Checklist Before Taking Possession of Your Flat

Possession day is a big moment, and builders know it. You've waited years, your family is excited, and the builder's staff are keen to hand over the keys, collect the final payment and get your signature on a stack of papers. It's exactly the moment when buyers give away rights they didn't mean to, pay charges they didn't owe, and accept defects that become their problem.

A little preparation changes that. This checklist covers the documents to ask for, the charges to check, a room-by-room inspection, the common areas, what to sign and what not to, and what to do in the weeks after. Print it, take it with you, and don't be rushed.

Part 1: Before you go

Check the occupancy certificate

Ask the builder for a copy of the occupancy certificate (or completion certificate) for your tower. An offer of possession without it generally isn't a valid offer under RERA, and delay interest usually keeps running. If there's no OC, read our guide on possession without OC before going further.

Read the possession letter

• Is it an offer of possession, or of "fit-out" possession?
• By when does the builder want you to take possession? Section 19(10) of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 requires you to take possession within two months of the occupancy certificate.
• What does it say about holding charges or maintenance if you don't take possession by a date?

Check the final demand, line by line

Compare every item with your agreement. Typical items:

• The last instalment of the price.
• Area adjustments. Any increase in super area or carpet area. Ask how it was calculated and for the approved plan. See our guide on carpet area vs super area.
• Parking: is it a covered garage allotted to you, or a charge for open parking, which is a common area?
• Club membership, power backup, electricity connection and meter charges. Are they in the agreement, and at the agreed amount?
• Maintenance deposits, such as interest-free maintenance security, and advance maintenance. Is the period reasonable and as agreed?
• EDC, IDC or other government charges, if the agreement passes them on. Ask for the government order behind any increase.
• Interest on your late payments. Is it at the prescribed rate, not 18%? Is it for periods when the builder itself was in default?
• Holding charges. Are they claimed for a period before a valid offer?
• Taxes, and an estimate of stamp duty and registration charges.

Write down anything you dispute. You can pay the undisputed amount and object to the rest in writing. See extra charges.

Get your account statement

Ask for the builder's statement of your account, showing every payment it has received from you and your bank. Reconcile it with your own records. Errors are common, and they're much easier to fix now.

Work out your delay interest

If possession is late, calculate the interest you're owed for the delay, at the prescribed rate, from the due date in your agreement until this offer. The builder may offer to adjust it against the final demand, or may offer far less. Know the figure before you discuss it. See our guide on RERA interest.

Talk to your bank

If you have a home loan, the bank may need to make a final disbursement, and will want to know about the possession and conveyance. If the builder was paying pre-EMI interest under a subvention scheme, check that it has been paid up to date, and what happens now. See our guide on subvention schemes.

Take the right people and tools

• Someone who knows construction, if possible: a civil engineer, an architect, or an experienced friend. Some firms offer professional snagging inspections.
• A measuring tape (or a laser measure), a spirit level, a torch, a small ball (to test floor slopes), a phone charger (to test sockets), a notebook and your phone camera.
• A copy of your agreement, its specifications schedule, and the floor plan.

Part 2: Inspecting the flat

Go through each room systematically. Note every problem, photograph it, and list it with its location.

Size and layout

• Measure each room and compare with the floor plan.
• Add up the carpet area roughly and compare it with the agreement.
• Check that the layout, door positions and window positions match the plan.

Walls and ceilings

• Cracks, especially diagonal ones near doors and windows, or long horizontal ones.
• Damp patches, peeling paint or efflorescence (white salty deposits), especially on external walls and around bathrooms.
• Uneven plaster or paint.
• Signs of seepage on ceilings, especially below bathrooms on the floor above, and on the top floor.

Floors

• Hollow-sounding tiles (tap them; a hollow sound means poor bonding).
• Cracked, chipped or uneven tiles; gaps in grouting.
• Slope: a ball placed in the middle of a room shouldn't roll away. In bathrooms and balconies, the floor should slope towards the drain.
• The flooring material and finish against the specification.

