Building, renovating or doing up a home in Kolkata
Design IRL Editorial · Figures checked 9 November 2026 · For anyone building a house, renovating a flat or doing up a new flat in Kolkata · How we make our guides
In Kolkata, many repairs need no permission, small plots get a fast sanction, and the biggest risks are underfoot: soft soil, filled-in ponds and heavy monsoon flooding. Check the ground and the paperwork before you build.
Start here
- Renovating a flat you own: read "Renovating a flat in Kolkata" for what your society and the city need from you, then the costs below.
- Doing up a new flat: check the building's occupancy certificate (OC) before you take possession or start interiors.
- Building a house: your plans need approval before any work on site, filed by a registered architect.
Work out your own numbers
Describe your project in a sentence on Design IRL's "Where do I start?" page (for example "renovating a 1,200 sq ft flat in Kolkata, ₹15 lakh") to see what it should cost at Kolkata rates, the order to do things in, products within budget and firms to hire.
Building a house
- KMC handles building sanctions online. For small plots, a licensed architect or building surveyor uploads the plan and it counts as sanctioned once the fee is paid; KMC inspects later and can revoke it. Sources disagree on the plot-size limit, so check it with your architect.
- Since August 2025, KMC officials must accept, reject or query an online application within 15 days.
- Since 2024 KMC issues a completion certificate only after the building's construction debris has been delivered to its recycling plant.
- Get a soil test: buildings that collapsed in 2024 stood on filled-in ponds.
Renovating a flat or house
Painting, reflooring and repairs to staircases and lift shafts don't need KMC's permission; structural changes or changes to dimensions do. In a flat, the West Bengal Apartment Ownership Act bars work that harms the building's safety, and adding a structure needs written consent from all the other owners. The Calcutta High Court has upheld a jail sentence for an owner who built under a roof-repair permit, so keep to what you're allowed. Your association's bye-laws set working hours, deposits and lift use.
New flats
Check the completion certificate before possession and interiors. The central RERA law applies in West Bengal: the Supreme Court struck down the state's own housing law in 2021.
What's different about Kolkata
- Monsoon flooding: a record 251.4 mm fell in 24 hours on 23 September 2025, and most deaths that day were electrocutions. Keep wiring, sockets and the meter well above flood level, and use earth-leakage protection.
- Humidity and old buildings: plan for damp-proofing and check old load-bearing walls before changes.
- Seismic zone III, under the 2016 code.
Costs and charges in Kolkata
| Charge | Rate | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Stamp duty | 6% up to ₹1 crore, 7% above | The temporary 2% rebate has ended |
| Registration | 1% | |
| Women's concession | Unclear | Recent sources say none; check with the registration office |
We found no reliable published per-sq-ft figures for building or interiors in this city (only builders' and lenders' own estimates). Use the renovation, interiors and house calculators at this city's rates, and get 2–3 quotes on the same drawings.
Find the people
Sources
Most published cost figures come from firms that sell the work. We give ranges and you should get 2–3 quotes.
- Millennium Post: KMC 15-day limit for sanctions
- Millennium Post: easier sanction for small plots
- The Telegraph: most house repairs don't need KMC approval
- West Bengal Apartment Ownership Act, 1972
- LiveLaw: Calcutta HC on construction under a repair permit
- The Telegraph: stricter norms for completion certificates
- Bar & Bench: Supreme Court strikes down WBHIRA
- Business Standard: Kolkata rains, Sept 2025
- The Telegraph: collapsed building's plot was a water body
- Ujjivan SFB: stamp duty in West Bengal
- BMTPC: towns in seismic zone III
- Drishti IAS: 2025 seismic code rolled back