The BMC OC amnesty scheme 2026 could regularise around 20,000 Mumbai buildings without an Occupation Certificate. Who is eligible, how applications work, and what residents should prepare.
The BMC OC amnesty scheme 2026 is the most significant change in years for Mumbai residents who live in buildings without an Occupation Certificate. After a proposal first sent to the state in 2022, approval by the Urban Development Department in December 2025, a vote in the BMC's general body in August 2026 and a standard operating procedure issued in September 2026, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has opened a route for eligible occupied buildings to be regularised. Maharashtra minister Ashish Shelar has said it would benefit more than 20,000 buildings in Mumbai, as reported by the Free Press Journal. This article explains what the scheme is, who appears to be eligible, how applications are made, and what residents and societies should do to prepare.
It is written by Chamunda Constructions, a civil and finishing contractor based in Kandivali West, founded in 2004 by Bhadresh Chavda. We are not architects, lawyers or BMC officials, and this article is not legal or professional advice. We work in many older buildings in the western suburbs, some of which have lived for years without an OC, and the questions residents ask us about the scheme are the reason for this summary. Everything below is drawn from published reporting, mainly by the Free Press Journal, and the official BMC circular and SOP are what actually govern. Please read them and consult a licensed architect before acting.
What an Occupation Certificate is, and why it matters
An Occupation Certificate, often called an OC, is issued by the planning authority, in Mumbai usually the BMC, once a building has been completed in accordance with its approved plans and the relevant requirements. It certifies that the building is fit to be occupied. In principle, a building should not be occupied before its OC is issued.
In practice, thousands of Mumbai buildings were occupied without one, for reasons ranging from deviations from approved plans and unpaid premiums to incomplete fire-safety compliance or a developer who simply walked away. The people living in them are frequently not the ones who caused the problem. Many bought flats in good faith, sometimes years after the building was completed.
Why so many Mumbai buildings never got an OC
In our experience of working in older buildings, and from what residents tell us, the reasons a building ended up without an OC fall into a handful of patterns. Not all of them will be curable under the scheme, which is why understanding your own building's reason comes first.
- Plan deviations: the building was built differently from the approved plans, for example with extra area, changed layouts or enclosed spaces.
- Unpaid premiums or charges: the developer did not pay premiums or fees that were a condition of the OC.
- Fire-safety gaps: the fire NOC was never obtained, or the fire systems were never completed or commissioned.
- Missing compliances: conditions in the IOD, such as certain certificates or infrastructure works, were never fulfilled.
- Developer disputes or disappearance: the developer fell out with the society, went into financial difficulty or simply stopped pursuing the OC once the flats were sold.
- Partial completion: some wings or floors received an OC and others did not.
Part OC, floor-wise OC and the difference it makes
Many Mumbai buildings did not get a single OC for the whole building. Some received a part OC covering certain floors or wings, with the rest left uncovered, sometimes because upper floors were added or altered in a way that was never fully regularised. The Willingdon Heights case, too, concerned specific floors of a building that lacked an OC rather than the whole building. If your building has a part OC, your architect will need to establish which floors or wings are covered and which are not, because that affects both the application and which members bear the cost.
What living without an OC costs residents
Reporting on the scheme, the Free Press Journal listed some of the practical consequences that the amnesty is meant to remove. These are general points, and the situation in any particular building can differ.
- Water charges: non-OC buildings in Mumbai are commonly billed at higher, often double, water charges.
- Property tax: buildings that have not been regularised can face higher property tax than regularised ones.
- Home loans: buyers of flats in non-OC buildings can find it harder to get a mortgage, which affects resale value.
- Legal exposure: in the most serious cases, occupation of unauthorised portions of a building can be challenged in court.
The case that brought the issue to a head
The scheme was in discussion for years, but one case made it urgent. In August 2025, following a Bombay High Court order, 27 families living on the top 17 floors of Willingdon Heights, a 34-storey building in Tardeo, were moved out because those floors lacked an Occupation Certificate, according to the Free Press Journal. Months later, those residents were still waiting for the scheme's procedure so they could apply. The episode showed residents across the city what a missing OC can mean in the worst case.
BMC OC amnesty scheme 2026: the timeline
The milestones below are taken from the Free Press Journal's reporting at each stage.
- 2022: the BMC sent its proposal for an OC amnesty scheme to the state government.
- 11 December 2025: the state Urban Development Department issued guidelines to the BMC approving the scheme with revisions, as reported on 26 December 2025.
