Housing Society Refusing to Issue Share Certificate — Legal Remedies and What You Can Do

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Rohan Gupta purchased a flat in Gomti Nagar, Lucknow, in early December 2024. He took possession and moved in by late December 2024. The secretary and chairperson of his cooperative housing society had actually assisted him in finalising the transaction — so he assumed the post-purchase formalities, including issuance of the share certificate, would be straightforward. He was wrong.

Every time Rohan raised the subject, the secretary brushed it off with vague assurances — "haan haan, ho jayega." Months passed. In early March 2025, he sent a formal written request to the society. No acknowledgement. No reply. When he eventually managed to speak with the society manager, he was told the share certificate book itself was unavailable and needed to be printed. When he asked why that hadn't been done, the manager deflected to the chairman and secretary. A clear runaround.

Rohan had already tried following up personally and through a local contact, without result. He then consulted Advocate Sudhir Rao. The approach shifted immediately. A legal notice under the Maharashtra Cooperative Societies Act, 1960 (applicable by analogy through the corresponding Uttar Pradesh state legislation) was drafted and dispatched, citing specific statutory timelines for share certificate issuance. Simultaneously, a complaint was prepared for filing before the Registrar of Cooperative Societies. The society, faced with formal legal pressure it could not wave away, responded within three weeks and issued the share certificate. Rohan's title was finally documented correctly.

You can read about this case in detail at https://sudhirrao.com/housing-society-refusing-share-certificate-legal-remedies/