Explained: What are the new ‘building safety guidelines’ issued by Noida authority?

To ensure residents' safety the Noida authority has implemented ‘building safety guidelines’ for group housing buildings from April 1. According to the new regulations, before permitting flat owners to move in, a developer must apply for an occupancy certificate, and in order to do so, they must first secure a safety certificate from specialists chosen by the Noida authority.

The authority's 207th board resolved to adopt these new rules on November 30, 2022, and they will go into effect on April 1 of 2023.

Noida authority’s chief architect and town planner Ishtiyaq Ahmed said, “We will only approve an occupancy certificate (OC) for a new building if the developer follows the established guidelines. The developer must hire an expert to conduct safety audits on the building’s structure and then issue a certificate. Without that certificate, we will not issue OC to buildings to ensure the safety of apartment owners.” 

According to the revised rules, the government will start taking new OC applications from developers on Monday. Unlike in the past, when the authority would accept applications without this certificate, Ahmed continued, "The structure audit certificate is now necessary."

Who will issue the building safety certificate?
In order to grant safety certificates for the housing tower buildings, the authorities have appointed Delhi Technological University, IIT Kanpur, MNIT Allahabad, BITS Pilani, AMU Aligarh, MNIT Jaipur, and CBRI Roorkee as expert agencies.

The policy states that the developer is in charge of this audit for the first five years, after which time the flat owners' organisations take over. However, OC applications before March 31, 2023, will be completed according to the old rules. 

“The current policy provides only a few structural audit institutions as an option. However, we request that all IITs be empanelled due to the massive workload. Furthermore, the building whose plans have already been approved should be given final approval by the same agency that performed the structural audit in the first place,” said Manoj Gaur, President of Credai NCR. 

Additionally, it goes without saying that the developer will fix any issues and cover the costs if a structural flaw is found as a result of a future objection. Yet the developer shouldn't be held responsible for the audit fees if there is no problem or only a small defect. 

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