6 August 2026 9-min read

After possession in Gurgaon: maintenance charges, IFMS, and prising the building out of the builder's hands

Possession is not the end of the builder relationship — for many Gurgaon societies it is the start of a decade-long one. What the law says about the maintenance corpus, the common areas and the conveyance deed, and what it pointedly does not say.

The keys change hands. Very often, control does not.

In a large number of Gurgaon projects the builder is still running the society years after the last family moved in — collecting maintenance through an in-house facility arm, holding the maintenance deposit, and never quite getting round to executing the conveyance deed that would transfer the common areas to the residents.

This is not a grey area in principle. The statute is reasonably clear about what has to happen. It is the timing, and the absence of anyone to enforce it, that creates the gap.

What the law requires after possession

The builder maintains services until handover

Section 11(4)(d) of RERA obliges the promoter to provide and maintain essential services, on reasonable charges, until the association of allottees takes over. 'Reasonable' is not defined, and no statute or rule fixes a rupees-per-square-foot rate.

The association has to be enabled to form

Section 11(4)(e) requires the promoter to enable formation of an association or society of allottees. Where local law is silent, the fallback is three months from the point at which a MAJORITY OF ALLOTTEES HAVE BOOKED. Note the trigger: booking, not possession, not occupancy certificate. The Haryana Rules of 2017 prescribe no separate period.

Common areas must be conveyed

Section 17(1) requires the promoter to execute a conveyance of the apartment to the allottee and of the undivided proportionate title in the common areas to the association.

And the internal development works go to the local body

Separately, under the Haryana Development and Regulation of Urban Areas Act, 1975, the coloniser must maintain roads, open spaces, public parks and public health services for five years from the completion certificate, and then transfer them free of cost to the Government or the local authority.

The '3 months from OC' line you will read everywhere is not the Gurgaon rule

RERA's three-months-from-occupancy-certificate conveyance deadline is expressly a fallback that applies 'in the absence of any local law'. Haryana is not silent: the model agreement for sale annexed to the Haryana Rules, 2017 provides for conveyance preferably within three months but not later than six months FROM POSSESSION.

Different trigger, different outer limit. Quoting the bare three-months-from-OC line at a Gurgaon builder invites a correction that costs you the initiative. Cite your own agreement instead.

IFMS: the money with no statute behind it

The Interest Free Maintenance Security is collected from nearly every Gurgaon buyer, often as a meaningful lump sum at possession. It is worth being precise about what it is: RERA does not mention IFMS, and the Haryana Rules of 2017 do not mention it either. There is no statutory formula, no prescribed rate, and no prescribed handover date. It is purely a creature of your builder-buyer agreement.

That does not mean it is the builder's money. HARERA Gurugram, in an order dated 30 July 2024, directed a promoter to hand over maintenance to the association and to transfer the unutilised IFMS deposit within thirty days — holding that IFMS is not part of the sale consideration, that the promoter cannot treat it as his own, that he must be able to justify what he has spent from it, and that he cannot use it to discharge his own statutory repair liability.

So the route exists, and it has been used. But it runs through an adjudicated complaint, not through an automatic entitlement — which is exactly why so many corpuses are still sitting where they are.

GST on your maintenance bill: two tests, not one

Maintenance charges paid to a resident welfare association are exempt up to ₹7,500 per member per month, and the exemption also depends on the association's aggregate turnover exceeding the ₹20 lakh registration threshold. BOTH tests must be crossed before GST applies — an association turning over more than ₹20 lakh does not, by itself, make your bill taxable.

Once both are crossed, the tax authority's position is that GST applies to the ENTIRE amount, not merely the excess over ₹7,500. The Madras High Court held in 2021 that only the excess should be taxable — but that ruling was stayed by a Division Bench in October 2021 and the appeal is pending. It is widely reproduced online as settled law. It is not.

Maintenance cannot be charged before the occupancy certificate

The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has held that a builder cannot levy maintenance charges before obtaining the occupancy certificate, even where buyers have already started living in the building — the reasoning being that without an OC the project is not complete and the promised services are not being delivered.

If you are being billed for maintenance on a building with no OC, that demand is contestable. Our possession checklist covers how to verify the OC itself.

