The Builder Is in CIRP but My Flat Is Ready: Can I Get Possession and Registration During the Insolvency?

If your builder is in CIRP and your flat is ready, you can get possession and registration during the insolvency, but only through the committee of creditors. Regulation 4E of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (Insolvency Resolution Process for Corporate Persons) Regulations, 2016, in force since 3 February 2025, says that after obtaining the approval of the committee with not less than sixty-six percent of total votes, the resolution professional shall hand over the possession of the apartment and facilitate registration, where the allottee has requested it and has performed his part under the agreement. Three conditions, then: your request, your side of the agreement done, and the vote. And since the Supreme Court's judgment of 15 January 2026 in Elegna Co-op Housing and Commercial Society v Edelweiss Asset Reconstruction Company, a committee that finds a handover not viable must record cogent and specific reasons in writing.

Part of the RERA and homebuyer disputes practice at S Jain & Attorneys, Bangalore.

This page is for a buyer in Bengaluru whose builder has been admitted into the corporate insolvency resolution process by the National Company Law Tribunal, whose tower is complete, and who has paid all or nearly all of the price. If your flat is still unbuilt, your route to it is the resolution plan, set out in our guide to homebuyer rights when the builder is in insolvency. If you have not yet filed your claim, start with Form CA, because the request below is strongest when your claim is on the resolution professional's list.

What the regulation asks of you, and what shows you meet it:

Can the resolution professional hand over my flat while the builder is in CIRP?

Yes, once the committee has approved it. Regulation 4E was inserted by the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India's notification of 3 February 2025, which came into force on its publication in the Gazette that day. It covers "the plot, apartment, or building or any instruments agreed to be transferred under the real estate project", and once the committee has approved, the resolution professional "shall" hand over and facilitate registration. The Board has issued ten further amending notifications to these regulations since then, the last in June 2026, and none of them touches regulation 4E. Its consolidated text as amended up to 9 June 2026 carries the regulation in its original words and contains no other handover provision.

The resolution professional is the one who signs because the company's management is his. Section 17 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 vests the management of the corporate debtor in the interim resolution professional, suspends the powers of the board, and requires him to act and execute in the name and on behalf of the company all deeds, receipts and other documents. Section 23(2) gives the resolution professional the same powers. So the builder's directors cannot sign your sale deed during the process, and the resolution professional can, once the vote is in.

The Supreme Court has pushed in the same direction. In its judgment of 12 September 2025, 2025 INSC 1110, it directed the Board to devise a mechanism to enable handover of possession to willing allottees where substantial units in a project are complete, and at a compliance hearing on 7 August 2026 it found, prima facie, that its directions had been complied with in part. Regulation 4E is the mechanism on the statute book today.

Four facts decide whether a handover happens during the process.

Does the moratorium stop the handover or the sale deed?

Not a handover the committee has approved under regulation 4E, but it does stop the company acting alone. Section 14(1)(b) of the Code prohibits, during the moratorium, the transferring, encumbering, alienating or disposing of by the corporate debtor of any of its assets or any legal right or beneficial interest in them. Regulation 4E is how the Board provides for a handover inside the process: the committee approves, and the resolution professional, who now manages the company, carries it out. In Elegna the Supreme Court listed it among the safeguards homebuyers have in a CIRP, describing regulation 4E as protecting possession subject to sixty-six percent approval of the committee.

The moratorium also bars cases against the company, which is why the request goes to the resolution professional and not to K-RERA, and section 14(4) keeps it in force until the tribunal approves a resolution plan or orders liquidation.

Deadline warning. Regulation 4E belongs to the CIRP Regulations, which apply to the corporate insolvency resolution process. Make the request while that process is running. Once the tribunal approves a resolution plan the moratorium ends and your flat follows the plan, and once it orders liquidation the process, and the regulation with it, are over.

What counts as having performed my part under the agreement?

Doing everything the agreement asked of you up to possession: the price on its payment schedule, and whatever the agreement itself makes payable at handover. The regulation does not define the phrase, so the agreement for sale is the yardstick, and the resolution professional will read it against the company's accounts. Before you write, build the reconciliation the committee will want to see: each instalment the agreement fixes, the date and amount you paid, the receipt the builder issued, and the debit in your bank statement. Cash paid without a receipt is the weak line in that table, because nothing shows it reached the company.

