Reading a Sanctioned Building Plan Before You Buy in Bangalore
Buyers in Bangalore usually compare price, location and amenities, and leave the paperwork for later. One document deserves to come first: the building plan approved by the planning authority. If it does not match the structure, almost every later step in the purchase gets harder.
Start With the Consequences
The finished building is inspected against the approved drawings, and only then is the occupancy certificate (OC) issued. A structure that has drifted far from its plan can be turned down. The trouble then spreads to all of its owners.
Lenders hesitate to finance homes lacking an OC, so future buyers become fewer. Under a December 2024 Supreme Court direction, electricity, water and sewage connections are meant to follow a completion certificate or an occupancy document. The unapproved portion can attract fines or, in serious cases, demolition, and the khata and tax entries may remain in a weaker category.
Minor deviations can sometimes be regularised for a fee, and Karnataka widened the tolerated margin for certain buildings during 2026. Extra floors were not covered. A deviation remains a defect until the regularising order exists, whatever the seller says.
Who Is Allowed to Approve
Different bodies govern different parts of the metropolitan region. The plot's address tells you which one applies.
- Within the city: the five corporations created in September 2025 to replace the BBMP, answering to the Greater Bengaluru Authority
- BDA-formed layouts: the Bangalore Development Authority, which keeps its own approval records
- Outer towns like Anekal, Hoskote and Nelamangala: the BMRDA's own planning bodies
- Devanahalli and the airport belt: BIAAPA, the airport area planning authority
- Industrial land: KIADB, for plots it has allotted
Village records and local taxes belong to the gram panchayat, which makes a panchayat approval a shaky basis for a tall apartment block. Always find out which planning body signed the drawings. In the city corporations, a new approval has required an e-khata from 1 July 2025.
What the Set Contains
An approved set is stamped by the sanctioning office, tied to a building licence and prepared for a single plot and design. Look for a reference number and date on it. Expect these sheets:
- Site plan: dimensions of the plot, the road ahead and margins left on every side
- Floor plans: a drawing for every level, with its dwellings marked
- Elevations and cross-sections: how tall the building is and how many storeys it has
- Area statement: the plot area, floor-wise built-up area and FAR used
- Parking layout: basement, stilt or open space
- Credits and conditions: owner, architect and engineer plus terms of approval
Read the area statement before anything else. The allowed floors and the built-up total appear together in one view.
Getting Your Hands on It
RERA-registered projects publish their approved drawings and commencement certificate on the Karnataka RERA portal. Open the project and download them freely. The developer should supply the sanctioned layout and plan once more at booking.
Smaller buildings and resale flats rely on the owner or the welfare body of residents to keep a set. When it has gone missing, the sanctioning office can reissue it against the reference number. If the seller has no drawing to show, treat that as an answer in itself.
Matching Drawings to the Ground
A visit with an architect or engineer turns the plan into a test. Check these items one at a time:
- How many floors rise on the plot, compared with the plan, with terrace rooms included.
- Where the flat falls on its level, and whether the number, position and size are the same.
- Whether any level holds more homes than the plan allowed.
- Whether the clear margins around the structure meet those drawn.
- Whether the basement and stilt level still serve for parking.
- Whether the seller's built-up figure agrees with the area statement.
Pay close attention to the topmost floor. An additional storey above the approved count is the breach most often found in modest apartment blocks. The plan has no entry for that flat, even though it may look like its neighbours.
Dates, Revisions and Buyer Consent
A building licence runs for a set period and must be renewed when work overruns it. Compare its date with the real construction period. A licence that expired before work began needs a renewal on record.
Larger projects revise drawings as they proceed, so ask for the newest version and look for the flat in it. The RERA Act demands that two-thirds of the buyers agree in writing before a registered project alters its approved drawings or shared areas. One flat's change needs the consent of its buyer.
Sequence for the Whole Check
This order protects your money best:
- Work out which planning body governs the plot from its address and khata.
- Before any token, request the sanctioned drawings, licence and commencement certificate.
- Confirm the stamp and reference are those of that very authority.
- Carry out the site comparison above.
- Collect the newest revised drawings plus the OC, or the date it is due for a building still going up.
- Have a lawyer examine any gap prior to signing.
A few hours of checking is cheap compared with the cost of a home. If help is needed assembling these approvals for a property, reach out through the contact page.
