If you are buying a villa in Hyderabad, two sizes matter: the one on the price list, and the one
the municipality sanctioned when it approved the building plan. They are not always the same
number. A Telangana RERA order from 24 August is about a buyer who learnt the difference after
paying ₹20 lakh. The useful part of the story is that the sanctioned size sits in a public record,
plot by plot, and you can read it before you pay anything. We pulled that record for all 44 villas
in this project.
What happened
On 12 October 2024 a buyer from Old Bowenpally paid ₹20 lakh as a token for Villa No. 3 in
Bentley Woods, a 44-villa gated project on about 2.7 acres in Jeedimetla, Quthbullapur mandal,
Medchal–Malkajgiri district. The agreed price was ₹3.80 crore. The agreement of sale and the price
list both put the villa's "constructed area" or "total saleable area" at 5,068.96 sq ft. After the
agreement was signed, the builder told him the villa itself was about 3,900 sq ft and the remaining
1,169.76 sq ft was a "30% open space" component; in front of the regulator, the builder called it
the setback area of the plot.
The buyer complained to Telangana RERA. In its order of 24 August 2026 (Complaint No. 219 of
2025) the Authority directed the builder to refund the ₹20 lakh within 30 days and to pay a
penalty of ₹98,03,458 to the TG RERA fund. Two findings matter to any villa buyer:
| What the Authority said | In plain words |
|---|
| Plot area and built-up area are "distinct legal concepts"; setbacks, open yards and unbuilt portions cannot be merged into the villa's built-up area and charged as saleable area without disclosing it from the beginning | The land around the house is not the house. If a seller wants to price it, it has to be written down as a separate number before you pay |
| Taking 44 separate GHMC building permissions, each under 500 sq m, after getting one layout approval for the whole land was a "stratagem" to avoid registering a villa project; the project was later registered with RERA, but as a plotted layout | A gated villa community with shared roads and a clubhouse is one project under RERA, however the permissions were split |
Sources: the order itself (TG RERA, Complaint No. 219 of 2025, 24 Aug 2026, PDF);
Times of India, 25 Aug 2026 (as carried by Hyderabad Mail; we could not reach the TOI page directly);
Hyderabad Mail, 26 Aug 2026;
Economic Times, 5 Sep 2026.
Where the reports differ, we have followed the order: the price is ₹3.80 crore (the Economic Times
also prints ₹3.6 crore, which is the balance after the token); the refund direction is for ₹20 lakh
with no interest mentioned; the penalty is under Section 59 of the Act.
What we checked
1. The municipality's own record of how big each of the 44 villas was allowed to be
When GHMC sanctions a building plan, the owner has to hand over 10% of the sanctioned built-up
area to GHMC as security until the building is completed as approved. That is Rule 25(d) of the
Telangana Building Rules 2012 (G.O. Ms. No. 168, MA&UD, 7 April 2012,
page 28): "The owner is required to hand over 10% of the built-up area … to the sanctioning
authority … Then only the Building sanction will be released." The handover is registered at the
sub-registrar office as a "Mortgage without Possession" in favour of the GHMC Commissioner, so it
sits in the Telangana registration index like any sale deed, and it states the area handed over.
For the Bentley Woods land (survey numbers 33/7A, 33/1/E, 33/1/AA and 33/1A of Jeedimetla,
Quthbullapur SRO) the registry holds one such mortgage for each of the 44 plots, registered on 6
and 23 August 2022, plus one for the clubhouse. Nineteen plots carry a second, smaller mortgage
from June–July 2023, which is what a revised plan produces. Ten times the mortgaged slice is the
built-up area GHMC sanctioned for that plot:
| Sanctioned built-up area (10 × the mortgaged slice) | Plots |
|---|
| Under 2,500 sq ft (1,880 to 2,200) | 7 |
| 2,500 to 3,499 sq ft | 11 |
| 3,500 to 3,799 sq ft | 24 |
| 3,800 to 3,900 sq ft | 2 |
| Above 3,900 sq ft | 0 |
Median across the 44 plots: 3,500 sq ft. Smallest: 1,880 sq ft (plot 44). Largest: 3,890 sq ft
(plot 2) and 3,900 sq ft (plot 3).
The buyer's villa was Villa No. 3. The GHMC mortgage on plot 3, registered on 23 August 2022
as document 23843 of 2022 at Quthbullapur SRO, records a slice of 390 sq ft. Ten times that is
3,900 sq ft, which is the figure the buyer was given only after he had signed for 5,068.96. That
number was sitting in a public register 26 months before he paid the token.
What this does and does not say. It does not say the builder built less than the plan. It says the
plan itself never allowed a 5,069 sq ft house on any of the 44 plots. The 1,169.76 sq ft gap is
not a construction shortfall; it is land, and the Authority's order is that land around a villa has
to be priced and written up as land.
One caveat we cannot close from the index alone: the index records the area of each mortgage, not
the deed text, so the "10%" comes from Rule 25(d) rather than from reading it off the deed. A
certified copy of any one of the 44 deeds would settle it.
2. What the builder's own RERA filing says
The Telangana RERA register carries a filing for "Chabbras Bentley woods", project ID
P02200010178, Jeedimetla, Qutballapur mandal. In our copy of the register (last refreshed
27 May 2026):
| Field in the RERA filing | Value |
|---|
| Project type | Plotted Development, not "Residential" |
| Plan approval | GHMC, permission 1/C25/11113/2020, approved 3 Oct 2021 |
| Proposed date of completion | 15 July 2022 |
| Revised completion date | none filed |
The first line is the one a buyer could have read before paying: the project the regulator knew
about was a plotted layout, not a villa project, which is exactly what the Authority later
penalised. Read the completion date with care: 15 July 2022 is also the date of the GHMC layout
permit quoted in the order (Permit No. 2192/GHMC/KPL/2022-FLT), so it may be the permit date
entered in the wrong field rather than a promise the builder made.
