No multiple associations can be formed in a single apartment complex: Karnataka Apartment (Ownership and Management) Bill, 2026

No multiple associations can be formed in a single apartment complex: Karnataka Apartment (Ownership and Management) Bill, 2026 The draft of the Bill.

Key points

• No fully completed apartment complex project can have multiple associations within the same apartment complex, notes the Karnataka Apartment (Ownership and Management) Bill, 2026.
• Now, the Bill notes, There shall be a single registered association for every project.
• Earlier, the Bill stated that separate apartment associations must be formed where an apartment project is implemented in phases.
• Now, the final Bill bars any person other than flat owners from accessing the facilities on a regular or commercial basis.
• After the approval of the redevelopment scheme by the second appellate authority, the Bill additionally proposes dissolving the executive committee during redevelopment.

In practice, the new Bill states that after completion of every phase, the occupants or flat owners will be continued to the same association immediately. Photo Credit: File photo.

No fully completed apartment complex project can have multiple associations within the same apartment complex, notes the Karnataka Apartment (Ownership and Management) Bill, 2026. It was tabled during the ongoing Monsoon Session on Wednesday (August 19).

In practice, the draft Bill treated a federation as a higher-level body responsible for managing infrastructure shared by multiple apartment associations.

Now, the Bill notes, "There shall be a single registered association for every project. The association may permit the formation of subcommittees, if required. Where a project is developed in phases, the majority required for the purpose of formation of the association shall be determined based on the first phase."

Earlier, the Bill stated that separate apartment associations must be formed where an apartment project is implemented in phases. Now, the new Bill states that after completion of every phase, the occupants or flat owners will be continued to the same association immediately. Nevertheless, flat owners say that a single association for a substantially substantial complex can be particularly chaotic.

For context, the Bill additionally mandates the promoter to form an association within three months from the date on which a majority of the flats in the project are allotted. The association has to be registered with the competent authority.

Earlier, the competent authority was empowered to impose a penalty when the promoter failed to register an association within the specified period. Now, the competent authority is additionally empowered to cause the association to be formed and operationalise it.

In the earlier draft, the Bill stated that the community and commercial facilities shall primarily serve the flat owners and occupiers of the project. Access to or employ of such facilities by persons other than flat owners shall not be permitted on a regular or commercial basis except with the prior approval of not less than two-thirds of the flat owners present and voting at a general gathering of the association.

As prescribed in the bylaws, or by approaching the competent authority for appropriate directions, along with this, in the event of default in payment of common expenses, the association may recover such dues together with prescribed interest and costs.

After the approval of the redevelopment scheme by the second appellate authority, the Bill additionally proposes dissolving the executive committee during redevelopment. Thereafter, the members shall form a new committee.

In practice, the Bill has proposed that the administration will have to, within three months from the date of commencement of this Act, by notification in the official gazette, appoint one or more officers of the local authority or the planning authority, or another senior-scale Group A officer, to act as the second appellate authority.

Meanwhile, the Bill has additionally seen an addition stating that where sale agreements have been executed for flats prior to the commencement of this Act, but sale deeds have not been executed for any of the flats, the provisions of the new Bill shall apply at the time of execution of the sale deed.

Nevertheless, if the sale deed is executed for a flat prior to the commencement of this Act, the deed of transfer for all flats in the project shall be executed as per the provisions of the relevant laws in force prior to the commencement of this Act.

Taken together, the developments around no multiple associations can be formed in a single apartment complex: Karnataka point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.