Can a Builder Sell Car Parking Separately? What Buyers Should Know
A builder generally cannot sell open or stilt parking as a separate unit, because the Supreme Court treats it as common area. Here is what a Bengaluru buyer can question on a parking charge.
A buyer finalising a three-bedroom flat in north Bengaluru was handed a cost sheet with a line that stopped him short: two lakh rupees for a stilt car parking space, quoted as casually as the flooring upgrade above it. He paid it, assuming that was simply how flats were sold, and only later learned that the space he had bought was, in law, not the builder's to sell at all. Across Indian cities, charging separately for open and stilt parking is common practice, and it runs against a Supreme Court ruling that most buyers have never heard of. Knowing the rule is worth real money.
The short answer. A builder generally cannot sell open or stilt parking spaces separately, because the Supreme Court has held that these are part of the building's common areas, meant for the collective use of all residents, and not independent units the developer can carve out and sell. The narrow exception is a covered garage that meets the legal definition and is part of the sanctioned plan. The trade-off for a buyer is awareness versus habit: the charge is widely levied, so recognising what can and cannot be sold is what lets you question a parking line before you pay it.
Can a builder sell you a parking space separately?
Generally no, not an open or stilt parking space. In the well-known Nahalchand Laloochand case, the Supreme Court held that stilt and open parking spaces form part of the common areas and facilities of a housing project, intended for the shared use of all flat owners, and therefore cannot be sold by the builder as separate, independent units. Because these spaces belong to the collective, they are not the developer's to price and sell on top of the flat, which is exactly what many cost sheets nonetheless attempt to do.
This does not mean parking is free or unmanaged; it means the right to allot and regulate it sits with the owners' body once the project is handed over, not with the builder selling spaces individually for a premium. The distinction matters because a buyer who understands it can question a separate parking charge rather than treating it as a fixed, non-negotiable part of the price, which is how it is usually presented. It is worth being precise about what the ruling does and does not say: it does not mean a project cannot have parking, or that you will not be allotted a space, only that the builder cannot carve out a common-area bay and sell it to you as a separate saleable asset the way a flat is sold.
What counts as a garage that can be sold?
A garage that can be sold is a specific, enclosed thing, not any painted rectangle on the ground. Under RERA, a garage is defined narrowly as a covered structure with a roof and walls on three sides for parking, and only a space meeting that definition, and forming part of the sanctioned plan, can be sold as an identifiable unit. An open bay, or a stilt space with no walls, does not meet this definition, so it does not become saleable simply because the builder labels it a garage on a brochure.
The practical test is physical and documentary at once: is the space actually an enclosed garage with a roof and three walls, and does the sanctioned plan show it as such? If the answer to either is no, then what you are being sold as a garage is really common-area parking under a different name. Ask to see how the space is described in the sanctioned plan before you accept any separate charge for it. The reason the definition is drawn so tightly is that an enclosed garage is genuinely a distinct, exclusive structure in a way that a patch of open ground is not, so the law treats the two very differently, and a builder cannot collapse that difference by relabelling one as the other on a glossy sheet.
How do the different parking types compare?
Setting the common types of parking against whether a builder can lawfully sell each one, and why, makes the position clear at a glance.
| Parking type | Can a builder sell it separately? | Reason |
| Open parking | No | Part of the common areas for shared use |
| Stilt parking | No | Held to be common area by the Supreme Court |
| Covered garage, roof and three walls | Possibly | If it meets the definition and is sanctioned |
| Space not in the sanctioned plan | No | Cannot be sold as an identified unit |
Read the two no rows as the common ones, because most of what buyers are charged for is open or stilt parking. The possibly row is the genuine exception, and it is conditional on both the physical form of the space and its presence in the sanctioned plan. Where a space fails either test, the separate charge for it rests on shaky ground.
What does RERA require about parking?
RERA requires the builder to declare parking as part of the registered project, so that what exists and how it is allocated is on the record rather than left to a sales conversation. Open parking areas must be shown in the registered layout, but that disclosure is not the same as permission to sell them separately; it is transparency about a common facility, not a licence to monetise it as private inventory. The disclosure lets a buyer see the parking provision of the whole project and check the sales pitch against it.
For a Bengaluru buyer, this means the parking claim on your cost sheet can be checked against the project's filings on the Karnataka RERA portal, rera.karnataka.gov.in. Where a builder is charging separately for a space that the sanctioned plan and the law treat as common area, that mismatch is your opening to question the charge. Transparency under RERA and the Supreme Court's view of common areas work together to protect the buyer here, and together they are the strongest card you can hold at the cost-sheet stage.
Why is charging for parking still so common?
If the law is this clear, buyers reasonably ask why parking charges appear on cost sheets across the city. The answer is partly habit and partly economics: parking is a scarce, sought-after amenity, and separating it out lets a builder show a lower headline flat price while recovering value through an add-on that buyers rarely contest. Because most buyers have never heard of the Supreme Court's position, the charge is quietly accepted, and a practice that lacks a firm legal footing survives on the strength of that unfamiliarity alone.
This is exactly why the knowledge is worth having before you sit across the table. You may still end up with a parking allocation, and a well-run project has to distribute finite spaces among its residents somehow, but there is a real difference between a fair, transparent allocation recorded in your agreement and a separate sale of a common-area space dressed up as private inventory. Understanding that difference gives you something to negotiate with, and at the very least it lets you insist that any parking arrangement is documented properly rather than sold to you as an unquestioned premium on the side.
What should you do about a parking charge?
Approach a separate parking charge with questions rather than acceptance, and put the key ones in writing.
- Ask exactly what type of space you are being charged for: open, stilt, or a covered garage.
- For any garage claim, ask to see it shown as an enclosed garage in the sanctioned plan.
- Treat open and stilt parking as common area that a builder generally cannot sell separately.
- Check the project's declared parking against the RERA filings for the development.
- Get any parking allocation and its basis recorded in writing in your agreement.
- Raise a mismatch between the charge and the sanctioned position before you pay it.
- Remember that allocation of common parking rests with the owners' body after handover.
Doing this does not guarantee a builder will drop a charge, but it moves you from paying by default to paying, or refusing, on an informed basis. Because parking sits inside the common areas of a project, it connects to the wider handover of shared spaces we cover in our note on common area handover and the owners' association, and to the way saleable area is defined, which we explain in our guide to carpet area versus super built-up area. In a project like Brigade El Dorado near the Aerospace Park, as anywhere, ask how parking is classified before you accept a line item for it.
Frequently asked questions
Can a builder charge me separately for a parking space?
Generally not for open or stilt parking. The Supreme Court has held that open and stilt parking are part of a project's common areas and cannot be sold by the builder as separate units. A covered garage meeting the legal definition and shown in the sanctioned plan may be sold.
What is the difference between a garage and stilt parking?
Under RERA, a garage is a covered structure with a roof and walls on three sides, whereas stilt parking is an open space with no such walls. Only a space meeting the garage definition, and shown in the sanctioned plan, can be sold as a unit. Stilt and open parking are common areas that cannot be sold separately.
Who controls parking allocation after possession?
Once the project is handed over, allocation and regulation of common parking rests with the owners' body, not the builder. Open and stilt parking belong to the collective, so the association manages how spaces are shared. This is why treating such parking as a builder-sold private unit is inconsistent with how the Supreme Court views common areas.
How do I check the parking position for my project?
Ask what type of space you are charged for and, for any garage, ask to see it in the sanctioned plan. Check the project's declared parking against its RERA filings on your state portal. Where a builder charges separately for a space the plan treats as common area, that mismatch is your basis to question the charge.
Last updated 2026-09-02. PropNewz Team.
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