Chandigarh administration has moved to withdraw the Chandigarh Housing Board’s 1.2 factor for cooperative group housing societies, a change that is expected to reduce leasehold-to-freehold conversion charges for flat owners by nearly 30%. The administration has also begun resolving the long-pending issue of unearned increase, while a final decision on shifting the conversion process from the Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) to the Estate Office is awaited.
The decision was cleared at an internal meeting convened to address unresolved issues affecting cooperative group housing societies. The 1.2 factor had increased the land area considered while calculating conversion charges by 20%, raising the amount payable by residents. A UT official told the Times of India that the factor resulted in an artificial increase in the area used for calculation and pushed up conversion charges by nearly 30%.
Under the proposed change, conversion charges for Category A flats are expected to fall from ₹14.96 lakh to ₹10.89 lakh. For Category B flats, the amount is likely to decrease from ₹8.35 lakh to ₹6.17 lakh, while Category C charges could fall from ₹5.45 lakh to ₹3.75 lakh. The final amounts will depend on the administration’s implementation of the decision and any associated approvals.
The administration operates under a 1996 policy governing the conversion of residential properties from leasehold to freehold. In the case of cooperative group housing societies, however, the CHB had been applying a different clause that incorporated the 1.2 factor. Its withdrawal is intended to bring the calculation for these societies in line with the applicable policy position described by the administration.
Further relief could follow if recommendations made by the Estate Office on June 3, 2025, are approved. Those recommendations include non-levy of GST on the conversion-related charges. A reduction in stamp duty could provide an additional decrease in the amount residents have to pay. The administration is also considering whether the Estate Office, rather than the CHB, should handle the conversion process. Housing society allottees have argued that the Estate Office should be the responsible authority because the CHB itself is a lessee.
The move follows years of representations by residents and housing society groups. The issue of the 1.2 factor was first raised by the Voice of Housing Societies in August 2022. R S Thapar, the organisation’s co-convener, said the matter had taken nearly four years and around 100 meetings to resolve. He welcomed the proposed removal of the factor but said residents had waited too long to correct what he described as an erroneous calculation.
The policy dispute has also affected residents beyond the conversion charges. In some societies, the absence of completion certificates reportedly led to water bills that were nearly four times the normal rate. A previous Times of India report highlighted how unresolved administrative and policy issues had left cooperative house-building societies unable to complete the conversion process at predictable costs.
The administration is now expected to take decisions on the unearned increase, the Estate Office’s recommendations on GST and stamp duty, and the proposed transfer of the conversion process from the CHB. These approvals will determine when the revised charges can be applied and how much relief individual flat owners ultimately receive.
