The brochure carries one builder's logo and the sales office belongs to the same builder, yet on 44 percent of Maharashtra's published projects the filing names someone else on the land as well: a farming family, a housing society, a firm. That is not a warning sign. It is how a large part of Maharashtra's housing gets built. But it changes who you are buying from, and the joint development flat you like may sit in the landowner's share rather than the builder's.
Key takeaways
- Of 56,068 published MahaRERA projects as updated on 3 October 2026, 24,760 (44.2 percent) name at least one landowner other than the promoter on the filing.
- The share has risen from 30.7 percent of 2017 registrations to 59.2 percent of those registered in 2026.
- Most of those other landowners are named individuals (73.4 percent of such projects); housing societies, often a redevelopment, are 15.8 percent.
- In 93.2 percent of these projects the filing attaches a document in the slot meant for the development agreement, and in 87.4 percent a declaration in the landowner's name, usually Form B.
- Before booking, find out whose share your flat is in, who signs your agreement, and whether the landowner is on the registration as a co-promoter.
Priya and Arjun's two flats
Priya and Arjun (illustrative, as our stories always are) were down to two flats in the same Pune tower, one on the fourth floor and one on the seventh, at nearly the same price. The sales manager mentioned, almost in passing, that the seventh-floor flat was "landowner inventory" and would be sold by the landowning family, with the builder signing for them. Arjun's spreadsheet had no row for that. Names and numbers in this story are illustrative.
They opened the project's MahaRERA filing that evening. The land section named the builder and four members of one family as landowners. Under the family's names sat a development agreement and a declaration for each of them. The agreement's allocation schedule listed the landowners' flats by number, and the seventh-floor flat was one of them. Nothing in that was wrong. It simply meant their agreement would name the family as the seller, signed by the builder under a power of attorney, and they now knew which document to ask for.
What a joint development is
In a joint development, the landowner contributes the land and the builder contributes the approvals, the money for construction and the selling. The output is split by an agreed formula. In area sharing, the landowner receives specific finished flats and sells them; in revenue sharing, the landowner receives a share of the sale proceeds and the builder sells every flat. The developer-side mechanics, including the commonly cited 25 to 50 percent landowner share, are set out in joint development agreements compared.
Think of a crop-sharing arrangement on a farm. One family owns the field, a cultivator brings the seed and the labour, and the harvest is divided by an agreed formula. Whoever buys a basket of the harvest is buying from one of the two, and needs to know which, because that is who answers if the basket is short.
The law catches both partners. The RERA Act's definition of a promoter carries an explanation: where the person who builds and the person who sells are different persons, both are deemed promoters and are jointly liable for the Act's obligations. In MahaRERA's practice, a landowner who takes a share of the flats or of the revenue signs on to the registration as a co-promoter and files the same sworn Form B declaration the promoter files. How far a landowner answers to buyers then follows the development agreement, and authorities have decided disputed cases on their facts.
How common it is, and getting commoner
Source: ReraGenie analysis of 56,068 published MahaRERA registrations, as updated on 3 October 2026
A majority of projects registered since 2022 name someone besides the promoter on the land. Part of that is redevelopment, where the land belongs to a housing society, and part is the joint development model spreading. ANAROCK counted 17 joint development agreements, covering 782 acres worth Rs 6,765 crore, among the 76 land deals it tracked in the first half of 2025, and 126 land deals covering 3,772 acres across 2025 as a whole, against 133 deals and about 2,514 acres in 2024. The register shows the same model reaching the flats buyers book.
Who the other landowners are
Source: ReraGenie analysis of MahaRERA land-owner filings, as updated on 3 October 2026; each project counted once
Named individuals dominate, and in about half of all these projects (11,938) the filing names two or more landowners, each of whom is a party you may need to hear from. Housing societies are the redevelopment case: 1,863 of the 3,922 projects naming a society also file rehabilitation units, the flats that go back to the old members. A company on the land record may be related to the promoter or entirely separate, and the filing does not say which; either way, the entity you sign with and the entity that owns the ground differ, which matters when you read the promoter's record.
What the filing attaches for the landowner
Source: ReraGenie analysis of documents filed against named landowners on MahaRERA, as updated on 3 October 2026
The development agreement slot usually holds the agreement itself, sometimes in several parts, and sometimes a supplementary deed or a memorandum instead. The declaration is the landowner's own sworn statement as a co-promoter. A power of attorney appears when the builder signs on the landowners' behalf, which is the normal way landowner-share flats are sold. The 1,655 projects that attach nothing against a named landowner are the ones where a buyer has the most to ask.
One more number belongs here because it answers the question buyers ask first. Projects naming another landowner are no more likely to read Lapsed than the rest of the register: 24.3 percent against 25.3 percent. A joint development is a structure, not a risk score.
Where buyers get it wrong
Assuming the builder owns the land. On 44 percent of published projects the filing says otherwise. The 7/12 extract and property card show the land record itself, and the title report filed with the project tells you how the promoter came to hold development rights.
Not asking whose share the flat is in. Under area sharing, a landowner-share flat is sold by the landowner. The price, the payment schedule and even the receiving bank account can differ from the builder's flats in the same tower. Ask for the allocation schedule, and read the allotment letter with the seller's name in mind.
Accepting a signature without the authority behind it. If the builder signs for the landowners, ask to see the power of attorney, check that it is registered, that it covers your flat and that every landowner named on the filing gave it.
Ignoring a dispute between the partners. A falling-out between landowner and builder can freeze a project for years. Read the litigation section of the filing, and the method in checking a builder's litigation history, for cases between the two.
Treating a society redevelopment as a plain new project. The society's members get their rehabilitation flats first, and the sale flats fund the scheme. The extra checks for a redevelopment apply in full.
If the sales office calls a flat "landowner inventory", ask for three documents before paying anything: the development agreement's allocation schedule showing that flat, the landowner's declaration on the MahaRERA filing, and the power of attorney under which someone else will sign for the landowner. All three should name the same people.
What the report shows for one project
The Rs 499 ReraGenie buyer report answers land and title as five questions for one project: who owns the land as filed, what right the promoter has to build and sell, whether the land is mortgaged, what the legal title report concludes and the exceptions it attaches, and whether anything is disputed. It sets out complaints and court cases in plain words, and lists the promoter's other registrations and how they ended. The mortgage question has its own data story in what MahaRERA's declared charges show.
Before you visit a sales office, look the project up on ReraGenie: its free page lists every landowner the filing names, with village and district, beside the promoter, so you know whether you are walking into a joint development before anyone tells you.
Methodology and sources
- ReraGenie analysis of 56,068 published MahaRERA registrations, as updated on 3 October 2026. A project counts as naming another landowner when its land-owner filing lists at least one name that differs from the promoter's after spelling differences in legal forms are folded.
- Landowner types are read from the filed names: a co-operative or housing society word marks a society; a government body, municipal body, MHADA, CIDCO or MIDC marks a public body; a trust or religious body marks a trust; a company or firm word marks a company; the rest are named individuals. Each project is counted once.
- Attached documents are counted by the slot the filing places them in; slot contents were checked against filed file names.
- Lapsed comparison: registration status on the same date.
- Land deals: ANAROCK Research, land deal reports for the first half of 2025 and for calendar 2025.
- Law: Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, section 2(zk) and its explanation.
This article is educational and not legal advice. For a dispute, consult a lawyer who practices before your state's RERA.
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