Parking Charges in a Bangalore Flat: Open, Stilt and Garage Bays Compared
Parking disputes in Bangalore apartments often start with a single number on a price sheet. One car space can cost Rs. 1 Lakh and above, and buyers rarely know what they are really being sold. The questions below sort out the position under court rulings and statute, and the records a buyer should hold before paying.
Can a Developer Sell a Parking Space?
It depends on the kind of space. A developer may allot a space to a flat, and it may recover what parking cost to build by pricing the home accordingly. What it may not do is sell shared space to one buyer as private property.
Four kinds of space come up most often. Each has its own status, summarised after the other questions.
What Did the Supreme Court Decide?
A 2010 decision in the Nahalchand Laloochand matter dealt with the space under a building raised on pillars, known as stilt parking. The court found that it belongs to the building's shared facilities. A stilt space is not a flat and not a garage, so the promoter has no authority to sell it separately.
The case came from Maharashtra and was decided under that state's flat ownership statute. Even so, its reasoning is quoted across India, and the outcome is that stilt spaces go to the owners as a group once the building is handed over.
How Does RERA Define the Terms?
The central 2016 Act is enforced in Karnataka by the state authority. Its definitions of two terms answer the parking question. Shared areas, as defined, include play areas, parks, terraces, basements and open parking.
A garage, as defined, needs a roof and walls on three sides, and uncovered or unenclosed spaces are expressly left out. Only a space that meets this test, and that the sanctioned drawing marks out as a garage, can be sold as a separate unit.
Status of Each Kind of Space
The four common kinds are treated as follows.
- Compound parking in the open is a shared area, cannot be sold, and is run by the owners' association
- Stilt parking is shared under the 2010 decision, cannot be sold, and is run by the association
- An enclosed garage that appears on the sanctioned drawing may be sold, and its buyer controls it
- Visitor parking is reserved for guests, cannot be sold, and is run by the association
Podium and basement spaces are harder to classify, as most have a roof but no walls. Holding them as a recorded allotment and not as a purchase is the careful approach.
Why Builders Quote Parking Separately
Spaces are scarce in most projects, and one beside the lift has real value. A separate line also allows a smaller figure for the flat in advertisements, which is why parking appears alongside clubhouse fees and deposits in quotations.
How Is a Space Linked to a Flat?
A well-run project hands each home a numbered space by way of the sale agreement or a letter of allotment. The sanctioned drawing and the project's RERA filings show where every space is, and the number reappears in the sale deed.
Karnataka's Apartment Ownership Act of 1972 adds a deed of declaration, listing shared areas and any limited shared areas kept for certain homes. A space attached to one flat is frequently noted in that deed, so the association is bound by it. Trouble tends to appear when the association takes over at handover, and a promise made in a brochure or message counts for little at that point.
What Should a Buyer Ask For?
A few documents prevent most later arguments. Before any parking payment, a buyer should get hold of these.
- The sanctioned parking drawing, marking every space including those for visitors
- The number of the space given to the flat, entered in the sale agreement
- The kind of space: open, stilt, basement, mechanical stack or enclosed garage
- The wording that the price sheet and the receipt use for the parking charge
- For a mechanical stack, a clear statement of who meets repair and running costs
- The declaration deed, with the space recorded against the flat
Households with two cars need to watch the second space, because many projects give only one per flat and release another when asked. A builder who is asked early will often put such points in writing without fuss.
What If a Shared Space Was Already Paid For?
Anyone who handed over a sale price for an open or stilt space can take the matter to the state RERA authority. The online complaint names the project and attaches the price sheet, the receipts and the agreement. If the charge is found unlawful, the authority can direct that the money be returned with interest.
Raising the issue before signing carries more weight. Builders often agree to fold the charge into the flat's price or to record the space correctly, and a property lawyer can read the parking clauses alongside the rest of the contract.
Parking Within the Whole Bill
Parking joins GST, deposits, clubhouse fees, registration and stamp duty as additions to the basic price. In Karnataka the duty rate is 5% for homes above Rs. 45 Lakhs, and with cess and surcharge it comes to 5.6%, while registration costs 2%. While shortlisting new apartments in Bangalore, line up the full price sheets and not the headline figures.
The EMI calculator converts those totals into a loan instalment and the upfront cash. The developer can supply the price sheet and parking layout for any project being considered.
