The short answer: an 1800 mm ramp at 1 in 12, a lift a wheelchair fits in, and one toilet at 1500 by 1750 mm. Regulation 13.1 is written in millimetres, which makes it one of the few parts of the code a person can verify by standing in the building.
Key takeaways
- Applies to public buildings on plots above 2000 sq m. Does not apply to private or public residences.
- Access path from plot entry and surface parking to the entrance: minimum 1800 mm, even surface, no steps, gradient not above 5 percent.
- Two surface car spaces near the entrance, within 30 m, bays at least 3.6 m wide, signed.
- Ramp: 1800 mm wide, gradient not steeper than 1:12, length not over 9.0 m, handrails 800 mm high on both sides.
- Entrance door: minimum 900 mm clear opening, threshold not raised more than 12 mm.
- Entrance landing: at least 1800 mm by 2000 mm.
- Lift: at least one wheelchair accessible, 900 mm entrance door, lobby 1800 mm by 1800 mm, doors closing over at least 5 seconds.
- Toilet: 1500 mm by 1750 mm, 900 mm door swinging OUT, WC seat 500 mm from the floor.
- Guiding floor material, of contrasting colour or different sound, throughout the accessible route.
Where it applies, and where it does not
Chapter 13, Regulation 13.1.2, Scope is short and it is the first thing to settle.
These regulations apply to all buildings and facilities used by the public such as educational, institutional, assembly, commercial, business and mercantile buildings, constructed on a plot having an area of more than 2000 sq m. And then: it does not apply to private and public residences.
That exclusion catches people out on housing projects, and the answer is genuinely mixed.
A residential building's flats, lobbies and staircases are outside Regulation 13.1. So a buyer who assumes their tower's entrance is legally required to be step free is assuming something the code does not say.
But a large housing scheme often contains buildings that are not residences: a clubhouse used as an assembly building, a commercial podium, a school inside a township. Those fall inside the scope if the plot exceeds 2000 sq m.
So the right question is not "is this project accessible", it is "which buildings in this project are public buildings". The township regulations mandate schools, health facilities, markets and a town hall inside the layout, and every one of those is a public building.
The route from the gate to the door
Chapter 13, Regulation 13.1.3, Site Development covers everything outside the building, and it starts before the entrance.
The access path from plot entry and surface parking to the building entrance must be minimum 1800 mm wide, with an even surface without any steps. Any slope must not exceed a 5 percent gradient. The floor material must be chosen to guide visually impaired people, either by colour and brightness conspicuously different from the surrounding floor, or by emitting a different sound, and the code names this guiding floor material and uses the term throughout. Finishes must be non-slip with a texture a wheelchair can cross, and kerbs should blend to a common level.
Parking has four requirements:
| Requirement | Specification |
|---|---|
| Number and position | Surface parking for two car spaces near the entrance, maximum travel distance 30.0 m from the building entrance |
| Bay width | Minimum 3.6 m |
| Signage | Information stating the space is reserved for wheelchair users, conspicuously displayed |
| Guidance | Guiding floor material, or a device guiding visually impaired persons with audible signals |
Note that the parking is surface parking. Not a bay in a basement or on a podium. Two spaces at grade, within 30 m of the door.
The building itself, in millimetres
Chapter 13, Regulation 13.1.4, Building Requirements lists six facilities: approach to plinth level, the corridor connecting the entrance and exit, stairways, lift, toilet and drinking water.
