Karnataka Apartment (Ownership and Management) Bill, 2026: What Changes for Owners

Karnataka is replacing the two 1972 laws that govern apartment ownership with a single new one. The Karnataka Apartment (Ownership and Management) Bill, 2026 sets rules for the share in land, parking, maintenance, structural safety and redevelopment. This guide explains what the Bill contains, where it is in the law-making process, and what flat owners and buyers in Bangalore should do in the meantime.

Where the Bill Is Now

A draft of the law was put out for public comment in July 2026. The final version was introduced as the Karnataka Apartment (Ownership and Management) Bill, 2026, and the Legislative Assembly passed it on 21 August 2026. The Legislative Council passed it on 24 August 2026. The provisions described below are taken from the Bill as it was introduced in the Assembly.

The law takes effect only from a date that the state government notifies in the official gazette. Until that date, the Karnataka Apartment Ownership Act, 1972 and the Karnataka Ownership Flats Act, 1972 continue to apply. Once the new law starts, both 1972 Acts are repealed. Many working details, such as forms, fees and time limits, are left to rules that the government will frame later.

Which Projects Are Covered

The Bill applies to projects with more than eight apartments, in one building or several. Villas approved under a single development plan are included. The Bill also treats a project that has commercial units alongside flats as one project, as its own worked example on redevelopment shows.

Some properties are outside its scope. These are the main exclusions:

• Government office buildings
• A building kept under one owner and let out to tenants
• Plotted layouts and villa sites where each plot is sold by its own registered deed and the roads and parks are handed to the local authority

That last exclusion falls away when a layout has shared facilities meant to be owned or run by the owners through an association. A gated villa community with a clubhouse and private roads is therefore likely to come under the new law.

Ownership and the Share in Land

Every apartment carries an undivided share in the project land and in the common areas. The share passes with the flat on every sale, gift or inheritance, and it cannot be separated from the flat. The Bill fixes how the share is worked out: in the ratio of the private area of the apartment to the total private area of all apartments.

The land and common areas remain the property of the owners together. The association receives only the management of the common areas, through a registered deed that the builder must sign after the association is registered. The builder remains answerable for structural defects under the RERA Act even after this handover.

Common areas are protected in two further ways. They cannot be turned into saleable or private space without the consent of the owners. After the handover, the builder cannot add new construction in the project unless it was in the declared sanctioned plan, or two-thirds of the owners and the authority agree.

Parking

Parking has been a regular cause of disputes between builders, associations and owners. The Bill draws a clear line between common parking and private parking. Open, stilt, basement and podium parking that is part of the common parking area stays common property, and it cannot be sold as independent property.

Marking a slot or allotting it to a flat does not make it private. A parking space counts as private only when it meets all three of these conditions:

• It is a separate enclosed or specifically demarcated built-up unit, such as a garage
• It is approved as an independent parking unit in the sanctioned building plan
• It is conveyed to the apartment owner by a registered document

A private parking space may be sold or leased, but only to another apartment owner in the same project. Its area is kept out of the carpet area and super built-up area of the flat unless the sale deed expressly includes it.

Maintenance Charges and Dues

The Bill expects maintenance to be charged, in general, in proportion to the super built-up area of each apartment. A larger flat would therefore pay more than a smaller one in the same project. Associations that charge a flat fee per apartment today would need to bring their bye-laws in line once the law starts.

The other rules on dues are as follows:

• An owner pays maintenance even when the facilities are not used and the flat is vacant
• Separate user charges may be levied for community and commercial facilities
• The builder pays maintenance on every unsold flat, like any other owner
• The penalty for late payment cannot be more than one month of maintenance
• Unpaid dues become a charge on the apartment, ranking after taxes and an earlier registered mortgage

The charge follows the flat. A resale buyer is expected to obtain a statement of dues issued by the association before buying, because unpaid amounts remain payable after the transfer. A buyer who clears old dues may recover them from the previous owner.

Associations Under the New Law

Each project is to have a single registered association, and every owner is a member. A person has one vote, whatever the number of apartments held. The builder must help form the association within three months of a majority of the apartments being allotted.

Existing associations are carried forward. A body registered under the societies, co-operative or company laws, or under the 1972 Act, is treated as an association under the new law. It has six months from the start of the law to file its particulars and align its bye-laws.

Repairs and Structural Safety

Major repairs that exceed the funds of the association need a majority vote at a general body meeting attended by at least half the owners. The cost is then shared in proportion to super built-up area. The executive committee may carry out urgent safety repairs at once and place the expense before the next general body meeting.

Older buildings get a regular safety check. When a building completes thirty years, the association must have it assessed by a registered structural engineer. The engineer certifies the building under one of three heads:

• Safe for continued occupation, with a fresh certificate due at least once every five years
• Safe subject to specified repairs or strengthening, which the association must then carry out
• Unsafe for continued occupation, which the engineer reports to the competent authority and the local authority

An association that disagrees with an unsafe finding may appeal to an expert committee within thirty days. The association is also required to insure the property against fire, flood and other risks named in its bye-laws.

Redevelopment

Redevelopment of an old complex has been hard to carry out under the 1972 law, because a few owners could hold up a scheme. The Bill sets a threshold. Owners of at least 75% of the apartments in the whole project must give written consent at a general body meeting called for the purpose.

The resolution then goes to the Second Appellate Authority, and after its approval the scheme binds every owner. The scheme has to set out the plan, the floor area to be used, what each owner will receive, the funding and the timeline. Other safeguards in the Bill include these:

• An owner who did not consent may take a cash settlement and leave the scheme
• The settlement is at least twice the market value of the flat and its land share, less depreciation, as fixed by a registered valuer
• The settlement must be paid before the planning authority approves the redevelopment proposal
• The redeveloper must give a bank guarantee, escrow or similar security before demolition begins
• The association may end the agreement, invoke the security and appoint another developer when the work is delayed

A person who buys a flat after a redevelopment proposal has been placed before the association takes it subject to that proposal. A resale buyer in an older building should therefore ask the association whether any such proposal is pending.

Disputes and Penalties

The government is to appoint a competent authority from among officers of the local or planning authority. Owners and associations may take disputes on dues, bye-laws, the land share and the running of the association to this authority. Appeals go to a First Appellate Authority and then to a Second Appellate Authority.

Civil courts are barred from hearing matters that these authorities are empowered to decide. A builder who fails to file the declaration, help form the association or execute the deed of transfer may be fined up to Rs. 1 Lakh. Handing over possession without an occupancy certificate attracts the same penalty, with up to Rs. 1,000 more for each day the breach continues. An online portal for applications and records is to be set up within two years of the law starting.

What Owners and Buyers Should Do Now

The present law still governs every sale and every association until the new one is notified. Buyers should keep to the usual checks on title, sanctioned plan, occupancy certificate and RERA registration. The Bill is useful today mainly as a guide to where the rules are heading.

A few steps are worth taking in advance:

1. Read the sale agreement for any parking slot priced separately, and ask how it appears in the sanctioned plan.
2. Ask the association for a statement of dues before buying a resale flat.
3. Check the age of the building and whether a structural assessment has been done.
4. Find out under which law the association is registered and whether its bye-laws fix maintenance by area.
5. Watch for the gazette notification and the rules, since time limits and forms will come from them.

Questions on a specific association or dispute are best taken to a property lawyer who has read the final Act and rules. The points above are a summary for home buyers and owners, and the notified Act will be the final word.