Township flat buying: who runs the roads, the water and the bills

A township on a city's edge sells what a flat inside the city cannot: its own school, a clubhouse, landscaped roads. The cost sheet shows the price of that, in two maintenance lines, one for your building and one for "the township". Township flat buying is two decisions: a flat, and a share in running a small private town that the developer manages until the whole project is finished and a public body takes over. Who runs the roads, the water and the bills meanwhile is set by regulation, not by the brochure.

Rohit's three questions from abroad#

Rohit (illustrative, as our stories always are), 35, was buying a Pune flat from abroad, and before he drew up a shortlist one listing kept returning to his screen: a flat in a large integrated township on the city's edge, priced below the towers nearer the IT parks. Its cost sheet carried the building's maintenance and a township maintenance charge, collected two years in advance at possession.

Unable to walk the roads, he emailed the sales office three questions: who would run the roads, the water and the street lights, and until when; who would send the property tax bill; and what the township charge paid for. Names and numbers in this story are illustrative.

What a township is#

An integrated township is a scheme under Regulation 14.1 of the Unified Development Control and Promotion Regulations (UDCPR), the building rules for most of Maharashtra. It needs at least 40 hectares, about 100 acres, in one place, with town-level facilities of its own: gardens and playgrounds, a school, a health centre, a market and a fire station. Our explainer on integrated township projects sets out the approvals from the developer's side. For a buyer, the point is that the developer builds and runs the services, for years.

Think of a shop in a mall. The shop pays for its own upkeep, while the mall's management runs the corridors, lifts and security and bills every shop for them. In a township, your society runs your building, and the developer, or a body it sets up, runs the roads, water, street lights and sewage plant and bills every flat. Unlike a mall, a township is meant to hand its streets to a public body one day.

Who runs what, and until when#

Regulation 14.1.1.10 makes the internal roads, approach road, street lights, water supply and drainage the developer's to build and maintain, to the standards in the table below. Where power comes from an existing supply, the developer must first secure the power company's firm commitment for the whole township.

The developer maintains all of it until handover, which comes only after the whole project is complete, within 10 years of the master layout's approval under Regulation 14.1.1.12 unless the government allows longer. A part occupancy certificate needs only what the phase programme prescribes, while the whole project's certificate waits for the master layout's basic infrastructure, as what each certificate proves explains. An early-phase buyer can live for years with the roads in the developer's hands.

Your building follows a separate route. Under rule 9 of Maharashtra's RERA rules, the promoter applies to register a society within three months of 51 percent of the flats being booked and, in a layout of several buildings, forms a federation or apex body within three months of the last building's occupancy certificate, and the layout's land goes to that body. In a township, that last building may be a decade away.

The township column summarises UDCPR Regulations 14.1.1.10 and 14.1.1.12, as updated 30 January 2025.

Two bills, and the tax#

Regulation 14.1.1.10 lets the developer "collect periodical contribution or raise corpus funds" for that upkeep, from buyers or bodies of buyers it forms, and makes it hand any unused corpus over with the infrastructure. That is the township charge. Your society's bill, covered in the maintenance charges guide, is separate. The regulation sets no rate, so the charge's basis and period come from your agreement, and it is often collected in advance at possession, beside the deposits in the possession demand letter guide.

Property tax is the third bill. Beyond a city corporation's limits the gram panchayat or, in a town, the municipal council levies it from the occupancy certificate, with a township concession under Regulation 14.1.1.12 until the project is completed or a local authority is formed. The regulation words the concession as 66 percent "of normal rate" without saying whether that is the discount or the rate payable, so ask the tax office.

"A township with its own authority" can mean two things. One is a special planning authority, which sanctions plans; the state can constitute or appoint one under section 40 of the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, 1966, and the regulation reads it in place of the Collector, except for the Letter of Intent. The other is a local authority, which runs services and levies tax; the regulation provides for one to be formed for the township, according to its population, under section 3 read with section 341 of the Maharashtra Municipal Councils, Nagar Panchayats and Industrial Townships Act, 1965.