Doors and windows

• Do all doors and windows open, close and lock smoothly?
• Gaps around frames, letting in light, water or dust.
• Glass: cracks, scratches, and the specified type and thickness.
• Hardware: handles, hinges, locks, stoppers, and the main door's lock and peephole.
• Window sills sloping outwards, so rain doesn't come in.

Bathrooms

• Run every tap, hot and cold. Check water pressure and that water drains quickly.
• Flush every toilet several times. Check for leaks at the base and the cistern.
• Check for leaks under washbasins and around pipe joints.
• Pour water on the floor and see whether it flows to the drain or pools.
• Check waterproofing around the shower area; ask whether it was tested.
• Check the exhaust fan, geyser point and fittings against the specification.

Kitchen

• Sink taps and drainage, as for bathrooms.
• Countertop: cracks, level, and the material against the specification.
• Points for appliances, water purifier, chimney and gas connection.
• Any modular fittings promised: cabinets, hob, chimney.

Electrical

• Test every switch and socket (your phone charger helps).
• Check the main distribution board: circuit breakers labelled, an earth leakage breaker present.
• Check points for air-conditioners, geysers and appliances are where promised.
• Check that the meter is installed and its starting reading, and note it.
• Check the power backup connection and its load.

Balconies and utility areas

• Railings: firm, of adequate height, and without gaps a child could slip through.
• Drainage and slope.
• Waterproofing below and around.

Fixtures and specifications

Go through the specifications schedule in your agreement item by item: flooring, wall finish, doors, windows, sanitaryware brand, kitchen, electrical fittings, and anything promised as "premium". Note every deviation. Under Section 14(1) of the Act, the builder must develop the project according to the sanctioned plans and specifications.

Part 3: Common areas

You own the common areas together with the other buyers, and problems there affect you as much as problems in your flat.

• Lifts: working, with a valid licence or inspection certificate displayed, and a rescue device.
• Fire safety: extinguishers, hose reels, sprinklers, alarms and fire exits, and whether the fire NOC has been obtained.
• Parking: your allotted space, if any, clearly marked; adequate visitor parking.
• Water: the source (municipal, borewell, tanker), storage tanks, and the water treatment.
• Sewage treatment plant: working, and its capacity.
• Power backup: generators and their capacity.
• Security: gates, cameras, guards.
• Amenities: clubhouse, pool, gym, play areas and gardens, against what the agreement and sanctioned plans promised. See amenities.
• Roads, lighting and drainage inside the project.

Photograph anything missing or incomplete. These are often best taken up collectively, through the residents' association.

Part 4: The paperwork at handover

What to ask for

• A copy of the occupancy certificate for your tower.
• The possession letter or handover certificate, with the date.
• Your final statement of account and a no-dues certificate.
• Receipts for all final payments.
• The parking allotment letter, if you have a garage.
• Warranty cards and manuals for appliances and fittings supplied.
• A list of keys handed over.
• Electricity, water and gas meter details and readings.
• The maintenance agreement, if the builder or its agency is maintaining the building for now, showing the charges.
• A timeline for the conveyance deed (sale deed or sub-lease deed) and what you'll need for it.
• Information about the residents' association: whether it's formed, and how to join.

What not to sign

• "No claims" undertakings or indemnities saying you have no grievance against the builder, waive delay compensation, or accept the flat "as is". The Supreme Court held in Arifur Rahman Khan v. DLF Southern Homes (2020) that taking possession doesn't end a claim for delay compensation and that builders can't use possession to extract such waivers. But it's still better not to sign.
• Statements that the flat is defect-free, if it isn't.
• Acceptance of the area or charges you dispute.
• A maintenance agreement on terms you haven't read.

If the builder insists on a signature before handing over keys, write on the document, before signing, something like: "Accepted for possession only, without prejudice to my rights and claims, including for delay compensation, defects listed separately, and disputed charges." Keep a copy.

