Inheriting a flat in Maharashtra: transmission, legal heirs and what a will still needs

The letter from the society usually arrives a few weeks after the funeral, and it asks a question nobody in the family has thought about: who is the member now? To inherit a flat in Maharashtra, a family moves three separate records, each on its own paperwork. The flat itself passes under the will, or under the succession law that applies to the family. The society's register moves by transmission. The tax bill and the meters follow. And since December 2025, the step that once held up many Mumbai inheritances, compulsory probate, no longer exists.

Kavita builds the file nobody needs yet#

Suresh and Kavita (illustrative, as our stories always are) live in the Pune retirement flat they bought for Rs 95 lakh without a loan, in Suresh's sole name, in a tower with its own co-operative housing society. After their elder son pointed out that a nomination does not decide who inherits, Suresh made a will leaving the flat to Kavita. A gift of half the flat to her waits on their accountant's view, and Kavita has made a will for that half.

Kavita, a retired bank officer, had seen families reach a bank counter with the wrong papers in the worst week of their lives. So she is writing down, while nobody needs it, what the survivor, or their son, would have to do and with which document. Names and numbers in this story are illustrative.

What inheriting a flat involves#

Inheritance is the passing of a person's property on death to those entitled to it: under a will if there is one, and otherwise under the succession law that applies to the family. It happens by operation of law, and no deed is signed.

What does not happen by itself is the paperwork. In a co-operative housing society a flat comes with shares in the society and membership of it, and moving a deceased member's shares and interest to the person entitled is called transmission, to tell it apart from a transfer on a sale. The share certificate guide explains why that register is a separate record from ownership.

Think of a car whose owner dies. The heirs own it from that moment, but the registration certificate carries the old name until someone applies with the death certificate and proof of who inherits, and nobody can sell it in their own name before that. A flat works the same way: the law moves the ownership, and the society's register, the tax bill and the meter each wait for an application.

What changed in December 2025, and what a will still needs#

Until December 2025, section 213 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925 barred an executor or a beneficiary from establishing a right under a will in court without probate, a court's grant confirming the will, for many wills made in, or dealing with property in, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai. The Repealing and Amending Act, 2025, assented to on 20 December 2025, omitted that section. A will covering a Mumbai flat can now be relied on without going to court first, as one made in Pune for a Pune flat always could.

The change moved a court step, not what makes a will work. A will still has to be signed and witnessed as the law requires, found by the people who need it, and proved if anyone challenges it. Probate can still be applied for, and is worth considering where a challenge is likely or an institution will not act without it. Lawyers expect courts, banks and registries to update their practice at different speeds, and many societies work from bye-laws written before the change, some asking for a probated will. The chain of title guide shows what a buyer of an inherited flat asks to see instead of probate.

How the society moves the shares#

A society acts on the nomination first and on proof of entitlement second. Since the 2019 amendment of the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, section 154B-13 has the society admit a nominee as a provisional member, holding the flat for whoever is entitled under the will, the succession law or a family arrangement until that person is admitted: the trustee position nomination is not a will describes. Where nobody was nominated, the model bye-laws have the society publish a notice inviting claims within six months of being told of the death. Where several heirs claim, they name by affidavit the one to become the member, and that heir gives the society an indemnity bond.

Since 30 June 2026, a chapter for housing societies inserted by the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies (Amendment) Rules, 2026 (Chapter XI-B, rules 106C-1 to 106C-14) has also covered nomination, temporary membership, succession, legal heirs and family arrangements, and revised model bye-laws were in draft in September 2026, so check which version your society has adopted.

Proving who inherits when there is no will#

Without a will, the family has to show who the heirs are, and each institution decides which proof it accepts.

Where the heirs agree, the society's own route needs no court: their affidavit and indemnity bond, with proof of who they are. A court's certificate becomes necessary when the heirs disagree, when an institution insists, or when the society cannot identify the heir, in which case the bye-laws let it ask for one and admit claimants provisionally in the meantime.

Release deeds, stamp duty and tax#

An inheritance needs no deed and attracts no stamp duty, which is a tax on documents: a will is not stamped, and transmission is an entry in the society's register. Duty arises only on a document the heirs choose to sign, most often a release deed, by which heirs give up their shares to the one keeping the flat. Under Article 52 of Schedule I to the Maharashtra Stamp Act, a release of ancestral property by or in favour of the renouncer's spouse, son or daughter, father or mother, brother or sister, a predeceased son's child, or the legal heirs of those relations is charged Rs 200; any other release pays the conveyance duty on the market value of the share given up.

Whether a flat the deceased bought counts as ancestral is a question to settle with a lawyer or the sub-registrar before drafting: on a one-third share of a Rs 95 lakh flat, the answer separates Rs 200 from more than Rs 1.5 lakh. The release is registered, with its own fee, as registration day at the sub-registrar describes, and the gift deed guide compares it with a gift and a will.

Receiving a flat under a will or by inheritance is not income, and the inheritance is not a sale taxed as a capital gain. Tax arises when the heir sells: the gain is measured from what the previous owner paid, the rule that was section 49(1) of the Income-tax Act, 1961, and the previous owner's years count towards the heir's, so more than 24 months between them makes the gain long-term. The Income-tax Act, 2025 keeps both rules; capital gains on the sale of a house sets out the rates.

How many households this touches#

Transmission is routine business for a society, because a building outlives its first members.

The owners are getting older too. The India Ageing Report 2023 of UNFPA and the International Institute for Population Sciences counted 149 million Indians aged 60 and above in 2022, 10.5 percent of the population, and projects 347 million, 20.8 percent, by 2050. More flats will pass by inheritance each year, each through a society's register.

Where families get it wrong#

Treating the nominee as the heir. The nominee holds the flat for those entitled. A nomination in a son's name does not override a will in the widow's favour.

Signing an affidavit where a release deed was needed. The affidavit names the member. It moves no share of ownership, and a later buyer will want the registered releases.

Leaving the records for later. Dues keep running on the flat, and the society settles them before it completes the transfer. Property tax on your flat explains how each corporation works out the bill the new name will receive.

Throwing away the purchase papers. The heir's gain on a later sale is measured from the previous owner's cost, so the original agreement and receipts are tax papers for the next generation.

What the filings add#

An heir inherits the building's record with the flat, including anything unfinished in its MahaRERA registration. For a covered Maharashtra project, the Rs 499 ReraGenie buyer report sets that record out: land and title as five questions, among them whether the land is mortgaged and what the legal title report concludes, with the exceptions its advocate attached; complaints and cases in plain words; and the project's filed documents as a ZIP, which belong in the same file as the will. See the buyer report.

If the project still has unfinished work, its free page on ReraGenie shows the registration's status and any complaints with case numbers, and the Rs 299 project watch emails you when that project's filing changes.

What Kavita's file holds#

The top page lists who to tell, in what order, and what each will ask for. Under it sit the registered agreement and its Index II, the share certificate, the society's copy of the nomination in Kavita's favour, a note of where both wills are kept, the tax and utility account numbers, and the project's MahaRERA registration number, because the unfinished towers and the clubhouse sit in the same registration. The secretary's answer to her letter is clipped to the front: a death certificate, the will, an indemnity bond and, under bye-laws adopted years ago, possibly probate. Their son has a copy of the top page.

The one-line summary#

A flat passes under the will or the succession law, the society moves its shares to the nominee and then to whoever is entitled, heirs settle their shares by registered release deeds, and since 20 December 2025 probate is a choice rather than a step.

This article is educational and not legal advice. For a will, an inheritance without one, or a society that will not complete a transmission, consult a lawyer who handles succession in Maharashtra.