MHADA's Role in Redevelopment: NOC, Developer Screening and Stalled Projects

MHADA — the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority — is the single most powerful public authority in the redevelopment of Mumbai's old "cessed" buildings. Acting through its Mumbai Building Repairs and Reconstruction Board (MBRRB), MHADA decides whether a cessed-building scheme can begin at all (by issuing the mandatory No Objection Certificate, or NOC), screens the developer's eligibility and capacity, monitors the project against binding conditions, and — where a builder abandons the work — can step in and take the project over. In exchange for the extra building rights allowed under Development Control and Promotion Regulation (DCPR) 33(7), the developer must also hand over an agreed share of the new construction to MHADA as public housing stock. This guide explains each of those powers in plain language. It also gives you the actual numbers rather than adjectives.

Two different regimes get confused constantly, so fix them apart at the start. A cessed building in the island city is redeveloped under Regulation 33(7). A building standing inside one of MHADA's own housing schemes is redeveloped under Regulation 33(5), which has an entirely different entitlement formula. The headline numbers below are the 33(7) ones, because that is what a cessed society is dealing with. The 33(5) formula is set out separately further down, clearly labelled.

Source: DCPR 2034 (Greater Mumbai), Regulation 33(7) — reconstruction or redevelopment of cessed buildings in the Island City. The rest of Maharashtra follows the UDCPR, not the DCPR.

What "cessed" means, and why MHADA sits at the centre

A "cessed" building is an old structure in the island city of Mumbai — broadly the belt from Colaba up to Mahim and Sion — whose occupiers pay a small annual "repair cess" to MHADA. Because these buildings are ageing and often structurally unsafe, that cess is collected under the MHADA Act, 1976 and pooled by the MBRRB to fund emergency repairs. This direct financial and safety link is exactly why MHADA is not a neutral permitting office for these buildings: it is a stakeholder in whether they survive, get repaired, or are redeveloped.

MHADA's cess register groups these buildings into three categories by age. The older the building, the higher the priority for reconstruction — and the greater MHADA's involvement in how that reconstruction is done.

The three cess categories at a glance

Buildings constructed after 30 September 1969 are generally not cessed. The category dates are set out in our detailed note on DCR/DCPR 33(7) for cessed buildings; confirm your own category from the cess bill or with MBRRB.

If you are not sure whether your building is cessed, the quickest check is your society's outgoings: if a "repair cess" line is being paid to MHADA and the building appears in the MBRRB cess register, it is a cessed building. The ward-level MHADA/MBRRB office can confirm your category on record.

The legal backbone: MHADA Act, 1976 and DCPR 33(7)

Two instruments do most of the heavy lifting. The MHADA Act, 1976 creates MHADA and the MBRRB and gives them their powers over cessed buildings — collecting cess, ordering repairs, and regulating reconstruction. The building rights themselves come from DCPR 2034 Regulation 33(7) (Greater Mumbai; the rest of Maharashtra uses the UDCPR). Regulation 33(7) is the special rule that grants "incentive" floor space so that existing tenants can be rehoused free of cost while the developer earns a saleable component to fund the project.

The official heading of Regulation 33(7) is "Reconstruction or redevelopment of cessed buildings in the Island City by Co-operative Housing Societies or of old buildings belonging to the Corporation." It covers cessed buildings in the Island City existing prior to 30 September 1969 that attract the MHAD Act, 1976, and Corporation (MCGM) buildings of the same vintage. Regulation 33(7) also carries sub-limbs — 33(7)(A) and 33(7)(B) — which you may see quoted on a plan or in a developer's presentation; ask MHADA to state in writing which limb your scheme is being processed under rather than accepting a broker's description of them. Where a wider urban-renewal cluster is involved, Regulation 33(9) may apply instead — that route is explained in our note on cluster redevelopment. Additional buildable area from fungible compensatory FSI (Regulation 31(3)) and the road-width FSI table below can also come into the calculation.

The road-width FSI ladder you should measure any offer against

Know the ordinary rule first. Under DCPR 2034, the permissible FSI on a normal residential plot in Greater Mumbai is decided by two things only: which side of the 9 m / 12.00 m / 18.00 m / 27 m road-width bands your plot falls on, and whether you are in the island city (basic FSI 1.33) or the suburbs (basic FSI 1.00). Everything above the basic figure comes from premium paid to MCGM and from TDR — Transfer of Development Rights, which is Regulation 32 of the DCPR 2034.

