Bengaluru Homebuyers Urge Karnataka Government to Clarify New Apartment Law

Ahead of the government’s plans to roll out the Karnataka Apartment Bill, 2025, a proposed law aimed at safeguarding the rights of apartment owners and residents, Bengaluru homebuyers have written to the state government seeking urgent action on long-pending regulatory gaps. These include clarity on the competent authority for registering resident welfare associations, the mandatory transfer of common areas to buyers, and defined timelines for disposing of cases before Karnataka RERA.

In a detailed representation following a public consultation held at Vidhana Soudha on December 13, 2025, the Karnataka Home Buyers Forum (KHBF) said the government’s move to seek feedback on the new apartment act was a positive step, but flagged gaps in clarity and implementation. The forum said homebuyers had raised several concerns during the consultation, and the submission consolidates those issues along with proposed solutions.

This follows the announcement by the Karnataka state government that it is taking steps to roll out the Karnataka Apartment Bill 2025, a proposed law designed to safeguard the rights of apartment owners and residents.

Highlighting gaps in existing laws, Dhananjaya Padmanabhachar, director of the Karnataka Home Buyers Forum (KHBF), noted that apartment associations registered under different statutes continue to face legal and operational challenges.

“Associations formed under the KSRA, 1960, cannot legally collect maintenance from residents following High Court rulings. Those registered under the KAOA, 1972, are left without an effective grievance mechanism because the state has not notified a competent authority through a gazette, even though the Act identifies one,” he said.

Padmanabhachar said homebuyers expect the proposed new apartment law to address these structural issues decisively. “Once the government clearly provides for apartment association registration and notifies a competent authority through a gazette, associations can finally move forward with land title transfers from promoters, as mandated under Section 17 of RERA,” he said.

He said that the formal declaration of a ‘sakshama pradhikara’ or competent authority would also enable an institutional complaint redressal system, reducing the need for prolonged litigation and strengthening governance within apartment communities.

KHBF, an umbrella body representing hundreds of homebuyers across the state, reiterated that Section 17 of RERA must be enforced, particularly with respect to the transfer of title and common areas to associations of allottees. The forum argued that failure to do so has left homebuyers vulnerable for decades, especially in matters related to land ownership and governance of apartment complexes.

The Karnataka government recently announced that it will introduce the Bengaluru Apartment Bill, 2025, a move aimed at overhauling the decades-old Apartment Act. The proposed legislation is expected to provide clearer definitions and stronger legal backing on critical issues such as land ownership rights, transfer of title to apartment associations, governance of common areas, and the collection and utilisation of maintenance charges.

The state government said that the new Bill is intended to address long-standing disputes between developers and residents by streamlining apartment association registration and establishing a formal grievance redressal framework.

Once enacted, the law is expected to bring Bengaluru’s rapidly expanding apartment market more closely in line with the objectives of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act (RERA), offering greater protection and transparency for homebuyers.

Vittal BR, an advocate at the Karnataka High Court, noted that a key unresolved issue is the transfer of land to apartment owners, stating that the Karnataka Ownership Flats Act and the Karnataka Apartment Ownership Act must be interpreted together to address this gap.

He said the lack of clarity on how and when land rights are transferred has long been a source of dispute between residents, developers, and authorities, underscoring the need for a more coherent legal framework.