First and foremost – you have to take permission from the Society. When you take Flower Bed space inside your home, you end up changing Elevation (look) of the building. Once the society gives you permission then you have to see whether the place can be enclosed, how much load it will take and if brick work can be done. Only after all these consideration, you can decide what kind of new construction can be done.
Officially, you have to consult a RCC designer before you do the work. The RCC designer tells you if the beam or column is capable of taking the load where you are constructing. This is important because if not done correctly, it can damage some part of building. Also by law, in certain cases you have to take permission from BMC for the work you are doing. Sometimes you may have to pay some formal fees to the BMC for the work.
If you are living in a society, where already, other neighbors has added flower Bed inside, then things are very straight forward for you. Because your neighbors have already done all discovery work.
sir i have a 3bhk flat in andheri west amboli and purchased a resale flat…Full oc was obtained on 20 jan 2009..now we have enclosed the flower beds and total enclosure goes to 94 sqft. now i want to know csn this flower bed be officially regularized by BMC by paying some penalty??? if yes plz suggest the rpocess
Your can never get BMC clearance for any flower bed covered inside. OC given in beginning is final decision of authorities. More then 70% of the Mumbai buildings extend homes as soon as they get opportunity. However on paper these are not legal.
Hi.. my building is 4 year old.. i hav 2 feet width & 10 feet long chajja over window which is 2 feet below floor level.. can i do brick work on open edges & fill it up with cement & then do tiles over it? And then install grills on outside? Basicay coverting chajja to balcony.. is only brick work filling strong enough or do we need some other cantilevers or something to hold the weight? Thanks in advance
Sir so is there any difference between balcony enclosure and flower bed enclosure??
Mr Suraj, in general bigger space is known as balcony & flower beds are small extensions/space, which you really cannot use efficiently . Most new projects dont give much of balcony.
we have 3bhk house in mumbai,
we have taken around 1 foot in length of floor bed in side the room.
will it cause any harm ?
can society object against it ?
Hi Nitin, Thank you for posting this article.I have recently purchased a 2bhk in Thane. We have a chajja just behind one of the window.
I want to break the wall below the window so that the chajja can be accessible. But I am not planning to take it inside the home.
But use it as a flower bed. Looking forward to your expert advice. Please suggest.
any such activities are illegal construction. No society or Municipal authority allows. Many Societies let-go such extensions but will never write it on paper. They will let you make changes to constructed structure but finally it is Home Owners responsibility.
purpose of chajja is to cover your window, protect it from rain & sun. It is not constructed to hold weight. Lighter objects are fine but do not keep heavier objects.
I have purchased a flat in Navi Mumbai and the builder has provided flower beds in kitchen as well as in the bedrooms. In kitchen, I want to simply level the floor of the flower bed with the kitchen and install tiling to make it even and use the flower bed area to put in kitchen sink. My builder is creating rukus out of this and not allowing me to proceed. I would like to know what legal rights do I have to use the flower beds which is definitely part of my house. Can the builder dictate on the usage of the flower bed areas??
Any extension work you do is illegal. When builder constructed building he submitted design to authorities and got approval for same. Any extension you do after is illegal. No society or builder or local authority will give you permission in writing . This is illegal. Having said that majority of Mumbai & surrounding region has done some or other illegal extension. People live with it until BMC or authority takes action. If builder is not allowing it, you cannot do it. You have no rights to fight against society or builder or any authority, simply because it is illegal.
Sir my Above Neighbour has illegally extended his balcony by going out of the building parameters.He has put low quality angles to carry out the extension.niw since the society has not taken any action the same person has done it for both his flats extending all his windows.
In our society out of 35 flat 23 flat owners have cover flowers bed area of 1 and 1/2 x 09 feet. one of the member lodged a complaint and BMC officers carried out preliminary surgery. What is the remedy available.
Usually such matters are solved within society meetings. Please talk to your society members & find out solution..if bmc officials visit, they have complete rights to take action, as wall/roof/ space was planned without correct permissions..
I am looking to buy an apartment, in Mumbai where the builder is proving a Chajja that extends to 4 feet, I was wondering if there is a possibility of putting a railing to use it as a balcony? and if so where can I find out how much load it could take and if there is any other way to install a railing / balcony that can actually take the load & there is no load as such on the chajja.
Thank you, waiting for a reply.