Part 5: Your snag list

Put every defect you found into a written snag list: location, description, photograph reference. Give it to the builder at handover, get it acknowledged with a date, and keep a copy. Under Section 14(3) of RERA, structural defects and defects in workmanship, quality or services that you report within five years of possession must be fixed by the builder within 30 days, free of charge. The date you reported each defect matters. See defects after possession.

Agree a timeline for the builder to fix the snags. Re-inspect after the work is done. Don't sign off any item until it's actually fixed.

Part 6: After you get the keys

1. Register your conveyance deed as soon as the builder is ready, paying stamp duty and registration charges. Under Section 17, the builder must execute it within the time local law requires, or three months from the occupancy certificate if the law is silent. If it doesn't, you can seek directions from RERA. See registry delays.
2. Mutate the property in the local body's records in your name, and start paying property tax.
3. Transfer utility connections, such as electricity and water, into your name where they're individual.
4. Join the residents' association, or help form one. RERA requires the builder to enable its formation and hand over common areas, documents and funds.
5. Insure your home and contents.
6. Keep reporting defects in writing as they appear, within the five-year window.
7. Claim delay interest if it hasn't been settled. You can do so after possession.
8. Keep every document in one place: the agreement, OC, possession letter, snag list, conveyance deed, receipts.

A worked example

Here's a made-up example. Karan receives a possession offer for his Gurugram flat with an OC copy, a demand for Rs 11 lakh, and a request to sign an "undertaking of satisfaction". He checks the demand: Rs 6 lakh is the last instalment, Rs 2 lakh is a super area increase with no explanation, Rs 1.5 lakh is two years' advance maintenance (the agreement says one year), and Rs 1.5 lakh is club and power backup charges as agreed.

He pays Rs 6 lakh plus the agreed club and backup charges plus one year's maintenance, and writes objecting to the area increase and the second year's maintenance. He works out his delay interest at about Rs 18 lakh and asks the builder to adjust it. At the inspection, his engineer friend finds hollow tiles in two rooms, a leaking bathroom pipe, and a balcony that slopes the wrong way. He hands over a snag list and gets it signed. He refuses the undertaking of satisfaction, but signs the handover certificate with a written reservation of his rights.

The builder fixes the snags within a month. It refuses to adjust delay interest, so Karan files a complaint with HRERA Gurugram, which awards the interest and disallows the unexplained area increase.

Special situations

If you bought a plot or a villa

The checklist changes a little for plots. You aren't inspecting walls and tiles. You're checking the land and the services that reach it. Walk the boundaries with the builder's surveyor and the layout plan, and make sure the boundary stones or markers are where they should be. Measure the frontage and depth. Check the plot number on the ground against your allotment letter, because mix-ups happen more than you'd think in large plotted colonies. Look at the road in front of the plot: is it laid to the width shown in the plan, with drainage on the side? Ask where the water, sewer and electricity connections will come from, and whether they're already at the plot boundary or still "proposed".

For a villa or a builder floor, combine both lists. Inspect the structure as you would a flat, but also check the land around it, the boundary wall, the terrace waterproofing, and who is responsible for the external services. On builder floors, the terrace and basement rights often cause disputes later, so make sure your agreement and possession letter say clearly which ones are yours.

If you bought the flat on resale before possession

Many buyers in NCR bought their booking from the original allottee, with the builder's endorsement. At possession, check that the builder's records show you as the allottee, that the transfer was properly endorsed, and that every payment made by the original buyer is credited in your statement of account. Builders sometimes treat a resale buyer as a fresh buyer for delay interest purposes and calculate it only from the date of the transfer. The law on this has been argued both ways, and the answer can depend on the facts and the authority. Keep the transfer papers and the original buyer's receipts handy, and see transfer and resale disputes if the builder raises fresh charges.

If you can't be there in person

If you live abroad or in another city, you can authorise someone to inspect the flat and take possession for you. Use a properly drafted power of attorney that covers taking possession, signing the possession documents with a reservation of rights, paying dues, and, if you want, executing the conveyance deed. A power of attorney executed abroad usually has to be notarised or attested at the Indian embassy or consulate, and then adjudicated for stamp duty once it reaches India, within the time the state allows. Brief your representative with this checklist and ask for photographs and a video of every room. See NRI home buyers if a dispute arises.

