The transition from builder-managed to society-managed is the most consequential thing that happens to a residential building after possession, and it is routinely handled as an afternoon meeting with a bank balance transfer. It should be treated as a due diligence exercise, because everything the outgoing party fails to hand over becomes the society’s problem permanently.
Ask for documents before you ask for money
Money is easy to reconcile later. Drawings are not. The set we ask for, in this order:
- Approved building plans, occupancy certificate, and completion certificate.
- As-built services drawings — plumbing, drainage, electrical single line diagram, fire fighting layout. As-built, not tender drawings.
- The conveyance or deemed conveyance position, stated plainly, with whatever has been filed.
- Equipment files: lift, DG, pumps, STP, transformer — make, model, serial, commissioning date, warranty status, current AMC.
- All statutory registrations and licences with expiry dates.
- Vendor contracts currently in force, with notice periods.
- Employee records for any staff being transferred, including statutory contribution history.
Then the financial handover
Audited accounts for the full period of builder management, the corpus and sinking fund balances with their interest history, member-wise dues, deposits held with utilities, and any liability the society is being asked to inherit. Insist that dues and liabilities are reconciled per unit rather than in aggregate, because aggregates conceal exactly the disputes you will spend the next two years resolving.
A joint physical inspection, recorded
Walk the building with the outgoing team and a third-party engineer. Photograph and list every defect. Where defects fall within the statutory defect liability period, record them formally in writing on the day, not later. This snagging list is the single most valuable document produced during a handover and the one most often skipped because the mood in the room is cooperative.
When documents do not exist
Often, they do not. Accept the handover with a written schedule of what was and was not received, signed by both parties, and then rebuild the gaps deliberately: commission an as-built survey of services, reconstruct the equipment file from nameplates, and start a fresh document index from day one. It costs a defined amount once. Not doing it costs an undefined amount forever, usually at the worst possible moment.
First ninety days
Open the society’s own accounts and stop all payments routed through the previous arrangement. Re-tender the three largest vendor contracts, not to change vendors necessarily, but to establish what market rates look like. Set the maintenance charge on a costed budget rather than by carrying forward whatever the builder was charging. And publish the first quarterly statement on time — the tone of the next decade of member relations is set by whether that one arrives.
Statutory positions vary and change; treat this as our working method and take formal advice on your specific position.