It is chajja, technically it is not suppose to bear any further weight.
Sir,
I have a balcony in the first floor of a multi-storey building. To avoid injuries arising from people throwing stuff from above that can be fatal or result in a mishap,I have covered with a aluminium patra. Is it legal and allowed given the circumstances.
The person residing above complains of noise disturbance when rain falls on it. Is there a solution to this.
Regards,
Rain fall noise on patra/aluminum sheet is real nuisance. You could have used fibre sheet that makes less noice.
Is it legal ? No its not!
Any extended structure or enclosure is not legal, but lot of people do it.
Hi. We have a 2 BHK in Badlapur where the builder has provided flowerbed area in both bedrooms, hall, and kitchen. I would like to make two cupboards at opposite ends, in the bed rooms for storage, but the I am afraid that the rain showers may come in. We can put aluminium patra roof to prevent the rain showers. I want to know what kind of doors these cupboards should have, so that they will stay put at least 10 years.
First & foremost take required permission. Aluminum Backlite doors(ones which we use from bathrooms) these are good option. Shelf make from cheap marble.
Hello..I have a question..I purchased a 2 BHK flat that has been sold to us with suggestion to extend the living room upto 4 feets on repeated enquiry the salesman made sure we can go ahead with it..as it has another 5 feet place ahead of balcony where it has gap lenter which could b filled by angles and marble( kadappa) …now the same person asking us to wait for another 6 months after OC
Exteding flowerbed are or any such wall changes are always illegal. Builder suggested it but its never on documented & no builder takes responsibility for it. In city like Mumbai most buildings do it however it is illegal. Building gets OC when officials check & verify that building is made as per approved planning. Listen to society/builder, getting OC is most important thing. Other things can get sorted out eventually.
Hello, I am staying in Ulwe. We have a wall in between dry space and bathroom. A wall with window. Dry space is abt 5X4 sq ft. Can we break the wall and take dry space inside by extending the bathrooms ? Hence after breaking the wall, bathroom size will be 10X 4 sqfts from 5X4 sq ft. Pls advise.
any internal wall changes are illegal. No local authority or society (officially) gives permission for it. Having said that most buildings in Mumbai Navi Mumbai make internal changes. Make sure waterproofing in place, else such civil changes will lead in to hassle.
I live in goregaon, mumbai . I live in 2nd floor of my building and there is a podium under my flat, the roof of the podium extends outside my window of the hall. Members from top floor throw all kinds of garbage and it use to get accumulated in front of my window. I complained number of times to the secretary and committee members about this issue, it was never cleaned , after months follow up they allowed me to put up a temporary shade and a grill on the boundary of that roof so that litter doesnt happen in front of my window and there is no further security issue of anyone climbing and entering my home. The permission was a oral permission. I took 2 weeks to put a tin roof and the grill and no one stopped me during that time and number of committee members came and checked to see the work and were good and ok with it. Few months later new secretary was appointted and he has been harrassing me and my family and asking is to remove the roof and grill. He was also a member in previous committee and he was aware of when we were putting the tin roof and grill. We explained him about the literring and the health concerns and safety issue and yet his response is that we should face them as we brought a flat in lower floor. He is also treathning me and my family with bmc complain, society notice and fines. We cannot access or use the area as there is 5 foot wall that blocks the passage and the only reason we built it was to prevent the littering in front of out home and the grill is for safety. Kindly suggest what we should do as its becoming painfully traumatic as its impossible to live near that littered area as it keeps getting us sick and its impossible to explain this secretary and some of the committee members. Please do reply. Thank you.
We are unfortunately not in position to answer here. This is very society specific issue. Is roof structure illegal to have? Yes & No. Lot of people say when structure is metal sheet or grill like it is not civil work, it is allowed. Finally push comes to shove, let secretary go to BMC, let BMC decide. Usually society avoids goign to BMC, because there will many other places in society were some adjustments were made, which technically are not allowed as per BMC rule. If BMC officers come to society they will treat everyone equally, anything & everything wrong will be looked in to.
I have purchased a flat in Mulund, the possession is not yet given. However, I’m worried about the usage of flower bed area. The flower bed area does not levels upto floor of apartment. Is it possible that after possession, I can alter and bring the flower bed level to apartment floor level by doing some civil work and can I build a katta (permanent brick structure) near my window space for sitting purpose?