If a balance is still due, pay it, but pay it into the company's account under the resolution professional's control, not in cash at the site office. Regulation 4D requires the resolution professional to operate a separate bank account for each real estate project, so ask for that account in writing and take a receipt from his office. For a maintenance deposit, a corpus and other charges at handover, the agreement decides what you owe, and a demand for anything outside it is a dispute to raise before possession, for the reason given in the section on extra charges below.

Do not hold back the last instalment because the builder owes you delay compensation. The regulation asks whether you have performed your part, and an unpaid instalment answers that question against you, whatever the merits of the compensation. Keep the compensation in your claim with the resolution professional.

Who votes on my request, and how many votes does it need?

The committee of creditors votes, and the bar is sixty-six percent of total votes. Section 21(2) of the Code seats all the financial creditors of the company on the committee, which in a builder's insolvency usually means its lenders and its allottees. Sixty-six percent is the same figure section 28(3) fixes for the major actions listed in section 28(1).

You do not sit in the committee in person. Allottees are a class, the tribunal appoints an authorised representative for the class under section 21(6A)(b), and section 25A(3A) requires him to cast the vote for every allottee he represents in accordance with the decision of more than fifty percent of the voting share of those in the class who vote. Your request therefore has to win twice, first among the allottees who vote and then in the committee. The class weighs in proportion to its debt: regulation 16A(7) sets each allottee's voting share in proportion to the financial debt, including interest at eight percent a year unless the parties agreed a different rate.

Whether the class can carry the vote alone is arithmetic you can do before the meeting. Regulation 13(2) requires the list of creditors, with the amounts admitted, to be filed on the Board's platform and with the tribunal. In Elegna the Supreme Court observed that lenders ordinarily command a dominant position in the committee, and a lender holding more than thirty-four percent can stop any sixty-six percent resolution on its own.

Getting the item on the agenda is the next step. Regulation 18(1) requires a meeting before thirty days lapse from the last one, unless the committee has spaced its meetings out, and even then at least one each quarter. Regulation 18(3) requires the resolution professional to place a proposal made by members holding at least thirty-three percent of the voting rights, so where the class holds that much, ask your authorised representative to make the request on the class's instructions. After the meeting, regulation 25(5) gives members who did not vote an electronic voting window of not less than twenty-four hours and not more than seven days, which a creditor can ask to extend.

The committee refused my request, or never voted on it: what can I do?

Read the reasons first, because the committee now has to give them. In Elegna the Supreme Court held that although the committee's commercial wisdom is not ordinarily open to judicial review, any extraordinary or non-routine decision must be supported by cogent reasons recorded in writing, and directed that where the committee finds it not viable to approve a handover under regulation 4E, it shall mandatorily record cogent and specific reasons in writing. The direction operates prospectively and was to be complied with forthwith. The resolution professional must circulate the minutes to every member and to your authorised representative within forty-eight hours of the meeting, and the representative must send them on to the class.

A refusal can rest on real grounds, an unpaid balance or a lender's charge over the flat among them, and the direction does not stop the committee saying no. It stops it saying no without reasons, and a refusal recorded as "not viable" and nothing more does not meet it. Silence is not a decision at all. If your request never reached the agenda, write again to the resolution professional, ask your representative to raise it as a class proposal, and keep both letters with their dates.

The forum for a challenge is the tribunal. Section 60(5) gives the National Company Law Tribunal jurisdiction over any application against the corporate debtor and any question of law or fact arising out of or in relation to the insolvency resolution, and Elegna records that after the process begins an aggrieved stakeholder may pursue remedies strictly in accordance with the Code. Apply as an allottee, in your own name or jointly with others in theirs. The same judgment held that a housing society that was not itself a creditor and not a recognised authorised representative had no standing to intervene in the section 7 case, and that collective representation of homebuyers after admission runs through the authorised representative. Expect the tribunal to ask whether the committee considered your request and gave reasons, not to cast the vote itself.

Key takeaway. A committee can say no to a handover, but since 15 January 2026 it cannot say no without cogent and specific reasons in writing. Those minutes are what your authorised representative, and if it comes to it the tribunal, will read, so ask for them the week of the meeting.

If I take possession now, what happens to my claim and my vote?

