Make sure you comply with all the rules or you could remain stuck with just a terrace. Abig gift that the Master Plan for Delhi gave to the city's residents in 2007 was allowing a third floor in all residential properties.
Until then, this option was only allowed in residential properties that were built along an 80-ftwide road. But the Plan, for the first time, permitted a third floor on all plotted residential areas where the layout plans were sanctioned by the concerned civic agency.
Significantly, it does not matter how wide the lane is near the property.
The first hurdle in the 2007 Plan cropped up when some of its aspects were challenged in the Supreme Court.
Consequently, the unconditional implementation of all provisions of the Plan itself was virtually held up. So, even the policy of a sanctioned third floor became subject to judicial scrutiny.
Though the sanction is a boon to sellers (it adds value to their property) and buyers (who have more options to buy), one has to be very careful while buying a terrace property to build a third floor.
Since the Master Plan matter is pending in the Supreme Court, civic bodies have made it mandatory for an affidavit to be submitted by the owner with the application requesting the sanction. The key provision of the affidavit is that no equity would be claimed by the applicant if the Supreme Court or any other court finds that the Master Plan “suffers from infirmity and as a consequence of the same any demolition of unauthorised construction or impermissible construction“ is to be done by the applicant at his own cost.
It is obvious by the affidavit terms that uncertainty over the legality of a third floor remains.
Notwithstanding this, many property owners have built third floors and have found buyers for the same.
When third floors were sanctioned, the value of a residential property's terrace went up because a whole new unit could be built on it. Property owners and real estate agents started selling the space at rates equivalent to that of a second floor. What is important for a terrace rights buyer to note is that it is not easy to get the sanction to build a third floor. If the other floors have different owners, permission from all of them would be required for building on the terrace.
Otherwise the application would not even be considered by the authorities.
A person who buys the terrace rights should, therefore, ensure that before he signs on the dotted line the owners of the other floors sign on the application for sanction of a third floor. He would otherwise be later stuck with a terrace with no permission to build on it.
There are many property owners who do not obtain the sanction from authorities and build the third floors. Should the structure be safe and meet the basic norms set out by the authorities then the owner can have the floor regularised by paying to the civic agency concerned the regularisation charges.
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