First & foremost any such modifications are illegal.
Many societies still do it. They allow members to do it. Infact many society take one time fee for allowing member to do such change, this money is taken as gift to society fund. No society will every give permission in writing. Only because no society has such authority. In Mumbai such changes are common. First few members go through tussles with society, later whole building members do these changes one after the other. No one has authority and no one will give a writing permission for doing such change. Floor level difference can be handled by experienced civil contractor.
My society my neighbors covering kitchen dry area space inside the kitchen in renovation? Whom I can complain .society not taking intrest.
My municipal is Mira Bhaynder
Why do you want to complain? Is it goign to cause any kind of inconvenience to you? It is not allowed legally but more than 90% of building flats try to utilise every feet of space available. Once single flat does something like that, rest of the building repeats same. If you stop one neighbor, after few years many other flats are anyways going to do same. Unless it is creating some unsafe condition or incovenience to others, let it happen. I know many societies which charge fees for such work, they use this money for building maintenance.
I have a flat on 1st floor in goregaon, Mumbai. I have added a 8 foot steel roof on my balcony, due to littering issues from above floors. I didn’t move or added or broken any walls. I have got verbal permission from society members while adding the roof. Now about 6 months later the new society members are asking me to remove it. Can I show safety reasons and health reasons or any other reasons to BMC to keep this shed permanently, if yes please suggest how. Local lower level bmc official is not ready to give a solution. I have pictures of littering from above floors accumulated in my balcony before i added the patra.
No BMC or society can give you such permissions. If your society members allow you can have such roof. But no will ever give permission in writing. Regarding neighbors littering, which is wrong, you can complain first in society in writing, after this in BMC against it, violaters will get fined heavily. Simply go to twitter handle of your local B<C ward & send them pictures of littering.
hello,
i have booked a flat in sion in mumbai, the builder is providing chajja in living room and both the bedrooms, can i put safety grill upto the chajja and also can i use it for gardening purpose(how much load can it take )
such extension work are illegal, no societies or bmc will give you permission in writing. You have to check with your building committee & decide
I have a balcony in my small bedroom and I want to extend it into the room by shifting the sliding window inside the balcony room is it allowed to do, I live in Thane. There is no structural changes going to take place out side the balcony area. Kindly advise.
No such extensions are allowed by authority. However many societies in Mumbai Thane do extensions on their own risk. Even society/building committee will never give anything in writing because it is not legitimate. Whole decision is of Home owner. If your neighbors have done it, you do it on your own risk.
How to regularise Balcony Enclosure by paying official fees to BMC
It is illegal. Neither BMC nor society committee will ever give you any permission in writing. If few other flats in your building has done it, you can do it after discussing it with society, but its never authorised as per law.
Hello, I have a dry area adjoining kitchen wherein builder has provided inlet and outlet for washing machine. Additionally, a flower bed with outlet for A.C. water. Can I affix tiles legally in such areas. Note that I am not extending the same in the rooms as well as I am not levelling them too.
You have to discuss with your society committee, if they agree, you can do it. If other flats in building have done it, it would be easy permission. Legally you are not allowed to do any kind of work in this premises. So no-one ( society or authority) will ever give written permission.
I purchased ground floor flat at kamote at 2018 .above my flat all members extended there gallery’s in to hall and bedroom . Now I’m starting renovation of my flat . Hence I asked permission to extend only my hall till beam/colum 2 feet ( that other members already extended ) hence they denied for permission and saying other extension done by builder .
no authority or society gives written permission because any type of extension is illegal work. However lot of flats in metro cities go for it. You have two options – convince your society members or go against it. If you are sure that other members have done extension, they will never complain about you to authority. In any case such work is illegal. There is no correct/wrong answer I can offer.
Hello sir,
I bought a flat in Jan 2016 and completed its renovation work till March 2016, I had extended my flower bed area in the hall of my 1 bkh flat.
Now the society is not issuing NOC for the sale of my flat stating that I have encroached the area illegally but in 2016 as per my knowledge this was not made illegal by BMC who made this rule in 2018.
Many flats in my building having balconies have enclosed their area and were given NOC easily at the time of sale. Even other neighbours housing societies have many such flower bed areas that have been extended already and many still do.
