Changing the Sanctioned Building Plan Needs Members' Consent

In Mumbai redevelopment, a developer cannot quietly change the sanctioned building plan, the approved layout, your flat's carpet area or the promised common amenities without first obtaining the written consent of the flat purchasers who are affected. This protection has run through Maharashtra flat-ownership law for decades and is now written plainly into Section 14 of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (RERA). A change to your own flat needs your consent; a change to the sanctioned plans, layout or common areas of the whole project needs the previous written consent of at least two-thirds of the allottees. Both the Bombay High Court and MahaRERA have treated the sanctioned plan as the promise on which members agreed to redevelop — a promise that cannot be rewritten one-sidedly. Where plans are changed without the required consent, members have clear remedies before MahaRERA, the consumer commissions and the civil courts. This is general legal information, not legal advice for your specific project.

What the "sanctioned plan" actually is

When your society appoints a developer, the developer applies to the planning authority — the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM/BMC), MHADA, SRA or MMRDA, depending on the plot — for approval of the building. The drawings that authority stamps and approves are the sanctioned plans. They fix the number of floors, the position and size of every flat, the carpet areas, the parking, the lifts, the staircases, the open spaces, the podium and the common amenities. "Carpet area" is the usable floor area within the walls of your flat; it is the figure that decides how big your home really is.

These sanctioned plans, read with the approved layout, are the foundation of your Development Agreement (DA) and your Permanent Alternate Accommodation Agreement (PAAA) — the two registered contracts that record what the developer will build and what each member will receive. Under the Registration Act, 1908 (Section 17), the DA, the PAAA and the eventual conveyance must all be registered, and the sanctioned plan should be annexed so it becomes part of the registered record. The plan is the difference between a firm promise — "we were to get a 700 sq ft carpet flat with two lifts and a podium garden" — and a vague hope. If it is not attached to your agreement, you have very little to hold the developer to, a point we cover in common agreement mistakes societies make.

From MOFA to RERA: the principle of consent before change

The idea that a builder cannot change the deal after taking your commitment is not new in Maharashtra. Under the Maharashtra Ownership Flats Act, 1963 (MOFA) — the law that governed flat sales for decades before RERA — a promoter who disclosed the plans and specifications was bound by them and could not make alterations or additions to the structure without the consent of the persons who had agreed to take the flats. MOFA also cast a lasting duty on the promoter: Section 11 requires the developer to convey clear title to the society and, until conveyance is done, to bear the outgoings and taxes. That continuing responsibility is one reason the sanctioned plan matters long after possession — you can read more in our conveyance guide. RERA has now absorbed and strengthened the consent principle for every registered project.

Section 14 of RERA, in plain words

Section 14 is titled "Adherence to sanctioned plans and project specifications by the promoter." Stripped of legal language, it says three things:

• The project must be developed and completed strictly as per the sanctioned plans, layout plans and specifications approved by the competent authorities.
• The promoter cannot make additions or alterations to those sanctioned plans, or to the amenities and common areas, without the previous written consent of the allottees — and the level of consent depends on what is being changed.
• A change to a single flat needs that allottee's consent; a change to the sanctioned plans, common areas or the project as a whole needs the previous written consent of at least two-thirds of the allottees.

"Allottee" simply means a person to whom a flat has been allotted or sold. In a redevelopment, the existing members are allottees of their new flats, and the incoming purchasers of the sale flats are allottees too. So a developer who wants to redraw the layout to squeeze in extra saleable area usually needs a genuine two-thirds written consent — not a signature from the managing committee alone, and not a line buried in the fine print of the agreement.

How much consent does the developer need?

RERA draws a clear line between a change to your own flat and a change to the whole project. The table below shows what level of consent each kind of change needs.

Note that some amenities are not the developer's to give away at all. Under the Development Control and Promotion Regulations (DCPR 2034) for Greater Mumbai, mandatory open spaces, recreation grounds and set-backs must be provided as a condition of the sanction itself. A developer cannot lawfully erase them even with member consent, because the planning authority requires them. Before you sign, it is worth checking your promised area against what the plot can actually deliver using the FSI calculator, and reading our note on standard amenities in redevelopment so you know what should be in the plan in the first place.

