Buying a property usually means that you have to deal with jargon words such as carpet area, built-up area, and super built-up area. Understanding this jargon is very important as it tends to improve the decision-making process. Homebuyers who are usually aware of concepts such as built-up area and carpet area are also able to differentiate each of them easily from the other.
Especially when you need to pay for the number of square feet you are going to occupy, you need to know why and how much you will be paying. This is where the developers and builders use such jargon as built-up areas and carpet areas. To help you better understand the complex words involved in home-buying here is a guide on the difference between super built-up area, built-up area, and carpet area. You will also get to know what is super built-up area and how to calculate all of these jargon-based words.
What is Carpet Area
People are often curious about what is carpet area since it is one of the most commonly used words when describing a property. Well, a carpet area essentially means the area of an apartment that can be covered by a carpet or the net usable area. It is also the distance measured between the inner walls of the home. The carpet area will also include the area of the living room, bedroom, kitchen, balconies, bathrooms, and staircase within the house. It however does not include the internal and external walls, common areas, lifts, terraces, corridors, or utility ducts.
The carpet area can be calculated by an easy formula application which can be provided as follows:
Carpet area = (area of toilets + balconies + living room + bedroom + kitchen) – the thickness of the inner walls.
In most cases, the carpet area in a flat typically consists of between 70 to 90 percent of its total built-up area. Let’s understand this with the help of an example.
Suppose a flat consists of an entire area of 1392.65 sq. ft. built-up area and about 82.8% of this is the general carpet area. Then 82.8% of the total area i.e. 1392.65 sq. ft. would be 1153.11 sq. ft. This will be the general carpet area.
What is Built-Up Area
Wondering what is built-up area? The built-up area is the sum of the carpet area along with both the areas of exterior and interior walls along with the area of exterior staircase, balconies, and other livable areas if there are any. If there is an exclusive terrace then this will also be included in the built-up area. The built-up area comprises around 70 to 80 percent of the super built-up area.
The built-up area can be calculated easily by adding the carpet area or the RERA carpet area along with both the exterior and interior wall areas, corridor, and exclusive balcony if any.
Built-up area =Terrace and Balcony + Exclusive corridor + wall area + carpet area
Usually, the built-up area is mostly around 10 to 15 percent more than the carpet area. So, if your RERA carpet area is 1211 sq. ft. then the total built-up area will be between 1332.1 sq. ft. and 1392.65 sq. ft.
What is a Super Built-Up Area
Well, now what is super built-up area? A super built-up area is often also referred to as a saleable area and the house owners are mostly charged based on this super built-up area. It is the sum of the exclusive built-up area and the common areas which includes the corridors, staircase, lift, clubhouse, and other amenities.
However, the super built-up area will not include the area of compound walls, open-to-sky swimming pools, open sports facilities, driveways, play areas, inaccessible garden areas, septic tanks, water tanks, and underground sinks.
The proportionate share of common areas is also referred to as the “loading factor” and is assigned a certain percentage which usually ranges from 25 to 60 percent of the total carpet area. If the loading factor is 50 percent and your carpet area is 2000.45 sq. ft. then the super built-up area will be 1,000.225 sq. ft.
Super built-up area can be calculated by adding the proportionate common area along with the total built-up area. It can also be calculated by multiplying the carpet and 1+ proportionate common area. An example would be:
1211 sq. ft. [RERA Carpet] X 1 + 0.50 [loading factor 50%] = 1816 sq. ft.
You can assume that you own a house with a 1000 sq. ft. area on the third floor and your friend owns a total area of 2000 sq. ft. on the same floor. If the total area of the common area is considered to be 1,500 sq. ft. then the builder will split the common area with respect to the ratio of the built-up area. In this case, the ratio will be 1:2, and hence the builder will add 500 sq. ft. to your apartment and about 1000 sq. ft. to your friend’s flat area. Now the super built-up area will be a total of 1500 sq. ft. and your friend’s super built-up area will be 3000 sq. ft.
What is the RERA carpet area
The concept of RERA carpet area came with the RERA Act which was passed in the year 2016. According to the RERA Act which was released, the RERA carpet area will be the net usable floor area of an apartment or house excluding the external area, exclusive balcony or veranda area, open terrace area, and common areas. However, it will include the area that is covered by the internal partition walls.
