What is an undivided share of land (UDS)?
An undivided share of land (UDS) is a flat owner’s proportionate share in the land and common areas of a building, owned jointly with the other owners and never split off from the flat.
Also called UDS, undivided interest, undivided proportionate title.
A flat buyer owns the flat itself outright, and a share of the land under the building and of the common areas together with everyone else. That share is “undivided”: no owner can point to a particular patch of land as theirs.
What the RERA Act says. The Act defines common areas in section 2(n) to include the entire land of the project, or of the phase being registered, along with staircases, lifts, lobbies and the like. Under sections 11(4)(f) and 17(1), the promoter must execute a registered conveyance deed of the flat in favour of the buyer, “along with the undivided proportionate title in the common areas” to the association of allottees or the competent authority. The Act does not fix how the proportion is worked out; state law and the project documents do.
Example: Maharashtra. Under the Maharashtra Apartment Ownership Act, 1970, the common areas and facilities include the land on which the building stands, unless the declaration says otherwise (section 3(f)). Each owner is entitled to an undivided interest in them, in the percentage given in the declaration, computed from the value of the flat relative to the value of the whole property (section 6(1)). That interest cannot be separated from the flat: it is conveyed or encumbered with the flat even when the deed does not mention it (section 6(2)), and the common areas cannot be partitioned (section 6(3)).
Example: Tamil Nadu. The Directorate of Town and Country Planning tells buyers to check that the promoter or power-of-attorney holder has the right to transfer the undivided shares of land, and that the whole of the buyer’s undivided share has been transferred to them.
Worked example (sample figures). A building stands on 4,000 sq m of land, and the declaration gives one flat an undivided interest of 0.50%.
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Land under the building | 4,000 sq m |
| Flat’s undivided interest | 0.50% |
| Flat’s undivided share of land | 20 sq m |
More flats on the same land, for example under a higher FSI, means a smaller share of land for each flat.
How it differs from carpet area. The carpet area is the floor area inside the flat that the buyer uses alone. The UDS is a share of land held in common with others; it is not an area the buyer can use exclusively.
Sources, read on 9 Nov 2026: the RERA Act (Gazette copy hosted by MahaRERA), Maharashtra Apartment Ownership Act, 1970 (Government of Maharashtra copy) and DTCP Tamil Nadu: before buying a flat or plot.