Parking, and a precedent that is quoted too widely

The Supreme Court held in 2010, in Nahalchand Laloochand Pvt Ltd v Panchali Co-operative Housing Society Ltd, that stilt parking is not a separately saleable independent unit and forms part of the common areas. It is the case every buyer cites when a builder sells parking bays.

Two honest caveats. The reasoning turned on the definition of 'garage' in Maharashtra's own housing statute, and the facts involved sales to outsiders — it is regularly described by legal commentators as one of the most misused precedents in property litigation. And RERA's own definition of common areas at section 2(n) refers to OPEN parking areas; it does not expressly name covered or stilt parking.

The position is strong. It is not the closed question that Gurgaon WhatsApp groups make it out to be.

What to establish before you take possession

Whether the occupancy certificate has actually been issued for your tower
What your agreement says about the conveyance deed — trigger and outer limit
The IFMS amount, and what the agreement says about when and to whom it transfers
Whether the maintenance agency is a third party or the builder's own arm
Whether an association of allottees exists yet, and who formed it
Whether enhanced EDC demands are supported by departmental proof
Whether the five-year internal-development maintenance period has begun

Ask for the maintenance budget and the IFMS account statement in writing. A promoter who cannot account for the corpus has already told you something.

If the builder will not let go

1
Organise before you complain
Conveyance of common areas runs to the association, not to individuals. Forming it is the precondition for most of the relief available, and section 11(4)(e) obliges the promoter to enable it.
2
Put the demand in writing, with the clause
Cite your agreement's conveyance clause and the statutory provisions, and set a date. A documented refusal is the foundation of the complaint.
3
File with HARERA under section 31
HARERA Gurugram has ordered handover of maintenance and transfer of an unutilised IFMS corpus. It is the demonstrated route for both non-execution of conveyance and refusal to hand over common areas.
4
Know that the consumer forum is also open
Section 79 bars civil courts, not consumer fora. The Supreme Court confirmed in 2020 that Consumer Protection Act remedies are additional and concurrent to RERA. You choose.

What we will not put a number on

You will find articles quoting a going rate for Gurgaon maintenance in rupees per square foot, and a standard IFMS as a percentage of the flat cost. We are not going to, because no statute, rule or order fixes either. RERA says 'reasonable charges' and stops there.

Any figure we published would be a market impression dressed up as a rule. What your neighbours pay is worth asking. What a website asserts is not.

Sources & citations›

Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 — section 2(n) common areas, including open parking areas; section 11(4)(d) maintenance of essential services on reasonable charges until takeover; section 11(4)(e) formation of the association, three-month fallback from majority of allottees having booked; section 17(1) conveyance of the apartment and of common areas to the association; section 31 complaints; section 79 bar of civil court jurisdiction.
Haryana Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Rules, 2017 — model agreement for sale, conveyance preferably within three months and not later than six months from possession. The Rules prescribe no association-formation period and make no mention of IFMS.
HARERA Gurugram, Complaint No. 2537 of 2021, order dated 30 July 2024 — handover of maintenance and transfer of the unutilised IFMS deposit to the association within thirty days; IFMS held not to form part of the sale consideration.
Haryana Development and Regulation of Urban Areas Act, 1975 — section 3(3)(a)(iii), five-year maintenance obligation from the completion certificate and transfer free of cost to Government or local authority.
Haryana Apartment Ownership Act, 1983 — declaration, deed of apartment and association of apartment owners; cross-referenced by the Haryana RERA Rules for the definition of common areas.
Notification 12/2017-Central Tax (Rate), exemption entry 77 — ₹7,500 per member per month, subject to the association's aggregate turnover threshold. CBIC Circular 109/28/2019-GST — GST on the entire amount once the threshold is crossed. Greenwood Owners Association v Union of India, Madras High Court, 1 July 2021, stayed by a Division Bench on 7 October 2021, appeal pending.
Nahalchand Laloochand Pvt Ltd v Panchali Co-operative Housing Society Ltd, Supreme Court of India, 31 August 2010 — stilt parking not separately saleable; reasoning grounded in the Maharashtra statute.
National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission — maintenance charges not leviable before the occupancy certificate, reported January 2022. Proposition cited; case number not reproduced as we could not verify it against a primary source.
Not stated here: any rupees-per-square-foot maintenance rate or IFMS percentage. No statute, rule or order fixes one.

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