A buyer in Nizampet spent three weekends in early 2026 comparing two nearly identical three bedroom flats a kilometre apart. Same carpet area, same price band, same confident sales patter. The only difference she could not see from the brochure was the one that mattered most: one tower was built on a sanctioned plan filed with the state, and the other had quietly added two floors beyond what was approved. That gap does not show up in a show flat. It shows up in the building permission record, and today in Telangana that record lives on a portal most buyers have never opened.

The short answer. Before you pay for a Hyderabad flat, confirm the building was constructed on an approved building permission, and check it on the state's current official system, BuildNow Telangana. BuildNow has replaced the older TG-bPASS platform, which was set to close permanently after 15 December 2025. The trade-off to accept: an approved permission tells you the plan was sanctioned and by which authority, but it does not confirm the builder stuck to that plan floor by floor, so you still match the sanctioned plan against what stands on site.

Why does a building permission matter when you buy a Hyderabad flat?

A building permission is the state's approval that the structure could be built as planned, and buying without one exposes you to real risk. When a builder constructs beyond or outside a sanctioned plan, the extra portion can be treated as unauthorised, which can affect everything from your bank loan to future regularisation and even the safety of the structure. For a buyer, the sanctioned plan is the yardstick against which the actual building is measured. Without seeing it, you are trusting that what was promised is what was permitted, and those two are not always the same.

The practical harm lands on the buyer, not the builder. Lenders often ask for the sanctioned plan and approvals before releasing a home loan, so a permission problem can stall your financing. Deviations can invite penalties or demolition of the unauthorised part, and a resale buyer later may raise the same questions you should be raising now. Checking the permission early is far cheaper than discovering a problem after you have paid.

What is BuildNow Telangana and what happened to TS-bPASS?

BuildNow Telangana is the state's current official portal for building and layout permissions, and it has taken over from the earlier TS-bPASS, also written TG-bPASS. The official BuildNow site carries a clear notice that applicants were advised to complete and submit pending applications in TGbPASS by 15 December 2025, because the TGbPASS portal would be permanently closed after that date. In plain terms, if you read older guides that send you to TS-bPASS, the destination has moved, and BuildNow is where the current process now sits.

The portal is built to be a single window that connects the bodies a Hyderabad buyer cares about, including GHMC, HMDA and DTCP, so approvals across those authorities are handled through one system. For a buyer this consolidation is helpful, because it means one official place to orient yourself rather than several disconnected sites. What matters for your purchase is not the technology but the record: the portal is where building permission activity for the state is meant to be processed and tracked.

How do I check a building permission on BuildNow?

Use the official portal directly and start from its citizen facing options rather than a private lookalike site. The BuildNow home page presents options including an Applicant Login for those who filed applications, a Citizen Search to locate an application, an Application Portal to submit requests, real time status updates on WhatsApp, and an EODB dashboard. As a buyer you are usually not the applicant, so your route is to ask the builder for the application or permission reference, then use the citizen facing search to confirm what the portal shows against what you were told.

Because you often need the builder to hand over the reference, treat that request as part of your due diligence rather than an imposition. A builder confident in a clean approval should have no difficulty sharing the sanctioned plan and the permission details. If a seller resists giving you anything you can independently check, that reluctance is itself information. The portal exists so that a buyer does not have to take a spoken assurance on trust.

What should the approved permission tell me?

Read the permission for the specifics that a brochure never spells out. The sanctioned plan and permission define what was allowed to be built, by which authority, and within what limits, and each of those is something you can compare against the real building. The single most useful habit is to walk the site with the sanctioned plan in hand and count floors, check setbacks, and confirm the block you are buying into matches the approved layout.

How is a building permission different from an occupancy certificate?

They sit at opposite ends of construction and you need to understand both. A building permission is granted before construction and says the plan may be built; an occupancy certificate is issued after completion and certifies the finished building was constructed per the approved plan and is fit to occupy. A project can hold a valid permission yet still lack an occupancy certificate if it has not been inspected and cleared at the end, so seeing one does not mean you can skip the other.

For a ready to move flat, both questions matter: was it approved to be built, and was it certified fit once finished. For an under construction flat, the permission is what you verify now, while the occupancy certificate is something you confirm before final possession. Keeping the two separate in your mind stops a builder from waving one document to answer a question about the other.

What if the building has no approval or an outdated one?

A missing, expired or mismatched permission is a signal to slow down and get written answers. If the builder cannot produce a sanctioned plan and a current permission, ask in writing why, and do not accept a verbal promise that approvals are coming. Where the built structure clearly exceeds the sanctioned plan, treat the excess as a live risk to your loan and your title, and have your own lawyer review it before you commit any money.

Deviations are sometimes described casually as normal or regularisable, but that is a judgement for your lawyer and lender, not the sales team. A permission that names a different property, a lapsed validity, or a plan that does not match the tower in front of you are all reasons to pause. The cost of walking away from a doubtful approval is almost always lower than the cost of untangling one after purchase.

How does this check fit with my other due diligence?

The building permission is one pillar of a wider check, and it works best beside the others. Confirm the project on the state RERA record, verify the land is clean, and understand your tax and registration position, so that approval, title and cost are all examined rather than just one. No single document makes a flat safe to buy; it is the set of them, read together, that gives you real confidence.

Start with our guide to verifying a Telangana RERA project before booking, and check ongoing dues with our explainer on how to check GHMC property tax dues before buying a flat. A building permission check sits naturally alongside those two, and together they cover approval, registration and dues before you sign anything.

Your seven step building permission checklist

1. Ask the builder in writing for the sanctioned plan and the building permission reference.
2. Open the official portal at buildnow.telangana.gov.in rather than any third party site.
3. Use the citizen facing search to confirm the permission details the builder gave you.
4. Check which authority approved it, such as GHMC, HMDA or DTCP, and note the validity.
5. Walk the site with the sanctioned plan and count floors, setbacks and the correct block.
6. Confirm the property details on the permission match the exact flat you intend to buy.
7. If anything is missing or mismatched, get written answers and a lawyer's review before paying.

Frequently asked questions

Is TS-bPASS still the portal for building permissions in Telangana?

No. The state has moved to BuildNow Telangana, which replaced the earlier TS-bPASS, also written TG-bPASS. The official BuildNow site notes that pending applications in TGbPASS had to be submitted by 15 December 2025, after which the old portal would be permanently closed. Older guides pointing to TS-bPASS now lead to a system that has been superseded.

Can a buyer check a building permission without being the applicant?

Usually you will need the application or permission reference from the builder, then you can use the citizen facing search on the official BuildNow portal to confirm it. As a buyer you are rarely the applicant, so ask the seller for the sanctioned plan and reference. A builder with a clean approval should share these details without resistance.

Does a building permission mean the flat is safe to buy?

Not on its own. A permission confirms the plan was sanctioned, but not that the builder followed it floor by floor, and it does not cover title, encumbrances or occupancy. Match the sanctioned plan against the actual structure, and pair the permission check with RERA verification, a title and encumbrance review, and confirmation of the occupancy certificate.

What if the building has more floors than the sanctioned plan?

Treat extra floors beyond the sanctioned plan as a serious risk, not a detail. Portions built beyond approval can be considered unauthorised, which may affect your home loan, invite penalties, or face action against the excess. Get the sanctioned plan, compare it with what stands on site, and have your lawyer and lender review any deviation before you commit.

Last updated 2026-07-16. PropNewz Team.