MHADA allotment letter and offer letter: what each is, the download and a lost copy

What is a MHADA allotment letter?

A MHADA allotment letter is the letter recording that a particular flat has been allotted to you by MHADA, the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority. In Mumbai the allotment is made by MHADA's Mumbai Housing and Area Development Board (the Mumbai Board), whose Marathi forms call it the वितरण पत्र (vitaran patra).

The Mumbai Board's transfer, regularisation, mortgage NOC and sale permission checklists all list it. Each asks for a copy of the allotment letter and, if the flat has been transferred, of the stamp duty receipts for every change of hands.

What a MHADA offer letter contains

MHADA's published procedure for allotment of residential tenements sets out what the offer to an eligible allottee contains:

• ·The flat number
• ·The area
• ·The cost
• ·The time limit to deposit the amount

MHADA's allotment procedure also says possession of the flat is handed over only after full payment. Today's offer letter also sets out the payment, as the stages below show.

MHADA offer letter stages: what comes when

A MHADA lottery winner receives a Conditional Provisional Offer Letter, then a Final one, and gets possession after full payment:

MHADA's lottery FAQ calls the winner's letter the Provisional Offer Letter. It does not say whether this is the वितरण पत्र that the Board's later forms ask for, so keep the original POL and every later letter the Board issues, together with your payment receipts.

How to get and download your MHADA allotment letter

The letter MHADA lets lottery winners download is the Provisional Offer Letter; MHADA's sources do not say the allotment letter itself can be downloaded. MHADA's lottery FAQ describes three steps:

1. 1Download the Conditional POL from your login in the MHADA IHLMS 2.0 mobile application, or from the email MHADA sends, once results are announced.
2. 2Complete document verification. MHADA issues the Final POL only after its officials verify your documents.
3. 3Collect the original at the MHADA office, bringing the original documents the Conditional POL lists.

The IHLMS 2.0 app handles every step after the draw up to possession, including the bank NOC; our guide to a home loan on a MHADA flat walks through it. Stuck in the app? Send us a screenshot on WhatsApp and we will tell you the next step, free.

MHADA's lottery FAQ sets two timing points worth planning around. The first 10 percent is due within 30 to 45 days, as the offer letter sets out. A winner who surrenders the flat before the Final POL is issued gets the full earnest money deposit back; after the Final POL, 10 percent of the deposit is deducted and the rest refunded.

Where MHADA lottery registration fits

MHADA lottery registration comes before any letter. It is done on MHADA's official lottery website, housing.mhada.gov.in, or in the "MHADA Housing Lottery System" app from the Google Play Store or Apple App Store, and the whole application is online, with no hard copy to submit.

Why the allotment letter matters later

The allotment letter matters later because the Mumbai Board's transfer, regularisation, mortgage NOC and sale permission checklists all list it:

In each checklist the item reads "वितरण पत्र / तसेच हस्तांतरण झाले असल्यास सर्व बदलांवर मुद्रांक शुल्क भरल्याच्या पावतीची प्रमाणित प्रत": a certified copy of the allotment letter and, if the flat has been transferred, of the stamp duty receipts for every change.

The allotment letter travels with the flat. Once the flat is yours, your own mortgage NOC and sale permission applications list it again. When you sell, hand it over with the file. Our guides to MHADA flat transfer, MHADA transfer on death, MHADA NOCs online and selling a MHADA flat show where it fits in each file.

MHADA allotment letter lost? How to get a certified copy

If your MHADA allotment letter is lost, the Mumbai Board's route is Form 9, an application for certified copies of the papers in your flat's file. The applicant states that the flat's papers have been lost and are needed for court, personal or similar purposes. They agree to pay the fee and ask for certified copies of the documents named in an attached list.

Looking for a duplicate allotment letter from MHADA? None of the Mumbai Board's nine published forms (Forms 1 to 9) is a duplicate service. For lost papers its route is this certified copy from your flat's file, applied for on Form 9.

Form 9's checklist asks for two things:

1. 1Certified copies of the receipts for all arrears paid and the current month.
2. 2The list of documents you want copied, such as the allotment letter.

The applicant has the attached papers attested by a competent authority, and the officer may ask for further papers where a case needs them. The application goes to the Estate Manager, the Mumbai Board officer who handles the flats in your division. Certified copies of the papers in a file are a notified service, with a limit of 8 office working days under MHADA's notification of 13 July 2015.

Whether a bank or a buyer accepts a certified copy in place of the original is their decision, so ask them early. Our guide to the MHADA office in Bandra lists which Estate Manager handles each area.

Papers missing? We trace them

A certified copy from the Board's file can keep your sale, loan or transfer moving. Our MHADA paperwork service prepares the Form 9 application for certified copies, works out which papers your sale, loan or transfer needs, and follows the file with the Estate Manager, for MHADA flats anywhere in Mumbai. Shree Giriraj Real Estate has worked in Mumbai property since 1996, from its Borivali West office since 2005, as a MahaRERA registered agent (A51800005726). Tell us the flat and which papers are missing on WhatsApp, and we will tell you what the file needs, free, usually the same day.