Sanctioned Building Plan in Bangalore: How to Read and Verify It

Every lawful building in Bangalore begins with a drawing that a public authority has approved. That drawing, the sanctioned building plan, fixes how many floors may be built, how far the walls must stay from the plot edge and how much floor area is allowed. This guide explains who issues the plan, how to get a copy, how to read it and how to match it with the flat or house on offer.

What the Sanctioned Plan Contains

A sanctioned plan is a set of drawings stamped by the approving office, issued along with a building licence. It is drawn for one plot and one design, and it carries a licence or plan number and a date. The set usually includes the following:

• A site plan with the plot dimensions, the road in front and the setbacks on all sides
• A floor plan for each level, with the number of homes on it
• Sections and elevations that show the height and the number of floors
• An area statement with the plot area, the built-up area on each floor and the floor area ratio used
• The parking layout in the basement, the stilt or the open area
• The names of the owner, the architect and the engineer, and the conditions of approval

The area statement is the quickest page to read. It gives the permitted floors and the total built-up area in one table, and the rest of the set explains how that area is arranged.

Who Sanctions Plans In and Around Bangalore

A plan counts only when it comes from the body that has planning power over that plot. The main bodies are these:

• City corporations: the five corporations that replaced the BBMP in September 2025, working under the Greater Bengaluru Authority, approve building plans in their wards
• Bangalore Development Authority (BDA): forms its own layouts and keeps the records of the approvals it issued in them
• Local planning authorities under the BMRDA: cover towns on the fringe such as Anekal, Hoskote and Nelamangala
• Bangalore International Airport Area Planning Authority (BIAAPA): covers Devanahalli and the area around the airport
• KIADB: approves plans on the industrial land it allots

A gram panchayat keeps village property records and collects local taxes. A panchayat paper is a weak base for an apartment building of several floors, and a buyer should ask which planning authority approved the drawing. Within the city corporations, an e-khata has been required for a new plan approval since 1 July 2025.

How to Get a Copy

For a project registered with Karnataka RERA, the approved building plan and the commencement certificate are uploaded with the registration. Anyone may open the project on the RERA portal and download them without a login. The developer must also give a buyer the sanctioned plan and the layout plan at the time of booking.

For a small building or a resale home, the seller or the owners' association should hold the plan. A copy that is missing or unclear can be sought from the approving office with the plan number. A seller who cannot produce any plan at all has given the buyer a useful answer.

Matching the Plan With the Building

The check is a comparison between paper and concrete. It works best with an architect or an engineer for an hour, and it covers these points:

1. Count the floors on the plan and the floors on the ground, including any penthouse or terrace rooms.
2. Find the flat on its floor plan and confirm that the flat number, the position and the size agree.
3. Count the homes on each floor, since a floor split into more flats than approved is a deviation.
4. Measure the open strips around the building against the setbacks drawn on the site plan.
5. Walk the basement and the stilt to see that the parking has not become shops, rooms or stores.
6. Compare the built-up area in the area statement with the area the seller quotes for the building.

The floor count deserves the most care. A top floor added beyond the approved number is the most common serious deviation in small apartment buildings. The flat on that floor has no place in the plan, even when it looks the same as the ones below.

Dates, Revisions and Validity

A building licence is issued for a limited period, and it has to be renewed if the work runs past that period. The date on the plan should therefore fit the dates of construction. A plan that had expired before the work began needs an explanation and a renewal on paper.

Large projects often revise their plans midway. The buyer should ask for the latest modified plan and check that the flat appears in it. Under the RERA Act, a developer needs the written consent of two-thirds of the buyers before changing the sanctioned plan or the common areas of a registered project. A change to one flat needs the consent of that buyer.

Why a Mismatch Matters

The plan is the base for the occupancy certificate (OC), which the approving office issues after checking that the finished building follows the drawing. A building that strays too far from its plan may be refused an OC. The effects reach the owner of every flat in it, in these ways:

• Lenders are slow to fund homes in a building without an OC, which narrows the pool of resale buyers
• The Supreme Court directed in December 2024 that power, water and sewer connections be given only on production of a completion or occupancy certificate
• The unauthorised portion stays exposed to penalty and, in serious cases, to a demolition order
• Khata and tax records for the building may stay in a weaker category

Small departures can sometimes be regularised on payment of a fee, and Karnataka moved in 2026 to widen the tolerated margin for some buildings. Extra floors were kept outside that relief. A deviation that could be regularised is still a defect until the order is issued, so a seller's promise is no substitute for the paper.

A Short Checklist

These steps cover the plan check for most purchases, in the order that saves the most time:

1. Identify the planning authority for the plot from its address and khata.
2. Ask for the sanctioned plan, the building licence and the commencement certificate before paying a token.
3. Confirm that the stamp and the plan number belong to that authority.
4. Match the floors, the flat, the setbacks and the parking with the building.
5. Ask for the latest modified plan and the OC, or the expected OC date for a project under construction.
6. Take an advocate's opinion on any gap before signing the agreement.

The check costs little next to the price of a home, and it is far easier before the advance is paid than after. We help buyers line up the approvals for any home they are considering, and our team is available through the contact page.