Karnataka's 2026 Apartment Bill: A Plain Guide for Flat Owners and Buyers

Karnataka's lawmakers have approved a fresh statute for apartment living, and it will replace a pair of laws that date back to 1972. Anyone who owns, rents out or plans to buy a flat in Bangalore should understand its main rules. This guide goes through them one topic at a time and ends with a short list of things to do before the law is brought into force.

Where Things Stand

A draft went out for public feedback in July 2026. The Assembly cleared the Bill on 21 August, and the Council did the same three days later, on 24 August 2026. What follows reflects the text as tabled in the Assembly.

The statute comes alive only once the government announces a start date in the gazette. Until then the 1972 Karnataka Ownership Flats Act and the 1972 Karnataka Apartment Ownership Act stay in charge. After that date both vanish from the statute book, and practical matters like forms, fees and deadlines will be filled in by rules.

A Vote of Three Quarters for Redevelopment

Old complexes have struggled to rebuild because a small group of objectors could stall everything. The new text requires written approval from owners of 75% of the flats, counted across the entire project, at a meeting convened for the purpose.

After that, the Second Appellate Authority clears the resolution and the scheme becomes binding on all owners. It has to specify the design, built-up area, what each owner receives, the money plan and the schedule. Owners get these protections:

• An objector can exit by taking a cash settlement
• That payout cannot be lower than double the flat's market value with its land share, after depreciation, as determined by a valuer on the official register
• The money must reach the objector before the planning authority signs off the proposal
• Security in the form of a bank guarantee or an escrow must be lodged by the redeveloper ahead of demolition
• When work drags, the association can end the contract, enforce that security and find a replacement builder

A flat bought once a proposal is already before the association carries that proposal with it. Anyone eyeing a resale in an older block should ask early whether one is pending.

Ageing Buildings and Repairs

Every building reaching thirty years must be inspected by a structural engineer from the state register, with the association arranging it. The engineer can return one of three verdicts:

• Fit for occupation, with fresh certification due every five years or sooner
• Fit after listed repairs or strengthening work, which the association must complete
• Unfit for occupation, a finding passed on to the competent authority and to the local body

Thirty days are allowed for contesting an unfit finding before an expert committee. Large repair jobs beyond the association's funds go to a majority vote at a general meeting where half the owners are present, and the cost is split on the basis of flat size. Urgent safety work can begin immediately under the executive committee, with the general body confirming it afterwards. The association must also keep the property insured against fire, flood and any other hazards its own bye-laws list.

Dues Worked Out by Area

Under the Bill, maintenance generally follows the size of the flat, measured by super built-up area. A bigger home pays a bigger share, and associations now charging every flat equally will need to rewrite their bye-laws.

Other points on dues:

• Owners pay whether or not the flat is occupied or the amenities are used
• Clubhouse-type and shop-type facilities may attract their own user charges
• Unsold flats are billed to the builder
• A late fee cannot go beyond one month's maintenance
• Overdue amounts attach to the flat itself, behind government taxes and any earlier registered mortgage

As arrears travel with the flat, a person buying second-hand should first obtain the association's written statement of dues. Anything outstanding is still payable after transfer, but the new owner who settles it can claim the sum from the seller.

Parking Rules

Arguments over car slots are among the commonest in apartment complexes. The Bill reduces them by separating two categories. Slots in the basement, podium, stilt and open areas of the shared parking zone belong to everyone and cannot be sold on their own.

A number on the floor or an allotment letter makes no difference. For a slot to be private, three requirements must be met together:

• A registered document passes it to the flat owner
• The sanctioned plan approves it as a standalone parking unit
• Physically it is a closed or clearly marked built-up space, like a garage

Such a slot may change hands, by sale or lease, only inside the project and only to another flat owner. Its area is counted towards the flat's carpet or super built-up measure only if the deed expressly says so.

Land Share and Shared Spaces

Buying a flat also means buying an undivided slice of the land and the common spaces. The slice is fixed by dividing the flat's private area by all the private area in the project, and it travels with the flat through a sale, gift or inheritance without ever being detached.

The residents collectively remain owners of those common spaces. What the association receives is their management, through a registered deed, which the builder executes once the association is formed. Defects in the structure remain the builder's responsibility under the RERA Act.

Common spaces cannot be turned into units for sale without owner consent. The builder, once the handover is done, may add more building only when the declared sanctioned plan allowed it, or when the authority and two-thirds of the residents agree.

Forming the Association

A project is to have one registered association, and each owner belongs to it with one vote, however many flats the person holds. The builder must help create it within three months of most flats being allotted.

Associations already registered as societies, co-operatives or companies, or under the 1972 law, carry on. They have half a year from commencement to submit their details and update their bye-laws.

Which Projects Are Covered

Any scheme with nine or more apartments falls inside the Bill, whether it is one block or several. Villas sanctioned together under one development plan are in, and a scheme combining flats and shops counts as a single project.

Three categories are left out:

• Offices run by the government
• Buildings with one owner who lets them out
• Layouts of plots or villa sites, each sold through its own registered deed, with roads going to the local authority

The third exception ends if the layout includes shared amenities that the owners are meant to manage through an association. A villa community with gates and a clubhouse would probably come inside the law.

Dispute Bodies, Fines and Portal

A competent authority, chosen from officers of the planning or local body, will take up quarrels about dues, bye-laws, land shares and how an association is run. Appeals climb to a First Appellate Authority and then a Second. Civil courts may not take up what these bodies are empowered to decide.

Builders who skip the declaration, delay the association or avoid the transfer deed risk a fine of up to Rs. 1 Lakh. Handing over flats with no occupancy certificate draws the same fine, with up to Rs. 1,000 more for every day the lapse continues. The state must also open an online portal for applications and records within two years of commencement.

What to Do in the Meantime

For now the old Acts govern every purchase and every association. Confirming title, the approved plan, the occupancy certificate and the RERA record stays as important as ever, and the Bill mostly shows where regulation is going.

Some groundwork pays off already:

1. See whether a parking space is charged separately and how the approved plan draws it.
2. Ask the association for its dues statement ahead of a resale purchase.
3. Learn how old the building is and whether anyone has checked its structure.
4. Find out the statute under which the association is registered and the formula its bye-laws use to price maintenance.
5. Watch for the gazette notice and the rules that will follow it.

Individual disputes call for a property lawyer who has studied the notified law. This is only a summary, so the final text decides every point.