's claim.

Frequently asked questions

Does a society nominee own the flat? No. In a Maharashtra housing society the nominee holds the flat in trust for the legal heirs; the nomination does not make them the owner. The society transfers the shares to the nominee on the member's death for administration, but ownership passes by succession law or a valid will, so a buyer must look past the nominee to the heirs.

Can I buy a flat from the nominee alone? Not safely, unless the nominee is also the sole legal heir or every other heir has released their share. Buying from the nominee without the other heirs gives you only part of the title, and the missing heirs can later assert their shares. Identify all heirs and secure their consent or a registered release before you pay.

Does a will override the nomination? Yes. Ownership follows a valid will or, absent a will, the succession law, not the nomination. A will usually needs to be proved before you can rely on it, sometimes through a grant from the court. A will simply shown across a table is not, by itself, enough to make a purchase safe.

What document shows who the legal heirs are? Heirship is usually established through a legal heirship or succession document, and where there is a will, through the proved will. These, together with registered releases from any heir who is not selling, are what consolidate ownership in your seller. The society share certificate supports this record but does not by itself establish it.

Last updated 2026-08-30. PropNewz Team.