Ten percent is the number every layout in Maharashtra works around. What makes Regulation 3.4.1 worth reading in full is not the percentage but the three things attached to it: a threshold measured against a date in 1967, three ways out for land that was split without permission, and a trade that lets the whole garden move to the roof.
Key takeaways
- Any layout, subdivision or development of 0.4 hectare or more must earmark 10 percent of the layout area as recreational open space.
- The area is measured after deducting Development Plan roads and reservations, including deemed reservations.
- The 0.4 ha threshold is tested against the original holding as it stood on 11 January 1967, not against later subdivisions made without permission.
- Land subdivided after that date without permission and now below 0.4 ha has three options: 10 percent open space with a 200 sq m floor, 75 percent of basic FSI, or full FSI on payment of 10 percent of the land's ASR value.
- Up to 50 percent of the open space may sit on a podium terrace, and up to 100 percent where a 1.5 m tree plantation strip is given along the plot boundary.
- Gunthewari regularised plots up to 0.4 ha need no open space at all, but those of 0.4 ha or more attract the full regime.
The rule, and how the area is measured
Chapter 3, Regulation 3.4.1, UDCPR as updated 30 January 2025* applies to any layout, subdivision or development of land, for any land use or zone, admeasuring 0.4 hectare or more. That is 4,000 sq m, and it is measured after deducting the area under Development Plan or Regional Plan roads and DP reservations, including deemed reservations under these regulations, from the total area under development.
Ten percent of the area under the layout is then earmarked as recreational open space, and it shall as far as possible be provided in one place. Where the land exceeds 0.8 ha, the open space may be earmarked at different locations within the same layout, provided the size and dimensions conform. The owner is expressly at liberty to provide more than 10 percent.
Chapter 3, Regulation 3.4.6, Minimum Dimensions adds the shape test that stops the requirement being met with a leftover strip: the minimum dimension is 10.0 m, and where the average width is under 20 m the length may not exceed two and a half times that width.
The date that stops the dodge
Regulation 3.4.1(i) is anti-avoidance drafting, and it is unusually specific.
The 0.4 ha figure shall be measured with reference to the original holding as on 11 January 1967, and not with reference to a subdivided holding in the revenue or city survey record after that date, where the subdivision happened without permission under the MR&TP Act, 1966.
The logic is straightforward once stated. If the threshold were tested against today's plot boundaries, a holding of 0.6 ha could be split into two of 0.3 ha and escape the obligation entirely. Fixing the reference point at the commencement of the Act removes that route.
The regulation then carves out the case where the owner had no choice: the rule does not apply to plots compulsorily subdivided below 0.4 ha because of DP or RP roads, road widening, reservations, deemed reservations or any other proposal of the Authority. Land taken by the plan does not cost the owner the threshold as well.
For land that was subdivided after 11 January 1967 without prior permission and is now below 0.4 ha, the regulation offers three routes rather than a penalty.
| Option | What it costs |
|---|---|
| Provide the open space | 10 percent open space, subject to a minimum of 200 sq m |
| Take reduced FSI | 75 percent of the basic FSI otherwise permissible on the land, with TDR loading permissible to the extent of 50 percent of what Chapter 6 allows |
| Pay for it | Full basic FSI and other permissible FSI and TDR, on payment of 10 percent of the value of the land under proposal as per the Annual Statement of Rates for that year, without considering the guidelines in it |
The Gunthewari line
Regulation 3.4.1(ii) deals with plots regularised under the Maharashtra Gunthewari Development (Regularisation, Upgradation and Control) Act, 2001, and it splits on the same 0.4 ha figure.
For regularised plots up to 0.4 ha, no recreational open space is required for the development permission. For regularised plots of 0.4 ha or more, all the provisions of UDCPR apply, including recreational open space and amenity space.
The trade that moves the garden upstairs
Regulation 3.4.1(iii) is the provision that shapes what a modern scheme actually looks like.
The default is that not more than 50 percent of the recreational open space may be provided on the terrace of a podium, in congested or non-congested areas, subject to Chapter 9, Regulation 9.13, Podium#.
Then the exception, stated notwithstanding the definition of recreational open space elsewhere in the regulations: such open space to the extent of 100 percent may be allowed on the podium terrace if the owner or developer provides a 1.5 m strip of land along the plot boundary, exclusive of marginal distances, for plantation of trees.
That is a clean exchange and worth understanding from both sides.
For a developer it frees the entire ground plane, since the whole open space obligation can be discharged on the podium roof in return for a narrow planted edge.
For a buyer it changes what the open space is. A podium garden is still recreational open space, which means Regulation 3.4.2 vests it in the society on sanction and it may never be sold or transferred. But it sits on a structure, it is reached through the building, and the ground level experience of the scheme is the 1.5 m tree strip rather than a garden.
Neither is a defect. The point is that "10 percent open space" describes two very different schemes depending on which route was taken, and the sanctioned layout is where the answer is.
What may be built on it
Chapter 3, Regulation 3.4.7, Structures Permitted in Open Space caps structures in the recreational open space at a maximum of two storeys and 15 percent built up area, of which the ground floor may not exceed 10 percent, with an additional floor allowed in the case of a stilt. Permitted uses include a pavilion, gymnasium, fitness centre, club house, yoga centre, creche, kindergarten, library and structures for sports and recreational activity. Those structures are permitted without counting in FSI.
Where the open space is on a podium, Regulation 9.13(iv) carries the same 15 percent cap across to it.
What to check
- Measure the layout area after deducting DP roads and reservations, which is what the 0.4 ha threshold is applied to.
- Establish the holding as it stood on 11 January 1967 where a subdivision is in the chain of title.
- On a sub-0.4 ha plot split after that date, price all three options, because the cheapest depends on land value and on how much FSI the scheme can actually use.
- Ask how much of the open space is at ground level, since the podium route can lawfully take all of it.
- Check the shape against Regulation 3.4.6, because a strip under 10.0 m does not qualify.
Where the filings come in
The register carries the figure this whole regulation is keyed to. Land area is filed on essentially every published project: 46,636 of 46,654 outside Mumbai on ReraGenie's registry copy captured 11 August 2026, and the median project sits on 1,386 sq m.
So the first question, whether a project is above or below the 0.4 ha threshold, can be answered for free from the filing. 22.8 percent of published projects sit above 4,000 sq m, which is the population this regulation reaches.
Every filing at reragenie.com also carries the buildings and their floors, the promoter's extension history with the reasons given, the certifying professionals, and any complaints or litigation with case numbers.
ReraGenie's project analysis, Rs 2,999 for one project, reads the full filing and the documents behind it, including progress on shared amenities as well as on buildings. The area consolidated report covers a whole micro-market at Rs 2,999 for the first project and Rs 1,999 per additional one.
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.
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