Covered vs Open Parking: Car Parking Rules When Buying a Flat in India

The cost sheet looks fine until the last few lines: "covered car park, ₹4,00,000". You ask if you can skip it. The sales team says every buyer takes one, the basement slots are limited, and the open spaces are "for visitors". A friend tells you builders are not allowed to sell parking at all. Who is right?

Both, partly. Indian law treats different kinds of parking differently, and the words used in your agreement matter. Here is a plain guide.

The types of parking you will see

• Open parking: uncovered spaces on the ground, in the open, inside the compound.
• Stilt parking: spaces on the ground level under the building, between the pillars, with the flats above.
• Basement or podium parking: covered spaces below or within the building's base. Usually open on the sides, with pillars and no walls around each slot.
• Garage: a space with a roof and walls on three sides.
• Mechanical or stack parking: a lift-like system that parks one car above another.
• Tandem parking: two slots one behind the other, so one car blocks the other.

What the law says

The Supreme Court on stilt parking

In 2010, in Nahalchand Laloochand Pvt. Ltd. v. Panchali Co-operative Housing Society, the Supreme Court looked at stilt parking under Maharashtra's flat ownership law. It held that stilt parking is not a "flat" or a "garage" and forms part of the common areas. The builder could not sell it as a separate unit. It could only recover the cost of such common areas from buyers, in proportion to the carpet area of each flat.

That case was decided under a state law, before RERA. But it shaped how courts and regulators across India look at parking.

RERA's definitions

The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 settles two things clearly:

• Open parking areas are common areas. Section 2(n) lists "open parking areas" among a project's common areas. Common areas belong to all the buyers together and are handed over to the residents' association. A builder cannot sell an open parking slot to you.
• A garage can be sold. Section 2(y) defines a garage as a place with a roof and walls on three sides for parking a vehicle, and says it does not include unenclosed or uncovered parking such as open parking areas. The housing ministry's RERA FAQs note that a garage can be sold to a buyer separately from the flat.

The grey zone: covered stilt and basement slots

Most parking in Indian apartment towers is neither open nor a true garage. It is a covered slot in a stilt, basement or podium level, with a roof but no walls. Experts and regulators do not fully agree on how RERA treats these. Some argue they are common areas that cannot be sold. Others say they are not "open" parking and can be allotted for a charge. State rules and RERA orders also differ.

In practice, many builders charge for covered parking as an "exclusive right to use" a particular slot, rather than selling it as property. Whether that holds up depends on your state's rules and the exact wording of your agreement. If a large amount is at stake, a short review by a property lawyer is worth it.

What a builder can and cannot do

• Cannot: sell open parking spaces to individual buyers, or to outsiders.
• Can: sell a garage that meets the roof-and-three-walls test.
• Can: include the cost of common areas, including parking areas, in the price of the flat.
• Depends on your state and agreement: charge separately for allotting a covered stilt, basement or podium slot.
• Should not: leave parking out of the agreement and promise it verbally. If it is not written down, you have little to stand on later.

What to check before you pay

1. Ask what each parking line in the cost sheet pays for. Is it a garage, a covered slot or an open space? Get it in writing.
2. See the slot on the sanctioned plan. The parking layout should match the approved drawings. Under RERA, you are entitled to see sanctioned plans and layouts.
3. Check the agreement. It should name the type of parking, the slot number or level, and whether it is a sale or a right to use. The allotment letter, cost sheet and agreement should all describe it the same way.
4. Count the slots. Compare the number of parking spaces with the number of flats. If there are fewer slots than flats, ask how they will be shared after handover.
5. Check the size and access. Measure it if you can. Pillars, ramps and tight turns make some slots useless for larger cars and SUVs.
6. Ask about mechanical and tandem parking. Stack systems need power, maintenance and sometimes an attendant. Tandem slots work only if both cars belong to the same flat.
7. Ask about EV charging. Find out whether your slot can have a charger, who pays for wiring and metering, and whether the association will allow it.
8. Ask about visitor parking. Without it, guests end up using residents' slots or the road.
9. Remember stamp duty. If parking is part of the agreement value, you pay stamp duty and registration on it too.

If you are buying a resale flat

Parking in an older building can be messier. Check whether the slot is mentioned in the original sale deed, in a society allotment, or nowhere at all. If it is only a society allotment, the society's bylaws decide whether it passes to you. Ask the society secretary for a letter confirming which slot goes with the flat, and make sure the sale deed mentions it.

A seller cannot normally sell you a common-area open slot as if they owned it. Be careful of any price that includes parking that is not backed by documents.

A quick example

Say a ₹85 lakh flat has a separate ₹4 lakh line for "covered car park" in the basement, and the agreement calls it a sale of parking. Before signing, ask the builder to show the slot on the sanctioned plan, change the wording to match what the space really is, and confirm whether the charge is for a right to use. If the slot is a pillared basement bay rather than a walled garage, you have a reasonable basis to question the charge or negotiate it into the flat price. Including it also adds about ₹28,000 in stamp duty and registration in Bengaluru at roughly 7%, as of November 2026.

This is general information, not legal advice; for a disputed parking charge, speak to a property lawyer. Skyros Estates can help you read cost sheets and agreements line by line and shortlist RERA-verified projects with clear parking terms.