It is to be noted that the word exclusive balcony or veranda area refers to the area of the balcony or veranda which is attached to the net usable floor area of the flat. It is assigned to the exclusive use of the house owner. The term open terrace area refers to the area of open terrace which is a part of the net usable floor area of a flat and is exclusive to the house owner alone.
The total RERA carpet area can also be calculated with the help of the RERA Act 2016 using the following formula:
RERA Carpet area = Net usable area of the flat (excluding the external walls, terrace area, veranda, and balcony area) + Areas of the internal partition walls
The difference between the general carpet area and the RERA carpet area is usually around 5%. If you have about 1153.11 sq. ft. of general carpet area then the general carpet area will be rounded off to 1211 sq. ft.
Comparison and Contrast
Here is a detailed difference between the super built-up area, built-up area and carpet area based on the amenities included and the areas included.
| Amenities | Carpet Area | Built-up Area | Super Built-up Area |
| Hall | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Bedroom | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Dining Room | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Bathroom | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Kitchen | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Study room | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Balcony | No | Yes | Yes |
| Utility area | No | Yes | Yes |
| Staircase present inside the house | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| A staircase present outside the house | No | Yes | Yes |
| Lift | No | No | Yes |
| Terrace | No | Yes | Yes |
| Garden | No | No | Yes |
| Lobby | No | No | Yes |
| Verandah | No | Yes | Yes |
| Swimming pool | No | No | Yes |
Based on the spaces which you get in each of these areas you can determine what sort of place you want to invest in. You also get a detailed outline of how you spend the money and how many amenities are included in the price.
Legal and Regulatory Aspects
RERA which is also known as the Real Estate Regulatory Act came into action in the year 2016. This Act has brought about quite a few changes in property dealings. As a result, there was a tremendous impact on the method of working of the developers. Before the implementation of RERA, real estate builders used jargon words such as built-up area and carpet area for marketing purposes. However, the actual usable area was way different than these two. The homeowners who were unaware of this fact used to end up being disappointed with the investment.
The juggling of the terms was put to an end with the mandatory disclosure by RERA. The monopoly exerted by the building owners with respect to the large balcony apartments or corner apartments got a major blowback. It is now important for all builders to sell property solely based on the carpet area. Thus, home buyers who are out for new property can make informed decisions when selecting the dream apartment.
It has also become mandatory for real estate builders to mention the carpet area in the brochure and also the sale deed due to the RERA Act. The boundaries between the terms should be made clear to the buyers before making a purchase. Once the property is handed over, any discrepancy that may occur due to the carpet area may be liable to a refund.
Tips for buyers and renters
It is observed that most of the new property buyers tend to have a hard time differentiating between the areas included under the carpet area of an apartment. A simple point to remember in this case is that the utility areas such as the terrace or balcony are not a part of the total carpet area.
Another one of the common mistakes that most buyers or renters often make is not asking what is carpet area is and other carpet area-related questions from the relator or home seller. One needs to be direct about excluding the terrace or balcony so that you do not end up paying a large amount for a much smaller space than you had expected.
Conclusion:
Whenever you go to buy a property or a house, it is for sure that you will come across such big jargon which can lead to confusion regarding what is carpet area and what is built-up area. However, you must always remember that you need to know the meaning of these words such as built-up area and carpet area along with how to calculate them so that you may not be fooled easily. You can also make use of Propchk to consult about the areas and the calculation of the same.
FAQ
Carpet area refers to the overall usable space within a property. This will exclude the thickness of the walls. It will however include bathrooms, kitchen, living room, and other enclosed areas.
The covered area indicates the total built area on all the floors. However, the covered area will not include open spaces such as open lawns, balconies, terraces, courtyards, and more. It is the actual area present under the roofs along with the walls, pillars, and balconies.
The built-up area of a flat or an apartment is measured from the external perimeter wall surfaces. It is the total carpet area plus the wall thickness along with the other unusable areas inside the apartment such as the terrace, dry balcony, flower beds, etc.
No comments yet.