Banded by element
- EntranceAt least one entrance accessible to the differently abled, indicated by proper signage, approached through a ramp TOGETHER WITH the stepped entry
- RampNon-slip finish, minimum 1800 mm wide, maximum gradient 1:12, length not over 9.0 m, handrails 800 mm high both sides extending 300 mm beyond top and bottom, 50 mm clear of the wall
- Stepped approachTread not less than 300 mm, riser maximum 150 mm, 800 mm handrails on both sides
- Entrance doorMinimum clear opening 900 mm, no step obstructing a wheelchair, threshold not raised more than 12 mm
- Entrance landingMinimum 1800 mm by 2000 mm, with guiding floor material where it adjoins the top of a slope
- Accessible corridorMinimum width 1500 mm, guiding floor material or a sound device, slope ways at 1:12 where levels differ, handrails on ramps and slope ways
- Stairway near the accessible entranceMinimum width 1350 mm, riser not over 150 mm, tread 300 mm, no abrupt square nosing, maximum 12 risers per flight, handrails both sides extending 300 mm
- ToiletMinimum 1500 mm by 1750 mm, door clear opening 900 mm swinging OUT, vertical and horizontal handrails 50 mm clear of the wall, WC seat 500 mm from the floor, washbasin near the entrance
Source: Chapter 13, Regulation 13.1.4, UDCPR as updated 30 January 2025
The lift requirement is conditional in a way worth reading exactly. Wherever a lift is required as per the regulations, at least one lift shall be provided for the wheelchair user, at the cage dimensions the Bureau of Indian Standards recommends for a 13 person passenger lift, with a 900 mm entrance door. So this does not create a lift obligation; it shapes the lift that Regulation 9.27 already requires.
Four conditions attach to that lift:
- A handrail not less than 600 mm long at 1000 mm above floor level, fixed adjacent to the control panel.
- A lift lobby of 1800 mm by 1800 mm or more.
- An automatically closing door taking minimum 5 seconds, closing at not more than 0.25 m per second.
- A device inside the cage that audibly indicates the floor reached and whether the door is open or closed.
Drinking water must be provided for the differently abled near the special toilet. And in buildings predominantly used by children, handrail heights and other fittings are to be altered suitably.
Three of these are checkable on a site visit in under a minute, and they are the ones most often got wrong.
Does the toilet door swing out? The regulation requires it, and the reason is unpleasant but practical: a door swinging in cannot be opened from outside if someone has fallen against it.
Is the ramp longer than 9.0 m in one run? A long shallow ramp built as a single stretch fails the length limit even if the gradient is right, because the code wants a landing.
Is the accessible parking on the surface, within 30 m? A basement bay with a wheelchair sign on it is not what Regulation 13.1.3 asks for.
None of that needs a drawing. It needs a tape measure and a look.
Why this belongs in a buyer's checklist
The commonest way this fails is not refusal, it is decoration. A ramp exists but is 1200 mm wide. A toilet has a grab rail but is 1200 by 1500 mm and the door swings in. A lift is present but its door is 800 mm. Each looks like compliance and none of it is, and every one of those numbers is published in a regulation anybody can read.
It matters beyond the obvious users. A 1:12 ramp with handrails is what an elderly parent uses, what a pram uses and what anybody with a temporary injury uses. A building that gets this right is easier to live in for everyone in it, and the code's own definitions make the point: it covers semi-ambulatory disabilities including arthritis, cardiac and pulmonary conditions, not only wheelchair users.
What the register shows
MahaRERA does not publish accessibility compliance. There is no field for a ramp gradient or a toilet dimension, and nothing in the filing certifies barrier free access.
What the filing does publish, free, and what is genuinely adjacent, is the progress on shared amenities as a separate track from progress on buildings, and the filed documents list. A project's common amenity work is reported against its own checklist, so a scheme whose buildings are near complete while its amenity work is not is telling a buyer something about when the clubhouse, the community facilities and everything in them will actually be usable.
The accessibility question itself is a sanctioned plan question, and the plan is a public document on the Authority's website for the life of the project.
Related reading
- Lifts, refuge areas, exits and parapets
- What the code guarantees inside your flat
- The green features that are compulsory
- How to read a sanctioned plan without being an architect
Where the filings come in
Accessibility is certified through the building permission, not through the RERA register.
Every filing at reragenie.com is free to read and carries the filed land area, the buildings and their floors, the construction progress by building and separately on shared amenities, the full filed document list, the certifying architect, engineer and chartered accountant, the extension history with reasons, and any complaints or litigation with case numbers.
ReraGenie's buyer report, Rs 499, reads one project's full filing and the documents behind it, including progress on shared amenities as well as on buildings, and includes a project watch for 90 days.
Source: Unified Development Control and Promotion Regulations for Maharashtra, UDCPR as updated 30 January 2025. Sanctioned under the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, 1966.
Evaluating a project right now?
The ReraGenie buyer report reads every filing for one project and hands you the verdict, the risks and the questions to ask the builder. Rs 499, one time.
See the buyer report