Source: DCPR 2034 as sanctioned by MCGM, Table 12. Applies to Greater Mumbai (MCGM) only. Older notes still circulate the draft bands of 12.20 m / 18.30 m / 30 m — those were imperial carry-overs (40 ft / 60 ft / 100 ft) and were replaced by 12.00 m / 18.00 m / 27 m on sanction. Quoting the draft bands understates a society's development potential.

There is a second door into the higher band. Note 1 below Table 12 says that a plot abutting a public road of at least 6 m but less than 9 m, which is proposed to be widened to 9.0 m or more, gets the FSI admissible for a 9 m road. So a proposed widening in the Development Plan can lift a suburban plot from 1.00 to 2.00, and an island-city plot from 1.33 to 2.00, before a single brick moves. Check the DP remark for your road, not just the width you see today.

Three practical points on the ladder

First, the premium FSI above is not free — it is charged at 50% of the ASR land rate for FSI 1 for the year in which the FSI is granted (Regulation 30(A)(6)), and that cost sits inside the developer's project. The 60% figure that still circulates comes from the draft and from a pre-DCPR notification; using it overstates the premium by a fifth and lets a builder inflate his costs on paper.

Second, and this is the point committees get wrong most often: permissible FSI is not calculated on your gross survey area. Regulation 30(A)(2) says the permissible FSI shall be on plot area excluding:

• area under DP roads;
• area under roads for which a sanctioned Regular line has been prescribed under the MMC Act, 1888;
• area to be given up under Regulation 16 (street lines and road widening);
• area under Regulation 14 amenity plots; and
• area of a DP Reservation to be surrendered to MCGM or the Appropriate Authority under Regulation 17.

All of that comes out before the FSI multiplier is applied. A plot with a road-widening strip or a reservation on it therefore builds less than its raw survey area suggests, and any calculation that starts from the full survey figure is overstated. Ask for the net plot area in writing, in square metres, and check it against the property card and the DP remark.

Third, the surrendered land is not lost value. TDR for the land handed over is available under Regulation 32, Table 12(A), and may be consumed on the balance plot within the admissible TDR limit. TDR in lieu of road widening under Regulation 16 may even be used over and above the permissible FSI in column 7 of Table 12. So the correct sequence is: deduct the surrendered land, apply the band FSI to what is left, then add the TDR earned on what you gave up.

One caution on a clause you may see quoted at you. Regulation 30(A)(3)(c) — TDR for the built-up area you cannot consume because planning constraints stop you reaching even the basic zonal FSI — is marked "kept in abeyance" in the sanctioned text. Do not let it be counted as value in a feasibility statement unless MCGM confirms it has been brought into force.

Cessed buildings under 33(7): what each occupier actually gets

This is the section that matters to a cessed society. Under Regulation 33(7) each occupier is rehabilitated with the carpet area he actually occupied in the old building — not a flat percentage — subject to a floor and a ceiling.

• Floor: a minimum of 27.88 sq m (300 sq ft) carpet, however small the old tenement was.
• Ceiling: a maximum of up to 120 sq m (1,292 sq ft) carpet.
• Carpet area above 120 sq m is not free: the occupant pays the developer the cost of construction as per the ASR of that year for the excess. That excess counts towards rehabilitation FSI but not towards incentive FSI.
• A residential-cum-commercial occupant is entitled to a minimum of 27.88 sq m (300 sq ft).
• A non-residential occupier gets area equivalent to what was occupied in the old building.

Note what "carpet area" means here, because members lose area at exactly this point. DCPR 2034 says carpet area carries the same meaning as under the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016. Under RERA, carpet area excludes external walls, areas under service shafts, exclusive balcony or verandah area and exclusive open terrace area, but it includes the internal partition walls of the flat. If a developer's statement excludes internal walls, your entitlement is being understated.

Consent: 51% of occupiers

The new building may be permitted on the irrevocable written consent of not less than 51% of the occupiers of the old building. The regulation as amended reduced the earlier 70% threshold to 51%. The eligibility list and the consents are certified and verified by the Mumbai Building Repairs and Reconstruction Board (MBRRB), which is why the eligible-occupier list is settled at the MHADA stage and not left to the developer.

Incentive FSI under 33(7) — and why joining neighbouring plots pays

The headline rule again: total FSI is 3.00 on the gross plot area, or the FSI required to rehabilitate the existing occupiers plus incentive FSI, whichever is more. The society is guaranteed the better of the two. How much incentive the developer gets depends on how many cessed plots are put into one scheme.