How the courts and MahaRERA have reasoned

The reasoning across Maharashtra forums has been consistent, even where the facts differ. The Bombay High Court has repeatedly treated the sanctioned plan and the registered agreement as the measure of the parties' bargain: a developer who builds something materially different from what was approved and promised is in breach, and unauthorised deviation can be restrained. MahaRERA, exercising its powers under RERA, has directed developers to adhere to Section 14, to hand over the common areas and amenities as sanctioned, and to compensate allottees for shortfalls. The thread running through these decisions is a single idea — consent is the price of change. The developer took the members' commitment on the strength of a particular plan; he cannot keep the commitment and discard the plan.

Courts have also been careful to distinguish a genuine, minor, professionally certified correction from a self-serving redesign. A structural tweak that the architect certifies and intimates is one thing; quietly enlarging the saleable component while shrinking members' flats or amenities is another. The second is exactly what the two-thirds consent requirement is designed to catch.

Consent works both ways

Section 14 protects members, but it also binds them. Once you have validly given your written consent to the plans — or to a change — you are bound by that consent and cannot casually resile from it later. This is why the consent process must be honest and informed from the start: members should see the actual revised plan, understand how it affects their area and amenities, and vote on it openly, rather than sign a blanket "power to amend" clause. It also connects to a related principle that a validly given redevelopment consent is not something an individual can unilaterally take back once the society has acted on it — explained in our note on why consent generally cannot be withdrawn.

How plans quietly get changed without real consent

In practice, disputes rarely begin with a formal notice. They begin when members notice that the building coming up does not match what they were shown. Typical warning signs include:

• The promised carpet area quietly shrinking between the brochure, the agreement and the final sanctioned plan.
• An amenity that sold the project — a garden, gym, extra lift, podium or parking bay — disappearing from a "revised" plan.
• A new wing, extra floors or a merged adjoining plot appearing without members being told how it affects their flats, the common areas or the corpus.
• The developer relying on a broad "the developer may amend the plans as required" clause instead of taking real, documented consent.

That last point is why a one-sided power-to-amend clause is one of the biggest red flags in a development agreement. A private clause cannot override the statutory consent that Section 14 gives each member; at best it papers over a change the developer was never entitled to make alone. Understanding how area and corpus are fixed — see possession, area and corpus explained — helps members spot the moment a plan starts drifting from the promise.

What you can do if the plan is changed without consent

If you believe the sanctioned plan, your area or the amenities have been changed without the consent the law requires, act early and on paper.

1. Get the current sanctioned plan. Ask the society's project management consultant or architect, or apply to MCGM, MHADA, SRA or MMRDA, for the plan as approved today, and compare it against what your DA and PAAA promised.
2. Object in writing. Send a dated, factual written objection to the developer and the managing committee, recording exactly what has changed and that you did not consent. Keep copies.
3. Get the deviation certified. Have an independent architect or engineer certify, in measurable terms, the difference between the sanctioned plan and what is actually being built.
4. Complain to MahaRERA. For a registered project, a breach of Section 14 can be taken to MahaRERA under Section 31 (complaints to the Authority). MahaRERA can direct the developer to comply and to compensate affected allottees.
5. Use consumer and civil remedies. A reduction in area or amenities can be pursued as a deficiency in service under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, and a civil court can be asked to restrain construction that departs from the sanctioned plan.
6. Report unauthorised work. Construction that deviates from the sanction can be reported to the planning authority as unauthorised, which can stall the project — itself a strong reason for developers to stay within the plan.

Different problems point to different forums. The short guide below helps you aim your complaint; where you are unsure, see which forum hears a redevelopment dispute.

What this means for your society

The practical lesson is simple: the sanctioned plan is your leverage, so protect it from day one. Before you sign, insist that the full approved plans and layout are annexed to the DA and PAAA; that each member's carpet area and every amenity are written in clear figures; and that any power-to-amend clause is cut down so it cannot be used to change your flat or the common areas without real, written, two-thirds consent. Follow the transparent process the State's 2019 redevelopment directive under Section 79A of the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, 1960 contemplates — open meetings, registered DA and PAAA, and clear disclosure — so consent is recorded properly rather than assumed. If a change genuinely becomes necessary in a long project, it should come back to the members openly, with the revised plan on the table, not be discovered on site months later. Having your tender and agreement professionally reviewed before signing — through our tender and agreement review service — is the cheapest insurance against a plan that quietly drifts from the promise.

This page is general legal information, not legal advice. Every plot, agreement and approval is different, so before you sign and before you contest a plan change, have your own advocate and architect review your specific papers. Compare competing developer offers side by side with the offer comparison tool, and if anything about the process feels off, read our guidance on redevelopment frauds and how to protect your society.