My mother passed away recently. She was predeceased by my father, who died a few years ago.

I & my brother are the only children our parents have left behind (We have documents like Ration card, Birth certificates etc. to prove the same).

My mother is the whole & sole owner of a property (A flat in a registered co-operative housing society) located in the state of Maharashtra. She has nominated both her children with 50% share of each for the said property.

We want to sell out the property now.

The legal advisor of the society has clearly told us that they will need legal heir-ship certificate, in the absence of which, the society won’t be able to give the N.O.C. required to sell the flat.

The procedure to obtain the certificate costs around one lac rupees (Court fees of 75,000 rupees + Advocate’s fees of around 25,000 rupees) & we are not willing to spend such a huge amount of money to get a property transferred in our name, which legally belongs to us only (Being Hindu, by the definition of law, we are legal heirs of the deceased owner of the property).

So we are looking for a less expensive alternative for the same. The legal advisor of the society has asked us to come up with the provisions under the law that support transfer of ownership of a property in the absence of a legal heir-ship certificate in cases like ours, if we want to opt for an alternative.

Below are the few alternatives I have come to know about from some of my sources & upon researching a bit.

Kindly guide if transfer of ownership of the property will be possible or not, solely on the basis of any (Or a combination of any) of them. Also, please provide the exact provision(s) under the law that would support the alternative route in our case and possibly a rough estimate of expenses that would occur for each valid one.

1. A membership application along with an indemnity bond & an affidavit stating that:

I.     We are the only legal heirs left behind by the deceased member

II.   We indemnify the society against any future claims made by any person(s) with respect to the said property.

III.  We have no objection to transfer the ownership of the said property in the name of both or anyone of us

2. A legal heir-ship certificate issued from the Tehsildar office.

3. A “Plain” legal heir-ship certificate issued from the local court (The only difference in this certificate & the heir-ship certificate mentioned above is that this one simply mentions that so & so is/are the only legal heir/s left behind by the deceased person. There is no mention of the property on it & hence no need to pay the hefty court fees of 75,000 rupees for the same)

4. A “No claim certificate” issued by an advocate where nobody has claimed their rights on the said property after placing advertisements with respect to the same in a couple of newspapers.

Some backdoor ways:

1. Creating a backdated will (As there is no will in place) without probate (Kindly mention whether the society has the rights to ask us to mandatorily get the probate done)

2. On the basis of the property tax’s bill (Obviously where the bill is transferred in our names first).

PS:  If you know any other route apart from the ones mentioned above or if there is/are a legal way/s to directly sell out the property without transferring its ownership in our names, please mention how that can be done & provide the exact provision(s) under the law backing it along with a rough estimate of expenses that would occur.