Builder or RWA Took Your Parking? What the Law Lets You Reclaim

Reviewed on: 2026-06-12.

In March 2023, Rohan booked a 2BHK in a Thane project. The builder's demand letter added Rs 2.5 lakh for “stilt car parking S-14”. At possession, the slot was given to another buyer who had paid more. Rohan's case is not a grey area. The Supreme Court held in Nahalchand Laloochand Pvt. Ltd. v. Panchali Co-operative Housing Society Ltd., (2010) 9 SCC 536, that stilt and open parking are common areas. A builder cannot sell them as separate units. Rohan can seek a refund with interest through RERA. Here is how the same law works for you.

• Open parking. Uncovered ground-level slots. The Second Schedule of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, read with Section 2(n), lists open parking as common area. A promoter cannot sell it.
• Stilt parking. Slots under the building, between the ground-floor columns. The Supreme Court treated these as part of the common areas in Nahalchand. The case arose under Maharashtra's flat-ownership law, but it is Supreme Court precedent and is applied across India.
• Garage. A roofed structure with walls on three sides, shown as a garage in the sanctioned plan. RERA's Section 2(y) treats a garage as sellable. Some state RERA authorities also permit the sale of designated covered parking through the agreement for sale. This is the one category where a separate charge can be lawful.

So the first factual question in every parking dispute is simple: what does the sanctioned plan call this space? Everything else follows from that.

• If the builder charged you separately for open or stilt parking, or resold a slot promised to you, your route is a complaint to your state RERA authority under Section 31. You can seek a refund with interest. If the project is outside RERA, use the district consumer commission instead, claiming deficiency in service.
• If the RWA or housing society is denying or reallotting your parking, the route is internal first: the registered bye-laws and a written agenda item at the general body meeting. Parking allotment among members is the society's job, but it must follow its own bye-laws. If it does not, complain to the Registrar of Co-operative Societies in your state, who supervises registered societies.
• If you are not sure what was approved, get the sanctioned plan first. It is the document every forum will ask for.

The sanctioned building plan sits with the municipal corporation or development authority that approved the project. These are public authorities under the RTI Act, 2005. File an application with their Public Information Officer asking for:

1. A certified copy of the sanctioned building plan for [project name, plot or survey number, address], showing parking areas and their classification.
2. Copies of any amended plans approved later.
3. A copy of the occupancy or completion certificate.

The fee is Rs 10 and the PIO has 30 days. Use the online RTI route for central or union-territory bodies, and your state portal otherwise; the state RTI portal directory lists them. One common error to avoid: the builder and the RWA are private bodies, so RTI does not reach them. For a RERA-registered project, the builder's own filings, including layout plans, are already public on the state RERA portal at no cost. Check there before filing anything.

• Registered agreement for sale and sale deed, with every clause that mentions parking.
• The demand letter or receipt showing the separate parking charge.
• The booking-stage brochure or floor plan, which shows what was represented.
• The sanctioned plan and occupancy certificate, obtained by RTI.
• The society's registered bye-laws and any general body minutes on parking, if the dispute is with the RWA.
• Your written complaints and their delivery proof. Oral complaints support nothing.

Take Rohan's Rs 2.5 lakh stilt-parking charge, paid in March 2023. He files a MahaRERA complaint in 2026 with the sanctioned plan attached, which shows S-14 inside the stilt area, not as a garage. The complaint fee is Rs 5,000. Under the Maharashtra RERA rules, interest is payable at the SBI highest MCLR plus 2 per cent. At roughly 10.6 per cent a year, three years of interest comes to about Rs 79,500. His realistic claim is therefore about Rs 3.3 lakh, plus the slot question itself, which goes back to the society as common area. The numbers change by state and date, but the structure of the claim is the same everywhere: principal, interest from the date of payment, and restoration of the common area.

• Treating every covered slot as illegal to sell. A genuine garage, shown in the sanctioned plan, may be lawfully sold. Check the plan before you claim.
• Relying on the builder's copy of the plan. Get the certified copy from the authority that sanctioned it.
• Sitting on the claim. Limitation periods apply in both RERA and consumer forums. Move once you have the plan and the payment proof.
• Filing RTI against the builder or the RWA. Neither is a public authority. Aim the RTI at the municipal body.
• Skipping the society's general body. For RWA disputes, a recorded agenda item and minutes are your strongest early evidence.

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Partly. A garage with a roof and walls on three sides, approved as a garage in the sanctioned plan, can be sold. A stilt slot under the building cannot, whatever label the brochure used. The sanctioned plan settles the argument.

No. An agreement cannot convert common area into a sellable unit. If the slot is open or stilt parking, the clause itself is contrary to the settled position, and RERA can still order a refund.

The district consumer commission, on grounds of unfair trade practice and deficiency in service. The Nahalchand ruling applies there too. Carry the sanctioned plan and the payment proof.

Yes, usually. Allotting common parking among members and charging a usage or maintenance fee is ordinary society management, if the bye-laws back it. What the RWA cannot do is sell a common slot to one member permanently or allot it outside its own rules.

Only by following the bye-laws and a fair allotment policy, normally decided in the general body. If the reallotment ignored the bye-laws, put it on the general body agenda in writing, then escalate to the Registrar of Co-operative Societies.

No. Visitor parking shown in the sanctioned plan is common area meant for visitors. Selling it, or permanently attaching it to one flat, is open to challenge on the same logic as Nahalchand.

Download the apartment parking dispute checklist (PDF).