How does a citizen domiciled in Karnataka apply for a BDA site?
Direct answer: You do not collect a BDA site from a counter. The Bangalore Development Authority allots sites when it publishes a notification, under the Bangalore Development Authority (Allotment of Sites) Rules, 1984. The applicant must be at least 18 and, in the ordinary case, domiciled in Karnataka for 15 years. A person who already holds a site or house in the metropolitan area, or whose dependent family does, is out. Applications are taken online, for that notification only.
Verify with your lawyer: This is general guidance from public rules, not a legal opinion on your flat or site. Have your own property lawyer read the papers before you pay.
What are the key takeaways?
- There is no standing window. You apply only against a live BDA notification.
- Rule 10, as BDA restated it on 31 August 2026, asks for 15 years of Karnataka domicile, with a shorter period for some service categories.
- Owning, or having been allotted, a site or house in the metropolitan area generally makes you ineligible.
- An allotment letter is not a sale deed. The site still has to be conveyed and entered in the khata.
What do the allotment rules actually require?
The Bangalore Development Authority Act, 1976 sets up the Authority. Sites for the public are allotted under the Bangalore Development Authority (Allotment of Sites) Rules, 1984, when the Authority notifies a layout. BDA's own allotment desk publishes which schemes are moving. You read the notification for that layout. You do not write a general letter and wait for a site.
Eligibility in those rules, as BDA restated it in the notification dated 31 August 2026 for Dr. K. Shivarama Karantha Layout, runs like this. You must be 18 on the date of the notification. You must have been domiciled in Karnataka for not less than 15 years before registration. Officers of an All India Service allotted to the Karnataka cadre, and serving soldiers domiciled in Karnataka, were given a shorter domicile period of two years in that notification. You are not eligible if you, or a dependent family member, own a site or a house, or have been allotted one, by BDA, by a co-operative society, or by another authority inside the Bangalore Metropolitan Area. The same bar covers a site or house allotted anywhere in the state by another urban development authority, the Karnataka Housing Board, or another government agency. Read the notification you are answering. A later notification can repeat these tests or vary a detail.
That application was online only, with a domicile certificate and the category papers the form named. Site rates in a notification are provisional and are revised at allotment. Read them on the PDF, not on a screenshot.
What did the 2026 notification do?
BDA notification BDA/Adm/Allotment/Secy/E-85532/2026-27, dated 31 August 2026, invited applications for sites in Dr. K. Shivarama Karantha Layout. The online window closed at noon on 15 October 2026. If you are reading this after that noon, that window is shut. The initial deposit did not earn interest. It was to be adjusted for a successful applicant and refunded without interest for an unsuccessful one. The notification also said the number of sites could change if the land was not available. That is the ordinary risk of a BDA layout: formation, litigation and infrastructure move slower than the advertisement. BDA's allotment page records a related fact. On 30 January 2025 the Authority randomised alternative sites from Arkavathi Layout into Nada Prabhu Kempegowda Layout. Allottees do get moved. Ask which layout your letter actually refers to.
What is an allotment not?
An allotment letter is not title. The difference between an allotment letter, an agreement and a sale deed is set out in allotment letter, agreement and sale deed. Until a conveyance is registered, you have a right under the Authority's rules, subject to their conditions on transfer. Rule 14 has long restricted alienation. A 2024 amendment of the rules dealt with some older breaches of that restriction. Do not assume you can sell the site the week you are allotted. After conveyance, the khata still has to move. Inside the city that is khata transfer after purchase.
A BDA site is also not a BDA flat. Flats the Authority has built are a different scheme, covered in what a BDA flat allotment settles. And a private layout that prints the letters BDA on a brochure is not an allotment. Ask for the notification, the allotment letter in your name, and the registered deed.
Frequently asked questions
Can I apply for a BDA site whenever I want?
No. You apply against a notification, inside its window. The Shivarama Karantha Layout window published on 31 August 2026 closed at noon on 15 October 2026.
Is domicile of Karnataka enough?
The 2026 notification asked for 15 years of domicile, age 18, and no site or house already held or allotted to you or a dependent family member in the metropolitan area. Some service categories had a two-year domicile test.
Is the allotment letter the sale deed?
No. Title passes on a registered conveyance. The allotment is the Authority's offer under its rules, with conditions on transfer.
Does a private site with a BDA approval letter follow this procedure?
No. This procedure is for sites BDA itself allots. A private layout needs the planning approval, conversion and khata of that layout, which is a different file.
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References
Checked 28 Oct 2026.
- Bangalore Development Authority (Allotment of Sites) Rules, 1984, and the Bangalore Development Authority Act, 1976: https://eng.bdabangalore.org/adminallotmentsection.html
- BDA notification No. BDA/Adm/Allotment/Secy/E-85532/2026-27, dated 31 August 2026, Dr. K. Shivarama Karantha Layout (applications online, close of window 15 October 2026, 12:00; Rule 10 eligibility restated): BDA notification PDF
- BDA allotment section, recording the 30 January 2025 randomisation of alternative sites from Arkavathi Layout to Nada Prabhu Kempegowda Layout: https://eng.bdabangalore.org/adminallotmentsection.html
This page explains public rules and processes. It isn't legal or tax advice. acre&key gives buyers advice for free.