- April 2026: a wider 'OC for All' version, which would have removed the flat-size cap, included commercial buildings and extended the penalty-free period, was referred back to the municipal commissioner for revision, according to a report on 24 April 2026 quoting BJP leader Gopal Shetty. That report cited a figure of about 25,000 non-OC buildings.
- August 2026: the BMC's general body approved the OC amnesty scheme, as reported on 19 August 2026.
- September 2026: the BMC issued the SOP for the scheme by circular, with applications to be made online through its AutoDCR system, as reported around 8 to 9 September 2026.
Who appears to be eligible
Based on the Free Press Journal's reports of the general body approval and of the SOP, the main eligibility conditions are as follows. Read the actual SOP, because details matter and reports summarise.
- Use: residential buildings, along with schools and hospitals. Commercial buildings are excluded, although that was contested during the debate.
- Date: buildings occupied before 17 November 2016, according to the SOP report. The earlier report of the general body approval described buildings constructed between 1991 and November 2016.
- Size: individual units with a carpet area of up to 80 square metres, which is about 861 square feet.
- Approvals: buildings that already had an IOD or amended plan approval and development or construction permission from the BMC.
- Status: buildings that are occupied but lack an Occupation Certificate.
Who appears to be excluded or needs extra approval
- Buildings whose OC must come from another authority, such as MHADA or the Slum Rehabilitation Authority, are outside the scheme, according to the SOP report.
- Commercial buildings are excluded.
- Buildings with pending court proceedings or matters before the Anti-Corruption Bureau need an order from the competent court or authority before an OC can be issued.
- Buildings with unauthorised floors were reported as excluded at the general body stage.
- Fire-safety requirements are retained, so a building without the required fire-safety compliance cannot simply be waved through.
How applications are made
According to the reporting on the SOP, the process runs as follows.
- Applications are made online on the BMC's AutoDCR system, through a dedicated tab for the OC amnesty scheme.
- Only a licensed architect or licensed surveyor can submit the application on the building's behalf.
- After an application is made, there is a 15-day window for complaints and objections before approval.
- A concession of 50 per cent on the prevailing penalty applies to applications made within an initial period after the scheme comes into force, according to the report. Check the circular for the exact window and how the penalty is calculated.
- NOCs from the original developer and architect were mentioned as requirements at the general body stage.
The concerns raised
The scheme has supporters and critics, and it is worth knowing both sides before your society commits time and money. During the general body debate, corporators asked how flat owners would get NOCs from developers who had disappeared, and how buildings without fire-fighting systems would be handled. Housing activists have argued, in reporting around the wider proposal, that amnesty lets irresponsible builders escape accountability. Housing society expert Ramesh Prabhu was quoted after the SOP was issued as warning that the scheme could be a non-starter if building-wide problems, such as a missing fire NOC, stand in the way of individual flats.
Those concerns do not make the scheme useless. They mean that whether a particular building can benefit depends heavily on its specific history.
What the scheme does not do
It is easy to read 'amnesty' as meaning that every non-OC building will get an OC. Based on the reporting, that is not what the scheme does.
- It does not cover every building. The date, size, use and approval conditions exclude many.
- It does not waive fire safety. Buildings still have to meet fire-safety requirements.
- It does not appear to regularise unauthorised floors, which were reported as excluded.
- It does not remove the need for a licensed professional, a proper application and the BMC's scrutiny, including the objection window.
- It does not settle disputes with developers, and buildings with pending court or ACB matters need orders before an OC can be issued.
- It does not, by itself, transfer the land or building to the society. Conveyance is a separate process.
A worked example of how a society might approach it
Consider a hypothetical society in the western suburbs: a seven-storey residential building completed and occupied around 2008, all flats under 80 square metres, with an IOD and commencement certificate on record, but no OC because the developer never completed the fire-safety installation and then stopped responding. The members have been paying higher water charges for years.
A sensible path for that society might be to pass a general body resolution to explore the scheme, appoint a licensed architect, have the architect compare the building with the approved plans and list what is missing, get a fire-safety consultant to define the fire works, decide how to fund them, carry out the works, and only then have the architect apply on AutoDCR. If the architect finds that two flats have enclosed balconies in a way that conflicts with the plans, the society would need to deal with that too. Every step depends on the facts, but the order, assessment first and works second, is what avoids wasted effort.
What residents and societies should do now
If you live in a building without an OC, these are the practical steps we would suggest discussing with your committee. None of them commits you to applying, and all of them help you understand where you stand.
