Karnataka's new Apartment Bill — what it changes, and what is still true today

On Friday 21 August 2026, the Karnataka Legislative Assembly passed the Karnataka Apartment (Ownership and Management) Bill, 2026 — the first serious rewrite of apartment law in the state in more than fifty years.

Before anything else, the part most coverage is skipping.

It is not law yet, and that matters this week

The Bill has passed one house. To become operative it still needs to clear the Legislative Council, receive the Governor's assent, and be notified with a commencement date — and the rules that make a statute like this usable in practice usually follow after that.

So today, in your society:

• The Karnataka Apartment Ownership Act, 1972 still governs.
• Common expenses are still apportioned by each owner's percentage of undivided interest under KAOA section 10.
• Your association's obligations still come from its own registered bye-laws, because KAOA has no state model bye-law.

If someone tells your committee it must reorganise this month, that is not right yet. What the Bill deserves now is reading and planning — not action taken against a law that has not commenced.

The enacted text has not been published, either. What follows is drawn from the Bill as reported when it passed; specifics can and do change between Assembly passage and notification, so treat the numbers below as the shape of the thing rather than as final.

What the Bill would change

One project, one association

A fully completed project may have only one registered association, even where it was built in phases. Projects currently running several associations would have to consolidate — and the final Bill dropped the federation structure that the July draft had contemplated.

This is the change most likely to affect a large Bengaluru complex directly. Phase-wise associations, each with its own registration, accounts and committee, are common; a single association means one set of books, one general body, and one committee answerable for the whole project.

Associations formed on a clock, and by the authority if the builder stalls

The promoter must facilitate association formation within three months after a majority of apartments in the project are allotted. If the promoter fails to, a competent authority may form and operate the association.

That last clause is the answer to a genuinely old problem: the builder who simply never hands over, leaving residents with no legal entity and no route to compel one. Today the practical remedy runs through K-RERA; the Bill adds a state-level authority with the power to act directly.

Common areas belong to owners — and the association only manages them

Owners hold a proportionate, undivided and non-exclusive interest in the project land and common areas. The association manages them on the owners' behalf; it does not own them. Promoters would not be able to privately sell, transfer or alter common areas, roads and open spaces.

For older projects where conveyance never actually happened, the Bill provides for deemed conveyance — a route to formalise on paper what buyers already paid for.

Committee terms are capped

Executive committee members would serve a maximum two-year term, with restrictions on immediate re-election after two consecutive terms. Whatever one thinks of term limits, it changes something practical: a society that has depended on the same treasurer for a decade will need its records to survive a handover, which is not the same as its people surviving one.

Redevelopment at 75%

Major structural alteration or redevelopment would need the written consent of at least 75% of apartment owners, with land-value-based compensation for those who do not consent. A common capital fund may finance major repairs and future redevelopment.

Disputes leave the civil courts

A dedicated competent authority — reported at gram panchayat, municipality and corporation levels — would handle complaints and enforcement instead of residents filing civil suits. Appeals run to a first appellate authority within 90 days and a second within 30 days.

For committees, this is potentially the largest practical change of all. A maintenance-recovery or common-area dispute that currently means a civil suit and years of waiting would instead go to an authority built for it.

Obligations on promoters, with penalties attached

Promoters would have to file a project declaration within 60 days of obtaining the occupancy certificate, disclose encumbrances and existing mortgages, execute transfer deeds, and hand over audited financial statements. Breaches attract penalties of up to ₹1 lakh, and ₹1,000 per day while a breach continues.

It does not apply to everything

The Bill is reported to apply to projects of more than eight apartments, excluding government buildings and certain villa developments.

What a committee should actually do now

Nothing irreversible. But four things are useful, and none of them are wasted even if the final text shifts:

1. Find out what you are registered under, and when. Many Bengaluru associations are registered under the wrong Act already — the KAOA vs Societies Registration Act problem predates this Bill and will not be fixed by it automatically.
2. Count your associations. If your project runs more than one, consolidation is coming. Knowing which entities exist, what each holds, and what the accounts look like is the first hour of that work.
3. Check whether conveyance actually happened. If the common areas were never conveyed, the deemed-conveyance route is likely to matter to you, and the paperwork trail will be asked for.
4. Get the records in order. A statute that caps committee terms, creates an enforcement authority and requires audited handovers is a statute that rewards societies whose registers, minutes and books are findable. That is worth doing regardless of what the final Act says.

What happens next, and how to follow it

The sequence to watch is: Legislative Council → Governor's assent → gazette notification and commencement → rules. Each of those can take weeks or months, and provisions sometimes change along the way.

We will update this page as it moves, and we will say plainly when the 1972 Acts stop being the law that governs your society. Until that day, every Karnataka guide on this site continues to describe the law as it actually stands — which is the whole point of writing them state by state rather than copying whatever the internet says about Maharashtra.

The short version

1. The Assembly passed the Bill on 21 August 2026. It is not yet law — Council, assent and notification still to come.
2. KAOA 1972 still governs your society today, including apportionment by undivided interest under section 10.
3. If enacted, it would replace both 1972 Acts — the Apartment Ownership Act and the Ownership Flats Act.
4. Headline changes: one association per project, association formation on a three-month clock with an authority to step in, common areas held by owners with deemed conveyance for old projects, two-year committee terms, 75% consent for redevelopment, disputes to a competent authority, and promoter penalties up to ₹1 lakh plus ₹1,000/day.
5. Applies to projects of more than eight apartments.
6. Do nothing irreversible yet. Find your registration, count your associations, check conveyance, and get your records findable.

Sources

• Karnataka Assembly passes Apartment Ownership Bill — The News Minute, 21 August 2026
• Karnataka's new Apartment Bill explained — The News Minute
• Apartment Ownership Bill tabled in Karnataka Assembly — Deccan Herald
• The Karnataka Apartment Ownership Act, 1972 (India Code)

The Bill as passed had not been published at the time of writing. Where this page describes its provisions it relies on the reporting above, and it will be revised against the enacted text once that is available.