If you are in the process of buying a home, you might have come across terms like carpet area, built-up area and super built-up area. These are different ways of defining the area of a property. Here’s what these words mean.
carpet area
As the name suggests, it is a flat area that can be covered with carpet. More precisely, it is the net usable area (NUA) of a flat which includes living and dining rooms, bedrooms, bathrooms and kitchen. However, under the RERA (Real Estate Regulatory Authority) Act, carpet area is defined slightly differently – it is the area taken up by the interior partition walls of the NUA plus the flat.
Carpet area includes the outer walls of a flat, outer areas like your balcony, verandah and terrace for your exclusive use, and does not include common areas like lift, corridor, club house etc. “This is the private space of the house. “The owner is not required to share the building or the housing society with other occupants,” says Rakesh Agarwal, senior vice president, India Sotheby’s International Realty. Super built-up area in residential residential project with many amenities and open spaces.”
built up area
It is calculated as the sum of the carpet area and the area covered by walls, balconies, ceilings and special corridors, if any, all of which are for the exclusive use of the home owner. Built-up area does not include all common areas like lifts, corridors, club houses etc.
super built-up area
It is also called salable area. This is calculated as your proportionate share in the built-up area and all common areas including lifts, corridors, club houses etc.
Let us assume that there is an apartment building consisting of two flats with respective built up areas of 500 sq ft and 1,000 sq ft and a common area of 1,200 sq ft. Then, the common area will be divided proportionately into 400 sq.ft and 800 sq.ft. (1,200 sq ft divided in 1:2 ratio) and is added to the respective built-up areas to arrive at super built-up areas of 900 sq ft and 1,800 sq ft respectively for the two flats.
According to Santosh Kumar, Vice Chairman, ANAROCK Group, selling property on the basis of super-built-up area is now illegal and only carpet area is a valid ‘value’.
“The hitherto conventional practice of developers charging homebuyers on the basis of super built-up area no longer works. Under the RERA Act, the quoted price should mandatorily be based on the carpet area of the property,” says Kumar.
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