- Find out exactly why the building has no OC. The original approvals file, the society's records and the BMC's records should show where the process stopped.
- Gather documents: the IOD, approved plans, commencement certificate, any part OC, fire NOC history, structural stability certificates, and the society's registration and conveyance documents if any.
- Appoint a licensed architect. Only a licensed architect or surveyor can apply, and they will also be the best judge of whether your building qualifies.
- Compare the building as built against the approved plans. Deviations, enclosed areas and changes within flats may need to be addressed.
- Check fire-safety compliance. If the building's fire systems are incomplete or out of order, that is likely to be the first thing to fix.
- Check whether any flats exceed the 80 square metre limit, and what that means for the building's application.
- Decide in a general body meeting how the society will fund the architect's fees, any penalty and any works needed, following the society's bye-laws and the 2026 housing society rules.
Where physical work comes in
Regularisation is largely a paperwork and approvals process, but it often has a physical side. Where it does, it is usually some combination of the following. Which items apply to your building is for your architect and the BMC to determine, not for a contractor to guess.
- Fire-safety works: completing or repairing fire-fighting installations, fire doors, refuge areas or other requirements, typically by specialist fire contractors with civil support.
- Restoring approved layouts: where common areas such as refuge areas, stair landings or open spaces were enclosed, these may need to be opened up again.
- Changes within flats: if flats have enclosed balconies or made other changes that conflict with the approved plans, the architect may advise on what has to be restored.
- Structural repairs: older buildings may need structural repairs identified in a structural audit before the BMC will consider them safe.
- Making good: plaster, waterproofing, tiling and painting to finish areas disturbed by the works above.
A word of caution on starting cosmetic work first
We understand the temptation to repaint the building or renovate the lobby while the regularisation process is under way. Our advice is to wait until your architect has assessed the building. If the BMC requires changes to common areas or to flats, work done in the meantime may have to be undone. Get the assessment first, then plan the works in the order the regularisation requires, and leave the cosmetic finishing for the end.
What the scheme means for buyers
For anyone buying a flat this festive season, the scheme is a reminder to check the Occupation Certificate before buying. A non-OC building may become eligible for regularisation, but eligibility is not the same as approval, and approval is not guaranteed. If a building has no OC, a buyer should understand why, whether it falls within the scheme, whether the society has started the process, and what costs might fall on members. We cover the wider set of checks in our guide to festive homebuying in Mumbai.
How this links to redevelopment
Some older non-OC buildings will look at the scheme and decide that regularisation is not worth it, because they are close to redevelopment anyway. That is a decision for the society with professional advice. For buildings in poor structural condition, redevelopment may be the more realistic path, and we have written about redevelopment in Mumbai in 2026 and the BMC's dangerous buildings categories in separate articles. For buildings that are structurally sound and expect to stand for many years, regularisation through the amnesty scheme may restore normal water charges, property tax and loan eligibility at a fraction of the disruption.
Keeping members informed
Regularisation takes months and involves money, so it tends to strain a society unless members are kept informed. A short written update after each stage, covering what the architect found, what works are needed, what has been applied for and what the BMC has said, avoids the rumours that otherwise fill the gap. Where works inside individual flats are needed, the committee should explain why in writing and give members time to arrange access. Members whose flats are affected are far more cooperative when they understand that the whole building's water charges, tax and resale value depend on it.
Questions to ask your architect
- Does our building meet each of the scheme's eligibility conditions, including the date of occupation and the unit size limit?
- Why was the OC not issued originally, and can that reason be cured under the scheme?
- What documents are missing, and can they be obtained?
- Is the building's fire-safety compliance adequate, and if not, what is needed?
- Are there deviations from the approved plans that must be corrected?
- How will the penalty be calculated, and does the early-application concession apply to us?
- What is the realistic timeline from application to OC?
How Chamunda Constructions can help
We do not prepare or submit applications, and we do not advise on eligibility; that is the role of a licensed architect and the BMC. Where we can help is with the physical work that regularisation sometimes requires once the architect has defined it: civil alterations to restore approved layouts, structural repairs carried out to an engineer's specification, waterproofing, and the finishing work, including tiling, plaster and painting, that makes good the areas affected. Bhadresh Chavda and our team have worked in Mumbai's residential buildings since 2004 and are used to working alongside a society's architect and structural engineer.
If your society has started the OC amnesty process and needs works carried out, book a site visit through the contact form. We will look at what your architect has asked for and give you a written scope and sequence for the work.