Your claim shrinks to whatever remains owed once the flat is handed over. Regulation 13(1) has every claim verified as on the insolvency commencement date, and regulation 12A requires a creditor to update its claim as and when it is satisfied, partly or fully, from any source, after that date. A flat delivered under regulation 4E answers the price you paid, so expect the resolution professional to revise your admitted claim, and with it the voting share that regulation 16A(7) ties to your financial debt. The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Act, 2026 added an Explanation to section 18(b), in force from 26 May 2026, saying that the interim resolution professional, while collating claims, shall verify them and, if required, determine their value.

That is the trade you make. In Elegna the Supreme Court observed that homebuyers already in possession stand outside the insolvency estate. What remains after the handover is any part of what you paid that the flat does not answer, and any compensation for delay that the agreement or the law gives you. Which form that residue belongs in, Form CA with the class or Form F outside it, is contested ground, worked through in Form F or Form CA for a homebuyer. Settle the figure in writing with the resolution professional when you accept the flat, not afterwards, and if he asks you to move the residue into Form F, read our guide for buyers told to file Form F first.

The resolution professional wants extra charges before handing over: do I pay and complain later?

Object before you pay and before you take the keys, because inside an insolvency the complain-later route may be closed. The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal heard an appeal by an allottee who had been offered possession by the resolution professional, then running the company and completing the project, with a demand that, he said, went beyond his allotment letter, including Rs 4,00,000 towards common area charges. He paid, took possession, had his sub-lease deed registered, and then applied for a refund. In its order of 14 May 2026 the Appellate Tribunal held that after taking possession and making the payment it was not open to him to apply for a refund, and that any issue ought to have been raised before taking possession and before registration. On 25 August 2026 the Supreme Court declined to interfere in the peculiar facts of the case, and kept the question of law open.

Outside insolvency the ordinary course is different: pay under protest, take possession, and claim the excess at K-RERA, as our guide on a builder demanding extra charges at possession sets out. That course needs a builder you can sue, and section 14(1)(a) takes that away while the moratorium runs. So put each disputed charge in writing to the resolution professional, ask which clause of the agreement it comes from, and if it is not resolved, take it to the tribunal under section 60(5) before you accept the flat.

Common mistake. Paying a disputed demand at the handover counter and signing whatever is put in front of you, on the footing that you will complain afterwards. In a builder's insolvency there may be no afterwards. The objection has to be on record before the keys and before the sale deed, and in writing.

Who signs the sale deed during the insolvency, and what has to be in place first?

The resolution professional signs for the company. Section 17(2)(a) of the Code empowers the interim resolution professional to execute all deeds in the name and on behalf of the corporate debtor, and section 23(2) carries that power to the resolution professional. Regulation 4E calls his duty facilitating registration, and three questions decide whether the appointment at the sub-registrar's office goes through.

Is there a landowner? If the land under your building is held under a joint development agreement, check whether your agreement for sale makes the landowner a party to the sale deed. Regulation 4E binds the resolution professional, not a landowner. Since 25 February 2026, regulation 36(2)(ab) requires the information memorandum to carry details of the company's joint development agreements, so ask your authorised representative what it shows for your project.

Is your flat mortgaged? If the builder borrowed against the project, as the developer in Elegna had, ask whether your flat is covered by that mortgage and whether the lender, who sits in the same committee, will release it. A sale deed with the mortgage still in place gives you a flat with a charge on it.

Is there an occupancy certificate? Regulation 4E says nothing about one. Regulation 30C requires the resolution professional to report the status of development rights and permissions for each real estate project to the tribunal by the sixtieth day of the process, and regulation 18(4) lets the committee invite, without a vote, the project's competent authority, which the RERA Act defines as the local or other authority that grants permission for development. The committee sees that report before it is filed, so ask your authorised representative for it before you plan a move. Once the deed is registered, the khata has to move into your name, which our guide to e-khata in Bengaluru covers.

Can I go to K-RERA or the consumer commission for possession instead?

Not against the company while the moratorium lasts. Section 14(1)(a) prohibits the institution of suits or continuation of pending suits or proceedings against the corporate debtor in any court of law, tribunal, arbitration panel or other authority, and the moratorium runs until a plan is approved or liquidation is ordered. The Supreme Court's 12 September 2025 judgment called RERA the primary forum for homebuyers' grievances and the Code a forum of last resort, but once a process has begun, anything you want from the company goes to the tribunal under section 60(5). Whether a consumer case can continue against the promoters and directors personally is a separate question, taken up in our guide on a builder in insolvency.

