Must verify before buying house/ flats in Bangalore- Part 1

Thousands of prospected buyers run around in search of home they want. This article shall highlight the legal entities involved and terminology used by them so that new buyers got to know- what they should, before finalizing or committing with builder or some other seller.

The authorities to approve layouts are:
1.	The Bangalore Metropolitan Region Development Authority (BMRDA) – for Bangalore Urban and Rural Districts and Malur Taluk of Kolar District excluding the areas covered by BDA, BIAAPA and other LPA’s.
2.	The Bangalore International Airport Area Planning Authority (BIAAPA) – for its local planning area which includes the area of proposed new airport and its environs.
3.	The Ramanagaram – Channapatna Urban Development Authority (RCUDA) – for Ramanagaram – Channapatna local planning area.
4.	Nelamangala Local Planning Authority – For Nelamangala Town & its environs.
5.	Magadi Local Planning Authority – For Magadi Town & its environs.
6.	Kanakapura Local Planning Authority – LPA of Kanakapura.
7.	Anekal Local Planning Authority – LPA of Anekal.
8.	Bangalore Mysore Infrastructure Corridor Area Planning Authority(BMICAPA).
	For more Information, contact the concerned Authorities or officers of BMRDA on  2263479 or 2263528   fax: 2263431.

What is the difference Between a BDA site and an CMC site in Bangalore?

After a long wait of more than 15 years, the Government of Karnataka has come out with its novel scheme of regularisation of irregular land in the entire State under Sakrama 07. We shall examine how people friendly the scheme is.
The BDA stopped formation of sites in Bangalore in 1983, thereby denying an opportunity for the residents aspiring to own a site of their own. This continued till 2000. But the city was growing rapidly and the population increased multifold. Thus the demand for residential sites increased enormously. When the demand far exceeded supply there was no alternative for the common man but to buy sites which cropped up in and around Bangalore as revenue sites/unauthorised layouts. In 2005, the Government came out with a notification prohibiting registration of non-converted land. This put a brake on formation of such layouts and high-rise buildings
There were lots of protests on the above order. In order to set things right, the Government came out with its much publicised scheme of regularisation of unauthorised land and gave a preliminary notification on May 19, 2007, under the Karnataka Amendment Act, 2007.
One-time measure 
The salient feature of the scheme is that any person owning a piece of land/site in a layout other than those formed by BDA/CITB or layouts approved by BDA, has to pay a penalty for various violations and get the same regularised as a one-time measure whether or not such land has been converted as non-agricultural by the deputy commissioner concerned. The scheme was also applicable to buildings within the Bangalore City Corporation limits/BDA sites which had violated some of the listed provisions such as FAR, Zonal Regulations, setback etc. at different rates specified by the Government. We shall restrict our discussion to BBMP areas and residential houses/sites.
The Government fixed a penalty varying from Rs. 200 to Rs. 600 per square metre and two per cent of cost of building under part I for regularisation of non-converted land and building unlawful structure; and 10 per cent to 25 per cent of cost of land used for setback and FAR violations up to 50 per cent as enacted in the amendment Act itself.
Many people are under the impression that they are not affected by this scheme since they are living in BDA/Corporation sites, have their plans sanctioned by Corporation /BDA and have paid their taxes. But if there is a deviation in the constructed area vis-a-vis sanctioned plan and FAR exceeds permissible limits, they have to pay the penalty and get their buildings regularised. The penalties are heavy.
The Government sought objections/suggestions from people who may be affected by these notifications. Many resident welfare associations sent their representations to the Government, suggesting that the penalty be reduced.
No change
The Government came out with its final notification effective September 14, 2007, stating that this order has been made after consideration of more than 500 objections/representations received from the public. But there is no difference between the preliminary and the final notification in respect of the penalty proposed and extent of violations except that the final notification fixes a time for the validity of the scheme. It has provided a time of three months for the persons who want to benefit from the scheme. If a person fails to pay the penalty within that period, he is liable to lose facilities such as water and electricity supply and must pay a penalty under Section 321 of the KMC Act.
The citizens are subjected to multiple penalties. The guideline booklet released by the BBMP reveals hidden penalties in addition to the above, in the form of Section 18 of KTCP Act at Rs. 20 per square metre and Section 95 of KLR Act at Rs. 13.50 per sq. mtr.
Using the examples shown by BBMP, the penalty to be paid for a 30×40 site in an unauthorised area with maximum allowable FAR and setback violations, a 30×50 site in an unauthorised layout with minimum allowable FAR and setback violations and a 40×60 site in the same area without any setback or FAR violations comes to Rs. 2.13 lakh, Rs. 1.50 lakh and Rs. 1.40 lakh respectively.
In the above examples, all kinds of possible violations, i.e., more than 25 per cent, less than 25 per cent and no violation in case of setback and FAR are considered. Maximum violations are taken in a 30×40 site only as an illustration. The actual penalty has to be calculated according to the construction made.
It is evident that owners of vacant sites will have to pay less than people who have constructed houses thereon. One should not assume that a small site owner has to pay more penalty than a large site owner.
In the above examples, the maximum violation is assumed in case of a 30×40 site and as such the penalty is more. If the same volume of violation is committed by a 60×40 site owner, the penalty will be higher.

BBMP Approved v/s BDA Approved

BBMP collects tax and provides ‘Khata’. It has replaced the previous entity “Bangalore Corporation”.

The approval authority is still BDA in Bangalore Urban and BMRDA in Bangalore Rural.