As per the amendment, developers can face criminal action and be barred from any construction projects for five years if they fail to transfer the plot to the housing society with ‘the prescribed period’.

The ‘prescribed period’ for execution of conveyance is defined in Rule 9 of MOFA, as “If no period for conveying the title of the promoters to the organisation of flat purchasers is agreed upon, the promoter shall execute the conveyance within four months from the date on which the cooperative society or the company is registered”.

As a matter of practice, developers never specify in the agreement the period for conveying the title. However, experts state that now developers can use the clause to their benefit.

To escape executing the conveyance within four months, they can mention the time period in the agreement, which could range from five years to ten years or till the time the entire layout is completed.

Like Yogi Nagar in Borivali where none of the 60 housing societies has the conveyance in their names as the developer is planning to construct more buildings by modifying the layout.

“Most of the societies are about 25 years old and we want to now go for redevelopment but the developer wants to retain even the redevelopment rights with him,” said society chairman Dr Arun Kumar Agarwal.

According to housing expert Sreedhar Sharma, in the absence of an upper time limit for builders, the flat owners will have no bargaining power.

“Till the time the conveyance is executed all residual rights of the plot would remain with the developer. Like the right to collect rent for allowing hoardings. The developer can also convert the playground meant for the society into a clubhouse and sell the membership at a high cost,” said Sharma.

Another loophole in the amendment is that it lays down no time period for the sub-registrar to issue the deemed conveyance. “Residents who were at the mercy of builders for so long could end up being at the mercy of officials,” said Shirish Deshpande from the Mumbai Grahak Panchayat. He added that the spirit of the act should be borne in mind and the cases should be attended to expediously.