The Apartment Handover Checklist: Registration, Utilities and Defect Liability

Handover is where a great many Dhaka apartment purchases quietly go wrong. The keys arrive, the developer's attention moves to the next site, and the owner discovers that registration is stuck, the gas line is in someone else's name and nobody has agreed who fixes the leaking tap. None of that is inevitable. Here is what a proper handover looks like, in order.

Before You Accept the Keys: The Snag Walk

Walk the apartment with the site engineer and write down every defect — a door that binds, a tile that sounds hollow, a socket that is dead, a window that does not seal. Get the list signed by both sides with a date against each item. A snag list agreed in writing is the difference between a repair and an argument.

Check These While You Are Standing There

• Every tap and flush, and the drainage under each basin.
• Every switch, socket and light point against the electrical layout.
• Doors and windows opening fully, locking, and sealing against rain.
• Floor tiles tapped for hollowness, and skirting lines for gaps.
• The parking space actually allotted to you, marked and accessible.
• Lift, generator changeover, pump and intercom, tested rather than described.

Registration and the Documents You Should Leave With

Registration transfers the title into your name and is the only thing that makes you the legal owner — possession alone does not. You should also receive the deed and mutation papers, the approved plan, the as-built electrical and plumbing layouts, warranty documents for the lift, generator and pumps, and the utility connection papers in your own name rather than the developer's.

The Service Charge Conversation Nobody Has Early Enough

A service charge set too low is not a saving — it is a maintenance problem arriving in year three. Ask what the figure covers: security, cleaning, lift servicing, generator fuel, pump and water tank maintenance, common electricity, and a sinking fund for the repainting and lift overhaul that will eventually come. Ask to see how the figure was calculated.

The Defect Liability Year

For a defined period after handover — commonly a year — structural and workmanship defects remain the developer's responsibility. Get the period, what it covers and how to raise a claim in writing. The best test of a developer is not the show flat; it is whether someone answers the phone fourteen months after you moved in.

Edge Construction & Consultancy treats registration, connections and the defect year as part of the sale — see handover and after-sales care, browse buildings we have handed over, or talk to us.