MUMBAI, August 31, 2026 — In a metropolis where having your own property can be one of the most valuable assets for a family, a redevelopment project in Mulund, Mumbai, serves as a reminder that being an owner of property does not grant you the right to a roof over your head.
A member of a small housing cooperative of around 20 members claims that a redevelopment project approved back in 2011–12, whose duration was supposed to be around 2 years, has still not been completed. It is reported that the building has completed only about 6 out of the planned 9 floors, while the residents have been paying rent from their own pockets after the developer has ceased the payments that had been made during around two years.
The most disturbing factor in this case is not just the incomplete structure but the financial complications hiding beneath it. According to society members, authorities have been providing them with excuses. Many of the homeowners are elderly people, as the homeowner says, and so prolonged displacement takes a heavy toll on them. Since no legal action has been taken in the earlier years of the delay, the redevelopment process now seems to occupy the grey area where waiting has become part of the problem.
Instead of simply asking when the building will be completed, the homeowner is facing more pressing questions, such as whether it is possible to replace the developer after so much has been done already. Who can possibly pay rent? Can every individual homeowner claim his/her compensation, or is it needed for all homeowners to do this together? And lastly, how can the residents spur the progress without replacing the 15-year delay by five or ten years of lawsuits?
The uncertainty has sparked a broader discussion among property owners on the internet. Several participants called for the society to analyze its agreement regarding the development, authorization for construction, unsold inventory, revision of plans, and required floor-space changes, as the society tries to find out if the agreement has the right to terminate the contract or discontinue the operation.
A participant told of a similar situation where some legal measures finally led to receiving a refund for rent, fines, and all legal expenses, but according to the contributor, litigation costs may amount to US$20,930–US$31,394, depending on the extent of the process. These are individual stories, and they have not been validated independently in reference to the Mulund project.
This situation is quite unusual since the redevelopment market in Mumbai is seeing a boom. As stated by Knight Frank India, there were 229 redevelopment development agreements in the city in the year 2025 as compared to 196 in 2024, with approximately a 16% increase in the growth. As of March 15, 2026, around 70 development agreements have been signed in the city, which makes up about 30% of the total for the year 2025 in just the first 74 days of the year 2026. The period from January 2020 to March 15, 2026, saw a total number of 1,094 redevelopment development agreements in Mumbai.
However, the situation is ironic because, while the redevelopment process aims to unlock value, families often experience significant delays.
Therefore, Mumbai is experiencing two different situations. The first one is the booming business of redevelopment, and the second one is the suffering of people at that time.
The ninth floor that has not seen the light of day is more than a statistic for the good residents of Mulund. It stands as a reminder that something promised in 2011-12 is still unfinished on August 31, 2026. It serves to remind them that in Mumbai real estate, the biggest challenge isn’t building a house but finishing it.
