Few clauses in a flat purchase cause as many arguments after possession as the one about parking. Part of the reason is that the law has shifted twice since 2010: once through a Supreme Court judgment and once through RERA. The other part is that “parking” covers several different things, and only some of them can be sold to you.
What the Supreme Court decided in 2010
In Nahalchand Laloochand Pvt. Ltd. v. Panchali Co-operative Housing Society Ltd., decided on 31 August 2010 by Justices R.M. Lodha and A.K. Patnaik, the Supreme Court considered whether a promoter could sell stilt parking spaces separately under the Maharashtra Ownership Flats Act, 1963. Its answers, from the judgment:
- A stilt parking space is not a “flat”, and it is not a “garage” either. A garage, the court said, is “a place having a roof and walls on three sides”.
- Parking areas, open or stilt, form part of the building’s common areas and facilities.
- The promoter has no right to sell stilt parking spaces. Its only right is to charge their cost in proportion to the carpet area of each flat.
That judgment still governs disputes from the MOFA era. For homes sold under RERA, the picture is more detailed.
How RERA sorts parking
The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 lists “open parking areas” among a project’s common areas in Section 2(n), and defines a garage in Section 2(y) as a place with a roof and walls on three sides, excluding unenclosed or uncovered parking such as open parking areas. The Maharashtra RERA Rules of 2017 add a third category, the covered parking space: an enclosed or covered area approved by the planning authority, which can include basement, stilt, podium or mechanised parking, but not a garage or open parking, as a Mumbai Grahak Panchayat expert explained in the Free Press Journal in June 2025.
| Type | How the law treats it | Can it be sold to you? |
|---|---|---|
| Open parking | Common area under RERA Section 2(n) | No. It can be allotted for use, not sold for a price |
| Garage | Roofed, walled on three sides, under Section 2(y) | Yes, with details in the agreement |
| Covered parking: stilt, podium, basement or mechanised | Defined in the Maharashtra RERA Rules, 2017 | Yes in Maharashtra, with details in the agreement |
The stilt row is where the law is least settled. Under MOFA, Nahalchand said stilt parking could not be sold. Under RERA, Maharashtra treats it as covered parking that can be. Lawyers Purvi Asher and Veena Hari of Mansukhlal Hiralal & Co. pointed out this conflict in Bar & Bench in May 2023, and argued that the statutes need to be brought into line.
What MahaRERA now requires in the paperwork
Two MahaRERA steps narrow the room for dispute. Its Circular 36 of July 2021, as summarised by the same authors and by the Free Press Journal in June 2025, says that when a garage or covered parking space is sold or allotted for money, the agreement must state its type, number and size, and annex a plan showing its exact location. It also requires parking spaces to be marked and numbered as per the sanctioned plan, and says open parking cannot be sold for a price.
In April 2024, the Free Press Journal reported, MahaRERA issued a model clause requiring parking details to be attached to the allotment letter as well as to the sale agreement: the lot number, its length, width and height, and where the parking block sits in the building. The clause is non-negotiable; MahaRERA will not accept changes to it even with the buyer’s consent. The paper said the move followed complaints about beams blocking spaces, cars that did not fit, and doors that could not be opened once parked. Separately, RERA Section 11(1) requires the promoter to update the number of garages booked on its MahaRERA project page every quarter.
What the society controls after handover
Once the society takes over, open parking, as a common area, is the society’s to manage. Under the 2014 model bye-laws, the society allots parking on a first come, first served basis, and allots it annually through a transparent process where demand exceeds supply, Bar & Bench noted in May 2023. The 2026 amendments to the co-operative societies rules leave parking charges to the general body, as described in the article on maintenance charges.
A garage or covered space that you paid for, and that is recorded in your registered agreement with its number, size and location, is a different matter. That record is your evidence that the space goes with your flat. How far a society can reallocate such spaces is one of the questions the Bar & Bench authors describe as unsettled, which is one more reason to get the details into the agreement.
How to read the parking clause
When you get a draft agreement, check the parking clause against this list:
- Is the space in the agreement itself? Before RERA, spaces were often promised in a separate letter and left out of the agreement. A letter alone is weaker.
- What type is it? Garage, covered (stilt, podium, basement or mechanised) or open. If you are being charged for an open space, ask why.
- Are length, width and clear height stated? Compare them with your own car, including the room needed to open its doors.
- Is a location plan annexed, with the space numbered?
- Is the parking price shown separately and included in the total consideration?
- If it is mechanised, who operates and maintains the system, and who pays for that after handover?
- Watch for blanket clauses. A draft agreement for a Thane project that we read in November 2026 said that stilt, podium and open parking “belong to the Promoters only” and could not be used without a separate allotment. Ask how a clause like that fits with RERA’s treatment of open parking as a common area, and with the society’s rights after handover.
For Codename Vybe, the developer has not yet published how parking will be provided or allotted. The floor plans issued so far cover the homes and the floor layouts of A Building, and the specifications cover what goes inside each home.
If parking is part of your decision, tell us what you drive and we will ask for the parking details on your behalf once they are released.
