Any fresh construction in an apartment building or complex with multiple flats requires the consent of all co-owners, mayor Firhad Hakim said on Friday.
Hakim was responding to a complaint from a resident of Satkari Mitra Lane in Bagmari, north Calcutta, during his weekly phone-in programme Talk to Mayor.
The caller, an IT professional currently living outside the city, alleged that the builder of his apartment block had constructed an office in the common area without his knowledge.
Upon discovering the new construction during a recent visit, the resident checked the sanctioned building plan and registration documents, only to find no mention of the additional structure.
Clarifying the rules, Hakim stated: “Once the flats have been handed over and registration is completed, all individual flat owners become co-owners of the property. Any fresh construction after that requires no-objection certificates (NOCs) from each co-owner.”
He further explained: “If a builder has unused floor-area ratio (FAR) and wants to construct more after handing over the flats, they can do so only with NOCs from all owners.”
FAR is a regulatory tool that determines how much built-up area can be constructed on a plot, based on the size of the land, the width of adjacent roads, and other rules. Builders sometimes reserve a portion of the FAR during initial construction, intending to use it later, but this cannot be done unilaterally once ownership is transferred.
Hakim asked the caller whether the new construction was reflected in the sanctioned plan or in the registration documents. When the caller replied in the negative, the mayor said that any construction must have collective approval.
Civic officials and architects later told Metro that flat owners must not delay registration and mutation once flats are handed over.
“Registration is proof of ownership,” said a Kolkata Municipal Corporation official. “But mutation is what records your name in the municipal corporation’s records. This helps the flat owner's case during disputes.”
An architect explained that each registered flat owner holds a proportionate share of the land on which the building stands. After registration and mutation are complete, the builder or previous landowner loses sole ownership.
“For any new construction after this point, one owner or a builder must be appointed by all co-owners to submit a fresh building plan to the KMC. The person submitting the plan must have a power of attorney from all co-owners. This serves as legal proof that the proposed construction has their consent,” a KMC official said.