Source: DCPR 2034 as sanctioned, Regulation 33(7), sr. no. 5. Additional carpet remains subject to the 120 sq m maximum above. The 70% tier also applies to redevelopment of municipal properties under this regulation having an eligible tenement density of more than 650 per hectare. For MCGM buildings, built-up area beyond rehabilitation and incentive is shared MCGM : Society of occupants = 1 : 0.5. The draft DCPR showed 65% and "three or more plots" with 5% / 10% additional carpet; the sanctioned text says 60%, six or more plots, and 8% / 15%. Do not accept the draft figures.

That is a concrete, checkable reason for a cessed society to talk to its neighbours. Joining with adjoining cessed plots moves the scheme from 50% incentive to 60%, and at six plots to 70%, and lifts every single member's extra carpet from nothing to 8% or 15%. Very few negotiating levers move both sides of the table at once — this one does.

There is a further line in the regulation worth knowing, because a builder may quietly use it as an excuse. A Note to sr. no. 5 says that where the permissible FSI in the scheme is 3.0, that 3.0 may be exceeded by the built-up area needed to deliver the 8% or 15% additional rehabilitation carpet. So "we have hit the 3.0 cap, your extra carpet cannot be given" is not a valid answer — the regulation expressly allows the cap to be crossed for exactly that purpose.

Regulation 33(5) — MHADA housing schemes: a different formula entirely

A building standing inside one of MHADA's own colonies or layouts is not read off the 33(7) rules. The DCPR spells the entitlement out as a formula, so you can work out your own number today. For a residential tenement it is the sum of two parts, with one ceiling on top.

Source: DCPR 2034 (Greater Mumbai), Regulation 33(5) — MHADA housing-scheme redevelopment, Table A and Table B. These figures do not apply to cessed 33(7) buildings.

Part 1 — existing carpet plus 35%, with a floor of 35 sq m

Your existing carpet area goes up by 35%, subject to a minimum of 35 sq m. The floor protects the smallest flats: 22 sq m plus 35% is only 29.7 sq m, so it is lifted to 35 sq m. A 40 sq m flat plus 35% is 54 sq m, already above the floor.

Part 2 — extra carpet from the size of the plot (Table A)

On top of that you get a further percentage of your existing carpet area, decided purely by how large the plot under redevelopment is. Bigger layout, bigger slab.

Source: DCPR 2034, Table A — MHADA housing-scheme redevelopment. 1 ha = 10,000 sq m.

"Plot under redevelopment" means the land demarcated by MHADA, not your building's footprint. Get that demarcated area in writing before accepting anyone's calculation: the difference between the 2 ha and the 5 ha side of the line is 10 percentage points of carpet for every member.

Part 3 — the MIG ceiling

Whatever Parts 1 and 2 add up to, the rehabilitation area cannot exceed the maximum carpet area prescribed for the MIG (middle income group) category by Government on the date the scheme is approved. That figure sits in Government orders, not inside the DCPR, so ask MHADA for the limit in force on your approval date.

A non-residential or amenity unit inside a residential housing scheme follows a smaller formula: existing carpet plus 20%. Shopkeepers and society-office units should check they are being offered that, not simply the same percentage as the flats.

Incentive FSI for the developer — Table B

The developer does not rehouse everyone for nothing. Against the FSI needed for the rehabilitation area he is allowed incentive FSI, and how much depends on one ratio: Basic Ratio = Land Rate (LR) ÷ Rate of Construction (RC), both taken from the Annual Schedule of Rates for the year in which the Competent Authority approves the project.

Source: DCPR 2034, Table B — incentive FSI for MHADA schemes.

That table runs opposite to instinct: a lower land-to-construction ratio earns a higher incentive, because a project on cheap land needs more free-sale area to be viable. So a member in an outer suburb should not feel cheated that "our builder gets 70%" — that is the regulation, not his negotiation. Where more than one land rate applies to parts of the plot, a weighted average is used.

Your own Basic Ratio depends on the ASR land rate for your locality in the year of approval — a genuinely plot-specific figure we will not guess here. Get the ASR land rate and construction rate for your ward, divide one by the other, and read the band off the table. Our FSI calculator gives an indicative buildable area once you know it.

What happens to the FSI left over

Whatever permissible FSI remains after the rehabilitation and incentive areas is the balance FSI, and it is not the developer's to keep. It is shared between the co-operative housing society and MHADA under Table C, and MHADA's share of that balance is handed over free of cost. Ask MHADA for the Table C entry that applies to your project in writing.