They harassed my neighbour so much who had also extended his flower bed area just two years back, that in a hurry to obtain NOC for the sale of his flat he demolished his encroached windows and redid it just two days ago. They are harassing me in the same way, even in this covid situation when I want to sell my flat.
Does the society have any right to not issue me NOC for the sale of my flat?
What should I do in such a case?
Sir, we are not aware of such rule are passed by BMC. Building structure is approved by authority before construction. After construction, authority approves it. Any changes done after that are not permitted. Home owners still do it, because all Society members do it. You have to resolve this within society.
Hi,
We have added a box grill and changed the size of an outer window. The only change in elevation is the window size which is a little smaller than what the builder had provided.
We do understand that the box grill will have to he removed. But should we also go back to the original window size?
You have to work out this with your society office.
Sir, Then whats the solution for this if taken flower bed inside but w/o changing the building elevation.
From front no body can say that balcony is taken in side.
The flower bed was 6 inches low so i leveled it with the floor level and put the sliding near/attached to the the grill , grill was already provided by builder.
Regards,
AW
Hello. I live in central mumbai. I would like to break a partition wall in between the living room and a study and put a glass partition instead. Is it permissible to make these changes? If not what is the right process to go about getting it legally approved as my society is asking for BMC approval.
Hello Sir, i live in Airoli Navi Mumbai, 7 floor buiding, my flat is at 1st floor, i have 3 balconies in hall, bedroom, and kitchen , so i want to cover hall balcony in hall area,( balcony area total 55 square feet out of 30 square feet i want to cover) and kitchen balcony in kitchen area. ( Balcony area 10 square feet) which is commonly done by 5-6 flats owner also. So i also can do it without any one’s permission also? Because some of society members are saying no for it by saying it “sab aese hi extend karege to in future society weak ho jaega ” so society members are not allowing. So what should i do now? Can i extend it without their approval? And if i extend it then if anyone can complain or not? As many members already done then y not me? Is it safe to extend balcony?
Hello Sir, I have just received a 1 bhk flat in bldg after redevelopment in central Mumbai but there is empty space behind the bedroom as well as some space out side the window on the chajja. This is on first floor and on all other floors the bedroom wall is much on the outer side on the chajja. Can I too extend the bedroom wall upto that level? Do i need to take permission from anyone for that? Also if I want to enclose the space behind my bedroom how can I get permission from BMC to do that? Please guide me.
Dear Nitin ji, Is constructing a Box grill or extending the distance of grill given by builder illegal ?
Our building located in Mumbai has not received OC, We have a 3 Feet by 7 Feet Chajja, but builder has installed iron grill, the distance kept between the window and grill is only of 6 inches, due to which we cannot use the ample amount of space, If we construct a Box Grill with a window for Fire Safety of 3 Feet by 7 Feet will the OC be denied.
Rohit ji, I have replied your email personally. However I will repeat my answer here again for benefits of all who read this :
OC is extremely important step and recently we have seen very unexpected minor reasons for rejections.
Best idea is to listen to builder till the time OC is received.
Hi Sir
I bought 1bhk terrace flat in ulwe. This is 7 floor building and my flat is on 7 floor.
After possession I covered my terrace with slab and converted into bedroom and top of that made another terrace. Which is common in ulwe or few peoples in other societies they made 1+1 on own terrace
And other flat owners from my building extended their bedroom/kitchen/ hall and covered floor bed/balcony.
But now same people’s asking me not to cover terrace and remove the same.
But I refused to remove my construction from terrace and asked them if you need to do so then ask all people’s to remove all illegal construction which they did to cover floor bed/balconies.
But society ppls are not ready to remove their construction and saying that is Thierry internal work and it’s legal
What I can do in this case as they are harassing me every month and threatening me that they will remove my construction forcefully
I know my construction is illegal and I’m ready to remove the same but same time I want that other ppls also remove construction.
Can I go to police or cidco or any other authority.
I’m ready to fight legal case if require
Please guide
sorry to say this but if your wall/roof was constructed without permission, there is not much you can do legally. Your only option is to discuss with society & figure out solution which is good for all.
Can the cantilever beam which support the fresh window be removed and the area of flower bed taken inside the Living Room.
Technically – it is risky, so whatever changes you make, always keep in mind, you can never have heavy weight on it.
Authorisation – You have to check if you society & local authority allow it.