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Small buildings up to 1200 sqft in Bengaluru no longer need occupancy certificates: Report
The Karnataka government has exempted small buildings under 1,200 sq ft from needing Occupancy Certificates, easing the burden on inspections.
The Karnataka government on Tuesday announced that small buildings on plots up to 1,200 square feet will no longer need an Occupancy Certificate (OC). This applies to houses that are ground plus two floors or stilt plus three floors.
This decision was made because around 4,000 such buildings are built every year, and inspecting each one for an OC has become difficult due to limited staff. The government used its powers under the Greater Bengaluru Governance Act, 2024, to bring in this change, the Deccan Herald reported.
Why this matters
After a Supreme Court order in December 2024, getting an OC became mandatory for getting electricity, water and sewage connections. This left lakhs of homeowners without basic services, especially those whose buildings were fully legal but didn’t have an OC.
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For example, BESCOM alone has nearly 1 lakh pending applications for electricity connections because of this rule.
Digital plan approvals already in place
Most small houses already get quick plan approvals through Nambike Nakshe, an online system that gives building approvals within 15 days. The government believed that this makes a separate OC unnecessary for small houses, as per the report.
However, some experts expressed concern. They said that without OCs, there will be no way to check if buildings are safe or legal. There are also cases of illegal multi-storey buildings being built on small plots.
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Also, people with ‘B’ khata properties are still stuck, as OCs are not given for such plots. This issue still needs a solution. The government said that illegal constructions will still face action and this rule is only to help honest homeowners avoid delays, the report added.