If the builder is under insolvency

Where the builder is in insolvency proceedings, possession is usually handled by the resolution professional or the new developer under the approved resolution plan. The plan may change what's payable, the timelines and even the delay compensation. Read the plan, or at least the summary circulated to buyers, before you pay anything. Our guide on builder insolvency explains how this works.

Common mistakes buyers make at possession

From the cases we see, the same few mistakes come up again and again.

• Paying everything in the demand letter without reading it. Final demands often bundle legitimate dues with charges that the agreement doesn't allow. Once paid, getting the money back means a complaint.
• Doing the inspection in a hurry on the same day as handover. Ask for a separate inspection visit, ideally in daylight and with the water and electricity running.
• Accepting verbal promises. "We'll fix that next week" means nothing unless it's on the snag list, signed and dated.
• Signing a waiver to get the keys faster. The courts have protected buyers who did, but you'll spend time and money arguing about it.
• Not keeping copies. Photograph or scan every document you sign, on the day you sign it.
• Waiting too long to complain about defects. The five-year window runs from possession, and early written reports make your case much easier.
• Forgetting the delay interest. Many buyers are so relieved to get the flat that they never claim what they're owed for the years of delay.

How long should all this take?

Plan for at least two visits: one for inspection and the snag list, and a second, after the builder has fixed the snags, to take the keys and sign. The paperwork for payment and the no-dues certificate can be done in parallel. If you have a loan, add time for the bank's final disbursement. The conveyance deed often comes weeks or months later, and you should keep following up on it in writing until it's registered.

Remember the two-month rule in Section 19(10) as well. Once the builder makes a valid offer of possession with the occupancy certificate, you're expected to take possession within two months. If you delay without good reason, the builder may start charging holding or maintenance charges as the agreement allows, and your delay interest claim for the period after the offer may be weaker. So prepare in advance, raise your objections quickly and in writing, and don't let the inspection drag on.

When to get legal help

You don't need a lawyer for most handovers. But it's worth taking advice if the builder refuses to hand over keys until you sign a waiver or pay disputed charges, if the offer comes without an occupancy certificate, if the area has changed significantly, if serious defects are found and the builder won't fix them, or if you want to claim delay interest and the builder refuses to adjust it. A short lawyer's letter at this stage often settles matters. If it doesn't, the RERA complaint is straightforward when your paperwork is in order. See filing a RERA complaint and legal notice to builder.

The bottom line

Possession is the last moment when you have real bargaining power with the builder. Check the occupancy certificate, check every line of the final demand, inspect the flat and common areas carefully, put every defect in writing, and never sign away your rights. Take possession, keep your claims, and follow up on the conveyance deed until it's registered in your name.

Frequently asked questions

How long do I have to take possession after the offer?

Section 19(10) of RERA requires you to take possession within two months of the occupancy certificate being issued, once a valid offer is made.

Can the builder refuse to give possession unless I pay disputed charges?

Builders often try. Pay the undisputed amount, object in writing to the rest, and if needed ask RERA for a direction to hand over on payment of the undisputed dues.

Should I sign a "no claims" undertaking?

No. If you must sign a handover document, add a written reservation of your rights.

Can I still claim delay interest after taking possession?

Yes. Taking possession doesn't end the claim, following Arifur Rahman Khan (2020).

What if I find defects after moving in?

Report them in writing. The builder must fix defects reported within five years of possession within 30 days, under Section 14(3).

Should I hire a professional for the inspection?

It's worth it for a new flat, especially to check waterproofing, electrical work and structural signs. At least take someone with construction experience.

What documents should I keep after possession?

The agreement, OC, possession letter, snag list, account statement, no-dues certificate, conveyance deed, receipts and warranty cards.

A general checklist for taking possession of a new flat under the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016. Charges, certificates and registration procedures differ between states and projects. This article isn't legal or technical advice for your specific situation.