BMC To Ensure Flat Owners Get One Free Parking Space—Reclaiming Mumbai's Occupied Roads

It is now mandatory for builders to provide a car park with each apartment sold without additional charges. The State Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission (SCDRC) has directed the BMC (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation) to make this official, and mandatory.

According to the Mumbai Mirror, The Commission has asked the BMC to make amendments to its Development Control Rules. Bilders currently violate rules and do as they please. They eventually charge for parking spaces after buyers pay for the apartments.

The commission cited a Supreme Court order that says a promoter has no right to sell any portion of a building that does not fall under the definition of 'flat' under the Maharashtra Ownership Flats Act (MOFA).

The SCDRC heard a case filed by two senior citizens from Malad-Sukhdeo Mahamuni and Namdeo Bhor, both residents of the Bank of Baroda Employees Arjun Co-Operative Housing Society Ltd. They were represented by their lawyer Uday Wavikar. Both residents were denied parking spaces in their re-developed building.

The builder who redeveloped the property created only 40 parking spaces (as per sanctioned plans) vs the 60 apartments he built. His plan was to divide the parking spaces between the original occupants and the new buyers at the site. And while the original occupants did not have parking spaces, the builder was attempting to sell parking spaces at a premium.

THe SCRDC called car-parking an "essential amenity" and said, "The Mumbai Municipal Corporation, which is also a planning authority, must take care while sanctioning a building plan to ensure that each flat purchaser gets one car parking space."

The order is important given the inadequate parking spaces in Mumbai, and road space being occupied by vehicles parked outside buildings that have insufficient parking spaces. The existing Development Control Rules state that a builder is liable to provide one parking space for four tenements, each measuring 35 sqm.

The SCRDC panel also asked housing societies to frame by-laws to ensure that each flat owner get a parking space. If car parking spaces are in surplus, they can be reserved for visitors. In case parking spaces are limited, they should be rotated among flat owners.

Builders who use part of the FSI sanctioned space to create parking spaces should be allowed to sell them at market prices.

What We Think Of The One Flat One Parking Order

The DCR should have been changed a long time ago. Who came up with the idea of one parking space for four apartment spaces? What happens to folks who have already lost parking spaces and to those who have bought parking spaces even if they are original occupants? Some how these governments agencies are exactly like the police in Bollywood movies. They wake up way after crimes are committed.