Should I take the flat now or wait for the resolution plan?

For a completed flat you have paid for, a handover now takes the flat out of the process, while waiting hands it to whatever plan is approved. An approved plan binds every stakeholder under section 31(1), and may bring in a new developer to deliver or offer a refund instead. Where a plan treats verified and unverified claims differently, being on the published list matters: in its judgment of 9 September 2025, 2025 INSC 1086, the Supreme Court set aside orders that had pushed an allottee whose claim the resolution professional had verified and listed into a residuary fifty percent refund clause, and directed conveyance and possession within two months. If the process ends in liquidation instead, regulation 46A of the Liquidation Process Regulations keeps out of the liquidation estate any asset whose possession the company has given to an allottee, and a flat not handed over has no such exclusion.

Taking the keys changes four things at once.

Step by step: asking the resolution professional for possession and registration

1. Look up your name in the list of creditors that regulation 13(2) requires the resolution professional to publish, and check the amount admitted. If your claim is missing or wrong, deal with that first through your Form CA.
2. Build the payment reconciliation: the agreement's schedule, your receipts and your bank statements, line by line. Pay any balance into the project account the resolution professional operates under regulation 4D, against his receipt.
3. Write the request to the e-mail address the interim resolution professional opened for the process under regulation 4C. Cite regulation 4E, give the flat number, the agreement date and the payment table, state that you have performed your part, and ask that it be placed before the committee at its next meeting. Copy your authorised representative.
4. Ask the authorised representative to take the class's instructions and, where the class holds at least thirty-three percent of the voting rights, to make it a proposal under regulation 18(3). Ask the other buyers in your tower to send their own requests.
5. Give your instructions within the representative's voting window, and read the minutes when they are circulated.
6. Before possession, walk through the flat, list every charge you dispute with the clause it supposedly comes from, and object in writing. Resolve it, or take it to the tribunal, before you take the keys.
7. Before registration, confirm who executes for the company, whether a landowner must sign, and whether a lender must release the flat. Read the draft deed against the agreement, because a wrong recital is costly to fix later, as a buyer stuck with a mistake in a registered sale deed learns.
8. After the handover, update your claim in writing under regulation 12A and keep proof that it was received.
9. If the committee refuses without cogent and specific reasons, or the request is never placed, apply to the tribunal under section 60(5).

What does it cost, and how long does it take?

The request itself costs only the time to prepare the papers well. The committee must meet at least once every thirty days unless it has spaced its meetings out, and then at least once a quarter, and the electronic vote after the minutes runs for between twenty-four hours and seven days unless a creditor asks for more, so a request in good order can be decided within one or two meeting cycles. Registration after approval turns on the landowner, the lender and the documents. An application to the tribunal under section 60(5) is a contested proceeding whose professional fees and timetable depend on the hearings it takes, usually months rather than weeks. These are indicative ranges only.

Where do these requests go wrong?

What goes wrong is rarely the law. The request goes as a chat message to the authorised representative instead of in writing to the resolution professional, so there is nothing for the committee to vote on. The last instalment is held back against delay compensation, which hands the committee a refusal grounded in the regulation's own words. Extra charges are paid at the site office to get the keys and questioned only later. A resolution professional treats a whole building as delivered because some buyers already live in it, when the Code looks at each allottee's own position on the insolvency commencement date. And after the handover nobody updates the claim, so the list of creditors and the facts drift apart. The first document we ask for in these files is the payment reconciliation, because everything in regulation 4E turns on it.

Frequently Asked Questions

This article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Consult a qualified advocate for advice on your specific situation.

Related Guides

See the RERA and homebuyer disputes practice for requests and applications in a builder's insolvency, and the property and real estate law practice for the sale deed and the khata that follow.

• Builder in Insolvency? Homebuyer Rights After the Supreme Court's Mantri Ruling (2026)
• Form CA: How a Homebuyer Files a Claim When the Builder Is in NCLT
• Form F or Form CA? The Homebuyer's Claim Form in a Builder's Insolvency, and How to Fix a Wrong Filing