When a builder hands over your society to you, as much as you’d feel excited about finally being able to reside in your new home, it is imperative that you look into building-level issues of the apartment.

Some critical areas that you should pay attention during the handover are: Legal, Finance, Building Structure, Electricals, Water, Plumbing & Sanitation, Fire & Emergency Management and Security aspects. With so many visible issues to take care of, associations often miss certain fundamental problems which sooner or later demand attention and end up burning a big hole in your pocket.

It is wise to analyze and understand all apartment issues and get them resolved within the warranty period that your builder offers. Post this, it is nearly impossible to get them to respond, forget making them act on an issue. Before handover, make sure to make a formal document of issues found, fixed and of those that are pending. This way the builder can be held accountable for these issues.

During the ‘handover’, documents that are ‘handed over’ are pertaining to the legal aspects of the building complex, those related to different systems within the complex and documentary proof that all systems and components are working according to design.

Some important handover steps:

1)      Besides association, form a group of volunteers to take part in the handover procedure.

2)      Make a list of systems and sub systems of the complex.

3)      Make a list of components under systems/sub systems of complex.

4)      Make a checklist of handover documents.

5)      Make a formal document of pending issues that builder will have to sort.

6)      It is advisable that you use a Society Management Tool to help you keep a permanent track of issues and their status, for reference even years later. (You can try CommonFloor Groups society management portal)

Make sure you devote some time to come up with a structured handover procedure that includes all aspects of your society complex.

Did you find this post helpful? Have we missed out on any important document required during a society’s handover? Please comment and let us know in either case.