How MHADA screens and empanels developers

No cessed-building redevelopment under 33(7) can lawfully proceed without an NOC from MHADA/MBRRB, and the NOC stage is where MHADA scrutinises the scheme and the people behind it. MHADA verifies the list of eligible occupiers, checks that every existing tenant is being offered at least the minimum rehabilitation carpet area the regulation guarantees, and confirms that the rehab and sale components match the sanctioned plans.

That "minimum rehabilitation carpet area" is not one number across Mumbai — it changes with the scheme. These are the figures the DCPR states.

Source: DCPR 2034 (Greater Mumbai). The rest of Maharashtra follows the UDCPR. Note that 27.88 sq m and 25 sq m are both live figures — 300 sq ft is the general SRA figure under Regulation 33(10), while 269 sq ft is the operative figure for the BDD chawl cluster schemes under 33(9)(B). Identify the regulation before quoting either. Anyone who tells you 269 sq ft is simply "out of date" has the wrong scheme in mind.

For a cessed 33(7) building the exact figure for each occupier is settled at the NOC stage from the certified eligibility list, so get MHADA's approved area statement in writing — flat by flat — rather than accepting the developer's schedule.

Over the last few years MHADA has tightened this gate to keep weak or over-committed builders out. Before and during the NOC stage a developer is typically expected to demonstrate financial and technical capacity, furnish a bank guarantee, and deposit funds towards transit rent and the members' corpus. Where MHADA is itself the redevelopment agency — for its own layouts, or for societies that choose the MHADA route rather than a private builder — developers are appointed through a transparent tender or empanelment process rather than by private nomination.

Screening by MHADA is a safeguard, not a substitute for your own due diligence. Your society should still study the developer's track record and compare offers on identical terms before committing — our offer comparison tool is built for exactly that. It is also worth confirming the developer's MahaRERA registration and reading our note on a promoter's obligations under RERA, because depending on how the development agreement is drawn, a redeveloping society can itself fall within the RERA definition of a promoter or co-promoter — and carry a promoter's duties along with the builder.

The mandatory NOC: MHADA's first lever

The NOC is best understood as a conditional licence, not a one-time clearance the builder can pocket and forget. It is issued with conditions and timelines attached: the eligible-occupier list is frozen, the minimum rehab area is locked in, and the developer accepts obligations on transit rent, corpus, bank guarantee and completion. If the developer breaches those conditions, the NOC — and with it the right to build — is at risk. This is the first of MHADA's two great levers over a cessed project.

MHADA's power to take over stalled projects

The second lever is the one that matters most to a family living on transit rent: MHADA's ability to reclaim a project the builder has stalled. Amendments to the MHADA Act, 1976 have given the Board the power to step in where a developer fails to complete the redevelopment within the stipulated period, or leaves a demolished plot languishing. In such cases MHADA can issue a show-cause notice, hold a hearing, cancel the defaulting developer's rights, and take the project over — either completing it through MHADA itself or appointing a fresh developer to finish the work.

In practice MHADA has been surveying long-pending cessed schemes, serving notices, and beginning to reclaim projects where builders stopped work while tenants waited for years. The logic is simple: an occupier who surrendered a home for redevelopment should not be left permanently homeless because a private builder ran out of money or interest.

This public power runs alongside the private remedies every allottee already has under RERA, 2016. A registered project must keep 70% of buyers' money in a separate scheduled-bank account under Section 4(2)(l)(D), and Section 18 lets an allottee claim a refund with interest, or interest for the delay, when the promoter fails to hand over on time. For a society that has bought into a delayed cessed project, MHADA and MahaRERA are two doors that can be knocked on at once — the wider picture is set out in RERA for redevelopment. If your own project has already stalled, do not wait passively; follow the escalation steps in our guide on what to do when a builder delays.

The developer's obligation to hand over MHADA's share

Incentive FSI under 33(7) is not a free gift. In exchange for the extra buildable area, the developer must rehouse every eligible occupier free of cost and hand over a defined share of the newly constructed built-up area to MHADA as public housing stock — or, where the scheme permits, pay a premium in lieu of that physical share. This MHADA share is separate from your rehabilitation flats. It comes out of the developer's incentive and sale entitlement, not out of the members' guaranteed carpet area, so it does not shrink what your family is owed.

Constructing and handing over MHADA's share is a binding obligation, not an optional courtesy. If a developer tries to sell off MHADA's portion, quietly drops it from the plans, or delays handover, that is a default — and it can trigger the very take-over powers described above. The table below summarises who provides what, and whom each element protects.

The corpus figures the regulation actually fixes

Committee members always ask what a fair corpus is. The DCPR fixes a number in only two places, and each belongs to a different scheme — so name the regulation before you quote a floor.