3. No villa in the project has a registered sale deed
We looked for any sale deed, sale agreement or gift on those four survey numbers in Jeedimetla,
at every sub-registrar office in the state, from 2022 to the end of our coverage (22 July 2026 for
Quthbullapur SRO, 1 September 2026 for Bowenpally). There are none. Everything registered on this
land since 2022 is the builder's own paperwork: the 64 GHMC mortgages, one release of mortgage,
and three supplemental deeds between the builder and the landowners (the last two on 27 and 28
October 2025, describing the land as 13,023.23 sq yds, which is 2.69 acres). If any of the 44
villas has changed hands, it has not been registered yet, so a buyer's own sale deed for this
project cannot be checked against the registry today.
What to do with this
None of this needs a lawyer, and all of it can be done before a token changes hands.
- Get the plan sanction number, then read the size off the record, not the brochure. The
sanction number is on the RERA filing and on the site board. The GHMC mortgage registered
against that sanction states the built-up slice; ten times the slice is the house the
municipality approved. If the "saleable area" you are quoted is much larger, the difference is
land or common area, and it needs its own line in the agreement.
- Look the project up on the RERA register and read the "project type" line. A gated villa
community filed as "Plotted Development" means the regulator has been told it is a layout of
plots. That is not illegal by itself, but the Authority has now said that selling villas on such
a filing is, so it is a fair question to put to the builder.
- Ask for three numbers, separately, in writing: plot area, built-up area, and your share of
common area. The order notes that the law lets a builder include proportionate common area in
the saleable area, but only if it is disclosed up front and written into the agreement of sale.
A single "super built-up" figure that folds the three together is what this order was about.
How we did this
- News cross-check. Three reports (Times of India 25 Aug as carried by Hyderabad Mail 26 Aug, and Economic Times 5 Sep 2026), then the order itself. The order is dated 24 August 2026; the ET story is a
re-run twelve days later, not a new development. Nothing here is open for public comment.
- Primary document. TG RERA's "Orders of Authority" page lists orders by complaint number
only. We downloaded the 114 orders dated 20–31 August 2026 and searched their text; one matches
(Complaint No. 219 of 2025), linked above.
- Sanctioned sizes. Telangana registration index for Quthbullapur SRO, survey numbers 33/7A,
33/7/A, 33/1/E, 33/1E, 33/1/AA, 33/1A and 33/1/A, filtered to "Mortgage without Possession"
deeds where the mortgagee is the GHMC Commissioner and the mortgagor includes the promoter
(Ramesh Kumar Chabbra, as development-agreement holder for the Chittaboina family, the
landowners). 64 deeds: 45 in August 2022 (44 plots plus the clubhouse) and 19 in June–July 2023.
Where a plot has both, the two slices are added before multiplying by ten. The 10% rule is
Rule 25(d) of G.O. Ms. No. 168. The sanctioned area is an inference from that rule, not a figure
printed in the index.
- Extent of the land. The order quotes the layout permit as covering 12,770.10 sq m
(about 3.16 acres) and elsewhere says Ac. 2-27.6 guntas (about 2.69 acres). The supplemental
deed of 27 October 2025 says 13,023.23 sq yds, which is 2.69 acres and agrees with the guntas
figure and with the "2.7 acres" in the press. We have not resolved the 12,770.10 sq m figure.
- RERA filing. Our copy of the Telangana RERA project register, 9,175 filings, last refreshed
from the portal on 27 May 2026. Anything filed or revised after that date is invisible to us.
- Absence check. Two passes over the registry index: deeds citing at least two of the survey
numbers (any SRO), then deeds citing any one of them with the village recorded as Jeedimetla
(any SRO), 2022 onwards. Both return only the builder's paperwork. Coverage ends 22 July 2026
for Quthbullapur SRO, so a deed registered after that would not show.
- What we did not verify. The deed text of the mortgages (we hold the index, not the scans);
the builder's marketing materials (the project website returns an empty page); the 12,770.10
sq m figure; and whether the second, 2023 mortgages correspond to revised plans, which is the
ordinary reason for them but not something the index states.
What is built-up area?
The floor area of the house itself, measured to the outer walls, across all floors. It is the number the municipality approves in the building plan. It does not include the open land around the house.
What is a setback?
The strip of open land the rules require between the house and the plot boundary on each side. It is part of the plot, not part of the house, and cannot be built on.
What is super built-up or saleable area?
The built-up area plus a share of common areas such as the clubhouse or roads. Telangana RERA says a builder may include common area in the saleable area only if it is disclosed up front and written separately into the agreement of sale.
How do I find the size GHMC approved for a villa plot?
Before releasing a building sanction, GHMC takes a mortgage of 10% of the approved built-up area (Rule 25(d), G.O. Ms. No. 168 of 2012). The mortgage is registered at the sub-registrar office and states the area. Ten times that area is the approved built-up area of the house.
Does a RERA registration mean the project is a villa project?
Not by itself. Read the project type on the RERA filing. In this case the filing said Plotted Development while the marketing said villas, which is what the Authority penalised.
