At a launch off Hennur Road, a buyer was told the two bedroom flat cost 92 lakh and that a second car park would be 4 lakh extra. He paid it, and the receipt described the space as covered parking. When the towers were finished, the space he had bought turned out to be a painted rectangle in an open courtyard, uncovered and unenclosed. He had paid four lakh for something the law does not treat as saleable in the way he assumed. The distinction that cost him that money is written into the Act itself.

The short answer. Under Section 2(y) of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, a garage is a place within a project having a roof and walls on three sides for parking a vehicle, and it expressly does not include an unenclosed or uncovered parking space such as an open parking area. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs states that because parking falls within the definition of common areas, open parking areas cannot be sold to allottees. The trade off to understand: this protects you from paying for shared open space, but a genuine enclosed garage remains a legitimate thing a builder can sell.

What does RERA define as a garage?

Something quite specific, and narrower than the word is used in sales offices. As the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs sets out in its official FAQs on the Real Estate Act, as per Section 2(y) a garage means a place within a project having a roof and walls on three sides for parking any vehicle, but does not include an unenclosed or uncovered parking space such as open parking areas.

Read that definition slowly, because each element is a test. There must be a roof. There must be walls on three sides. It must be within the project. A stilt bay with pillars but no walls, a basement slot marked out with paint, or a space in an open courtyard does not meet the description simply because a sales agreement calls it a garage. What matters is the physical reality of the space, not the label on the invoice.

Can a builder sell you an open parking space?

No. The Ministry FAQs address this directly, explaining that Section 2(n) defines common areas to include parking, and that consequently open parking areas cannot be sold to the allottees. Open parking belongs to the shared fabric of the project rather than to any individual buyer, which is precisely why it cannot be carved off and sold as a private asset.

This is one of the more valuable pieces of knowledge a Bengaluru buyer can carry into a negotiation. Charges for open parking are still quoted routinely, sometimes as a separate line item and sometimes bundled into an amenities or infrastructure charge. Knowing that open parking areas form part of common areas lets you ask a precise question rather than a vague one: is the space you are charging me for roofed and walled on three sides, or is it open?

The framing of the charge is worth watching too. Because the objection is to selling open parking, some cost sheets avoid the word sale and instead describe a preferential location charge, an allotment fee, or a one time facility charge for the same open space. The substance of what is being paid for does not change because the label does, and a buyer is entitled to ask what physical space each line on the cost sheet corresponds to. If a charge cannot be tied to an identifiable roofed and walled space on the plan, that is worth resolving before the money moves rather than afterwards.

What happens to common areas in the end?

They go to the residents collectively. The Ministry FAQs note that areas provided in a real estate project of this kind are handed over to the Association of Allottees. That handover is the mechanism by which shared spaces, including parking that forms part of common areas, pass into the control of the people who live in the building rather than remaining with the developer.

The Act builds this into the definition of the project itself. Section 2(zn) describes a real estate project as including the common areas, the development works, all improvements and structures thereon, and all easements, rights and appurtenances belonging thereto. Common areas are not an afterthought bolted onto a development. They are part of what the project legally is, which is why the Act treats attempts to sell pieces of them so differently from the sale of an apartment.

How do you tell what you are actually being sold?

Look at the physical space and the sanctioned plan, not the brochure caption. The table below sets out the practical difference between the two categories, using the tests the Act itself applies.

Ask to see where the space sits on the sanctioned plan, and ask for the description in writing before you pay anything for it. A developer selling a genuine garage has no difficulty confirming that it is roofed and walled on three sides. A developer charging for a painted rectangle in the open usually becomes noticeably less precise when the question is put in an email.

Why does this matter beyond the parking charge itself?

Because it touches what you own and what you share. Parking that forms part of common areas connects to the wider question of undivided share and shared ownership in a development, which we cover in detail in our guide to the undivided share of land in a Bengaluru apartment. A buyer who understands both topics can read a cost sheet far more accurately than one who reads only the headline price per square foot.

It also affects how you should read the total cost of a home. A parking charge of a few lakh sits outside the headline price per square foot, yet it is real money and it may be buying you something the law treats as shared. Buyers comparing two projects on rate alone can end up choosing the more expensive one once parking, floor rise, and similar add ons are counted properly. Establishing early which charges attach to an enclosed garage and which attach to shared open space makes those comparisons honest.

There is also a practical resident level consequence. Where open parking is treated as common area and handed to the association, allocation of those spaces becomes a matter for the residents collectively to decide, through whatever rules the association adopts. Where a builder has purported to sell open spaces individually, associations frequently inherit a mess of conflicting claims, and the people who paid extra are the ones left arguing.

What should you do if you have already been charged?

Start by establishing the facts on paper. Retrieve your cost sheet, allotment letter, agreement, and receipts, and identify exactly what was charged and how the space was described in each document. Then compare that description against the physical space and the sanctioned plan. The gap between what was described and what exists is the substance of any conversation that follows.

Raise it in writing with the promoter first, referring to the specific documents and the definition in the Act. If the matter is not resolved, the routes available to an allottee are set out in our guide to RERA Section 19 rights and duties, including your entitlement to obtain the sanctioned and layout plans that show what the space actually is. Those plans are often the single most useful document in a parking dispute.

A parking checklist before you sign

Run these seven checks before paying anything toward a parking space.

1. Ask whether the space has a roof and walls on three sides, and get the answer in writing.
2. Ask to see exactly where the space sits on the sanctioned plan.
3. Check how the space is described in the cost sheet, allotment letter, and agreement.
4. Question any charge for a space that is uncovered or unenclosed.
5. Confirm how many spaces the project provides in total against the number of units.
6. Ask how spaces will be allocated once the association takes over common areas.
7. Keep every document that describes the parking you were sold.

If you are still comparing developments, look at how clearly each one documents parking from the outset. Our project coverage, such as the page for Brigade Sevilla in Budigere, is a reasonable starting point for understanding what a specific project actually provides before you sit down with a cost sheet.

Frequently asked questions

What counts as a garage under RERA? Section 2(y) defines a garage as a place within a project having a roof and walls on three sides for parking any vehicle. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs FAQs confirm it expressly does not include an unenclosed or uncovered parking space such as an open parking area.

Can a builder charge me for open parking? The Ministry FAQs state that Section 2(n) defines common areas to include parking, and that open parking areas therefore cannot be sold to allottees. If you are being charged for a space that is uncovered and unenclosed, ask the developer in writing to describe the space and show it on the sanctioned plan.

Who ends up owning the parking areas? Common areas are handed over to the Association of Allottees, according to the Ministry FAQs. Section 2(zn) also treats a real estate project as including its common areas, development works, improvements and structures, so shared parking is part of what eventually passes to residents collectively.

How do I check what I am buying? Ask for the space to be described in writing, confirm whether it is roofed and walled on three sides, and ask to see its location on the sanctioned plan. Section 19 entitles an allottee to obtain sanctioned and layout plans, which is usually the clearest evidence of what a parking space really is.

Last updated 2026-07-25. PropNewz Team.