Source: DCPR 2034, Regulation 33(9) clause 17 and Regulation 33(10). The Rs 50,000 figure is specific to 33(9) — it is not a universal minimum for every redevelopment. The 33(9) approval route runs through a High Power Committee headed by the Municipal Commissioner, with prior Government sanction; its decision is appealable as under Section 47 of the MR&TP Act, 1966.

For a 33(7) cessed scheme or a MHADA-layout scheme the corpus is negotiated, not fixed by regulation. Treat the 33(9) figure as your benchmark and write the agreed amount per flat, the payment date and its bank guarantee into the development agreement — a corpus promised in a presentation and absent from the agreement is worth nothing.

How the pieces fit together: the order in which the area is claimed

The buildable area on a plot is claimed in a fixed order, and knowing that order lets a committee check a builder's presentation instead of nodding at it.

1. Rehabilitation area — existing carpet + 35% (floor 35 sq m) plus the Table-A slab, capped at the MIG limit. Goes to members, free of cost.
2. Incentive area — 40% to 70% of the rehabilitation area under Table B. Goes to the developer as free-sale area.
3. Balance FSI — whatever permissible FSI is left. Shared between the society and MHADA under Table C, MHADA's share free of cost.

Take the building above: 40 flats of 40 sq m on a 3 hectare MHADA plot. Step 1 gives 2,560 sq m of rehabilitation carpet — 64 sq m for each member, up from 40. Step 2, at a Basic Ratio of 3.2, gives the developer 1,536 sq m of incentive area. That is 4,096 sq m spoken for before anyone mentions profit. Only what the permissible FSI allows beyond it is balance FSI, and the society is entitled to a share of that under Table C.

Three figures stay specific to your plot: the permissible FSI (the Table 12 ladder above, by road width and zone), the Basic Ratio (ASR land rate ÷ construction rate in the year of approval) and the MIG carpet cap (the Government order in force on the approval date). Get those from MHADA and the ASR, then run your plot through our FSI calculator instead of relying on a builder's verbal promise. For a cessed 33(7) building the arithmetic is not applied straight — MHADA fixes the scheme FSI and rehabilitation entitlement in the NOC, so ask for both in writing at that stage.

What this means for your society

For a resident, MHADA's role turns several loose promises into enforceable duties. Your rehabilitation carpet area is checked at the NOC stage; your transit rent and corpus are backed by a bank guarantee; the developer works to a sanctioned timeline; and if that timeline collapses, a public authority has the legal power to remove the builder and finish the work rather than leaving you stranded. Practical steps for protecting your money and your handover are in our guide on possession and corpus.

Before your next developer meeting, get these five numbers on one sheet of paper. Everything else is talk until they are filled in.

1. Existing carpet area, flat by flat, measured — not the figure on an old agreement.
2. Plot area demarcated by MHADA, in sq m — this fixes your Table-A slab at 15%, 25%, 35% or 45%.
3. Road width in metres, and the net plot area after DP road, Regular line, Regulation 16, Regulation 14 amenity and Regulation 17 reservation surrenders — together these fix your place on the Table 12 ladder, 1.33 to 3.00 in the island city and 1.00 to 2.50 in the suburbs. Measure the road: 8.9 m gives you 1.00 in the suburbs, 9.00 m gives you 2.00.
4. ASR land rate and construction rate for your locality — divide one by the other for the Table B incentive band, 70% down to 40%.
5. The MIG carpet cap in force on the approval date — the ceiling on your rehabilitation area.

None of this replaces a well-drafted development agreement and an alert managing committee. The societies that come out strongest are the ones that document eligibility clearly, insist that MHADA's NOC conditions are written into the agreement itself, and register properly before signing. If your society is at the planning stage, start by understanding the wider approval flow in our 79A redevelopment process guide, and you can register your society details with us for a free, no-obligation feasibility view.

Where to find the official rule

The powers described here flow from public law, and you should verify the current text directly before acting on any figure. The MHADA Act, 1976 and its amendments are published by the Government of Maharashtra and are available through the state portal and MHADA's own website, where the MBRRB also issues circulars on cessed-building NOC conditions. DCPR 2034, including Regulation 33(7), 33(7)(A), 33(7)(B) and 33(9), is notified by the Urban Development Department and is the authoritative source for the FSI, rehabilitation and MHADA-share provisions. Because circulars, premiums and NOC conditions are revised from time to time, always confirm the latest version at the MHADA/MBRRB ward office or the official site.