Chandigarh Housing Board allows allottees to make internal changes within four walls — without seeking approval

At a meeting held on Tuesday, the board approved that the allottees would be allowed to make any internal changes in their dwelling units/ flats/ apartments without any approval from CHB.

However, these changes will be subject to certain conditions, according to which the internal changes are required to be certified to be structurally safe. The owners are required to get the changes certified, designed and supervised during construction from qualified structural engineers registered with the Chandigarh Administration.

A prior written consent from the allottees of all the floors in the block will have to be obtained by the allottee, so that there is no nuisance to anyone arising out of leakages, cracks etc. For the purpose of this, a block is defined as all the dwelling units which are accessed by the common staircase.

The allottees will be required to submit a certificate by a practising architect registered with the council of architects stating that the internal changes are as per the updated Chandigarh Urban Development laws, the National Building Code and that the changes are within the building line, skyline and within the plotted area without any increase in the covered area.

The move will regularise changes made within the four walls by the owners of the CHB dwellings units over the years. Several residents’ associations had been demanding regularisation of the changes made within the four walls.

CHB chairman Maninder Singh said that this had been the biggest relief given to the owners by the board to date. He, however, urged the residents to ensure safety of the structures.

CHB Residents Federation secretary Rajat Malhotra thanked the CHB chairman for allowing internal changes within the four walls. “This will resolve all the issues of the dwelling unit owners,” said Malhotra.

The board also clarified that the decision to waive the condition of lock-in period was applicable to all types of transfer cases of dwelling units allotted by the CHB.