When the city arrives#

If the township's area is merged into an existing local authority, Regulation 14.1.1.12 makes that authority responsible for operating and maintaining its infrastructure, and it levies the tax too.

Pune shows what that does to a bill. The Pune Municipal Corporation took in 23 villages in 2021, extending its limits to 518.77 sq km, as Punekar News reported that July. When the state ordered a review in October 2024, PMC's tax in the 32 villages merged since 2017 that remain in its limits was reported at twice the gram panchayat rate and collection was paused; PMC later kept its standard rates without relief, and residents said roads, water and sewage had not kept pace, as reported by Pune Pulse. PMC, PCMC or PMRDA and the property tax new flat owners pay explain the bodies and the bills.

What your phase's filing lists#

A township registers with MahaRERA phase by phase, so the registration you buy into usually covers one phase, not the township, the trap described in phase-wise registrations. Each registration files a list of common facilities, marking which apply to the project and how far each has got.

The statewide gaps are mostly about size: a building on a small plot has no internal road to build. Among the 221 registrations filing 10 hectares or more, internal roads rise to 88.2 percent and street lighting to 86.4 percent, but sewage treatment (61.1 percent) and solid waste management (60.2 percent) still appear on only about six in ten. So for a township phase, ask: is the sewage plant in this registration, with progress you can watch, or built under the master layout, outside this filing?

If you are weighing a township phase, its free ReraGenie page carries the full filing, including the common facilities it lists and the progress reported on each, and the promoter's other registrations: find the project on reragenie.com.

Where buyers get it wrong#

Reading the township charge as the society's bill. They are two bills, and the township's can run for years after your society takes over your building.

Taking your building's occupancy certificate as a finished township. A part certificate can come while the master layout's roads or sewage plant are unbuilt.

Expecting the property tax to stay put. The concession is temporary, and a merger moves the bill to a corporation.

Checking permissions with the wrong office. A township's approvals may sit with the Collector, a development authority, a corporation or a special planning authority, and only the issuing office can confirm one: check each at its source.

What to get in writing before you book#

1. Which rules the township was approved under (older townships may follow earlier rules, and PMRDA has its own) and when its master layout was approved.
2. Who runs each service until handover, and through which company or body.
3. The township charge: its basis, the months collected in advance, any GST, and how it can be revised.
4. The corpus: the amount, where it is held, how it is reported, and its handover.
5. Where the bulk water comes from, and the power company's commitment.
6. Which body levies property tax, and how the concession is applied.
7. Which services your phase's registration lists as its own.

What the report adds for a township phase#

The Rs 499 ReraGenie buyer report reads one project's filing and selected filed documents, each fact with its filing date. For a township phase, three parts matter most: the promoter's other registrations and how they ended, where earlier phases filed under the same name show whether they were completed or lapsed; the projects within 2 km, which can include the township's other phases; and what to verify before you book.

What Rohit decided#

The answers came by phone, not in writing: a maintenance company the developer had set up would run the township "until handover", with no date; the gram panchayat billed the property tax; and the township charge covered roads, street lights, security and the sewage plant. The phase was registered, but its filing listed neither internal roads nor sewage treatment, which the sales office said belonged to the master layout. His brother-in-law timed the weekday evening drive from the IT parks at a little over an hour, long for the tenants Rohit planned to let to.

None of it was a red flag on its own. But the charge's basis and a handover date never arrived in writing before a booking amount was asked for, and with the commute as well, the township did not make his shortlist; how he chose among the registered projects that did is told in the NRI buyer's playbook.

Methodology and sources#

• UDCPR Regulation 14.1 (14.1.1.1 to 14.1.1.14), as updated 30 January 2025.
• Maharashtra Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Rules, 2017, rule 9; Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, 1966, section 40.
• ReraGenie analysis of 56,043 published MahaRERA registrations filing a common facilities list, each facility counted once per registration, with each one's filed land area, as updated on 3 October 2026.
• PMC's limits after the 2021 merger: Punekar News, July 2021.
• Village counts, the October 2024 review, the twice-the-rate figure and PMC's later decision: Pune Pulse, 2024 and after.

This article is educational and not legal advice. For a dispute, consult a lawyer who practices before your state's RERA.