Redevelopment offers: which area are they talking about?
Your old flat and your new flat are rarely measured the same way. The 30 September 2026 rules give members a way to force a like-for-like comparison.
THE 60-SECOND VERSION
- 01
Old and new differ
Old flats: MOFA or built-up. New flats: RERA carpet.
- 02
The new GR helps
The development agreement must state the RERA carpet each member gets.
- 03
Compare RERA to RERA
Re-measure your old flat on the RERA basis, balconies shown separately.
See how mixed measures inflate the bill
Want to go deeper?
The short answer.
Your old flat was probably measured one way and your new flat will be drawn another. If the offer letter doesn't say which measure each number is, you can't tell whether “35% extra” is really 35%.
From 30 September 2026, Maharashtra's new redevelopment rules require the development agreement to state the RERA carpet area each member gets. Use that rule. Insist that old and new areas are both stated on the RERA basis, with balconies shown separately.
The state Cooperation Department issued a new Government Resolution under section 79A of the Maharashtra Cooperative Societies Act, 1960. It replaces the 4 July 2019 directions that governed society redevelopment, and all circulars under them. It applies to cooperative housing societies across Maharashtra, Pune included, whether they go with a developer, self-redevelopment or cluster redevelopment. The provisions that matter most for members:
| Stage | What the new GR requires |
|---|---|
| Starting | At least one-fifth of members apply. A special general meeting is called within two months, with 14 days' notice. |
| Deciding | Quorum of two-thirds of members. Approval by at least 51% of all members, not 51% of those present. Video attendance counts, but 51% must be physically present. |
| Consultant | An architect or PMC from a government or local-authority panel, chosen from three quotations, prepares the project report. |
| Tender | One item is left open for developers to compete on: carpet area or corpus fund. At least three bids are sought, with extensions if fewer arrive. |
| Choosing the developer | A special general meeting held in the presence of the Registrar's authorised officer, video-recorded, needing 51% of all members. |
| Development agreement | Must state the carpet area payable under RERA. Completion within two years of the plinth certificate, at most three in exceptional cases. Bank guarantee set by the general body. |
| Your own agreement | The Permanent Alternative Accommodation Agreement (PAAA) is registered, and signed within three months of the development agreement's registration. You vacate only after approvals and your PAAA are registered. |
| Allotment | In a special general meeting, existing floor wherever possible, lottery only if needed and only after completion. |
GR No. Saguyo-2026/Pra.Kra.108/14-S dated 30 September 2026, as reported. Read the GR itself on maharashtra.gov.in before relying on any clause.
A redevelopment offer turns on one sum: your existing area, the percentage extra on top, and what you pay for anything beyond that. Every part of that sum depends on how the area was measured, and there are at least four ways in circulation:
- MOFA carpet, from your original agreement. It includes the balcony and usually excludes the internal walls. See our MOFA vs RERA guide.
- Built-up, from older agreements or Index II. Roughly carpet × 1.2.
- “Usable” carpet, a physical wall-to-wall measurement of the flat as it stands. Many societies start here because it is what members can see.
- RERA carpet, which is what the new flat is drawn and registered in. It includes the internal walls and excludes the balcony.
Practitioners who advise societies put the gap between MOFA and RERA carpet at about 5–8% for typical residential flats. That is enough to make a 30% offer look like a 37% offer, or the reverse, depending on which pair you compare.
A member of a redeveloping society described this on a legal-advice forum. Their existing flat was recorded as 600 sq ft MOFA. The developer's revised offer gave them a new flat of 635 sq ft RERA carpet plus a 45 sq ft balcony, and then billed them for extra area worked out from the RERA figure:
| How the “extra area” was worked out | Billed extra |
|---|---|
| What the member expected: new minus old, both on the MOFA basis | 45 sq ft |
| What the developer billed: 635 RERA − 600 MOFA, plus the 45 sq ft balcony | 75 sq ft |
The 30 sq ft between those two lines did not come from any new space. It came from subtracting a MOFA number from a RERA number. At Pune redevelopment-sale rates that is a few lakh rupees per member, and it is invisible unless every figure in the offer is labelled.
- Your existing area, re-measured on the RERA basis by the society's PMC, with balcony shown separately. Not copied from a 1990s agreement.
- The new area in RERA carpet, in square metres, with balcony and any terrace listed separately. The new GR requires the RERA carpet figure in the development agreement anyway.
- The additional area as RERA minus RERA. If the offer is “X% more”, ask: more than which figure?
- The rate for any area you buy beyond your entitlement, per square foot of RERA carpet, fixed in the PAAA.
- Who measures at handover, on what basis, and what happens to the price if the new flat comes out smaller. That is the same 3% question new buyers face. See our carpet area shortfall guide.
- You do not move out early. Under the new GR, members vacate only after all approvals are in place and their own PAAA is registered.
- Rent or transit housing is part of the deal. The agreement must provide alternative accommodation in the same area where possible, or rent and a deposit acceptable to members, or a transit camp.
- The timeline is in the contract. Two years from the plinth certificate, three at the outside. A development agreement that says “approximately 36 months from commencement” does not meet that.
- You can see the papers. The project report, tender draft, bids, comparison chart, draft agreement and the meeting recording must be open to members for free inspection, with copies on payment of a fee.
- No insiders. No committee member or office-bearer, or their relative, can be the developer.
The flats a developer sells in the redeveloped building are a RERA project, and the new buyers get every RERA protection. For existing members receiving flats in place of their old ones, lawyers disagree on how far RERA itself applies. The new GR sidesteps that argument by writing the RERA carpet figure into the development agreement, and your registered PAAA is enforceable as a contract either way. If a dispute arises, the agreement must say which court or authority hears it. Read that clause before you sign.
We are a channel partner. On redevelopment projects we may later be selling the developer's sale flats, so read this as information, not advice. A society should have its own PMC and its own advocate, both answerable to the members and not to the developer. If your offer letter has area figures and you cannot tell which basis they are on, send it to us and we will tell you what we see, at no charge.
Sources
- Government Resolution under s.79A, Maharashtra Cooperative Societies Act, 30 September 2026: Square Feat India summary · Hindustan Times, 1 October 2026 · original GR on maharashtra.gov.in
- MOFA vs RERA carpet gap in redevelopment, about 5–8%: Housing Society Times, March 2026
- The 600 / 635 / 45 sq ft member query: Kaanoon
Ask the builder, in writing
- 01What is my existing area re-measured on the RERA basis, with balcony separate?
- 02What is the new area in RERA carpet m², with balcony and terrace separate?
- 03Is the “X% extra” calculated RERA minus RERA?
- 04What rate per ft² of RERA carpet applies to extra area, fixed in the PAAA?