House map approval in Tamil Nadu

Online, on the Tamil Nadu Single Window Portal for Planning Permission (onlineppa.tn.gov.in), run by the Housing and Urban Development Department. You register as an applicant and pick your district, taluk, village and local body, and the file goes to the corporation, municipality, town panchayat or village panchayat, or to DTCP or CMDA if the building is above the local body's limits. CMDA takes its own cases on its Online Planning Permission Application, which accepts no paper files. The portal lists separate help desks for DTCP, the Directorate of Town Panchayats and the Commissionerate of Municipal Administration.

Yes, if the plot is up to 2,500 sq ft and the house has up to 3,500 sq ft of floor area, at most two homes, and ground + 1 or stilt + 2 floors within 10 m. You file it yourself on the portal with site photographs, a plan signed by an architect or registered engineer, the sale deed, patta and proof that the plot is approved, regularised, natham or registered before 20 October 2016, then sign with Aadhaar e-sign and pay. The permit downloads at once, with no scrutiny fee and no infrastructure and amenities charges. It is not available in the Coastal Regulation Zone, HACA or restricted areas, or where the portal's map check says an NOC is needed.

Not yet. On 28 August 2026 the Housing and Urban Development Minister announced self-certification up to 5,000 sq ft for ground + 2 and stilt + 3 houses, and third-party certification up to 8,070 sq ft. The bigger local-body powers announced the same day were ordered on 8 October 2026, but we found no rule change for self-certification by 3 November 2026, and the amendment of 26 October 2026 left it as it was. Until a government order is published, the 3,500 sq ft limit applies.

For a house up to 14 m, a registered architect or registered engineer, and you sign as the owner; a self-certified plan is signed by an architect or registered engineer and you certify that everything filed is true. Professionals register with the local body (with the Block Development Officer for a village panchayat) for five years. Under the 2019 rules a Council of Architecture-registered architect, or a civil engineer with a degree and ten years' experience, may plan any building, while a diploma holder with five years' experience, or a civil engineering graduate with three, may plan small houses of up to 14 m and 16 homes. Above 14 m you also need a registered developer and structural, construction and geotechnical engineers.

Up to ground + 2 or stilt + 3 floors within 14 m, with up to 16 homes and an FSI of 2.0. In areas marked for economically weaker sections the limit is ground + 1 or stilt + 2 within 10 m, and up to 8 homes. Since 26 October 2026 a building of up to 19.50 m (stilt + 5 floors) still counts as non-high-rise, but above 14 m it needs a road at least 9 m wide and a stricter setback table. The instant self-certified route stops at ground + 1 or stilt + 2 within 10 m.

Yes. The 2019 rules apply to village panchayats too, and the portal takes their files. Since 8 October 2026 a village panchayat may pass homes of up to 1,200 sq m of floor area, 12 dwellings and 14 m. A house on a natham plot can use the instant self-certified permit if it meets the size limits. Outside any planning area, the Town and Country Planning Act 1971 makes you apply to the local body, which needs the Director of Town and Country Planning's prior concurrence.

A self-certified permit is instant. For other houses, the authority may ask for more papers within 15 days, and must issue the permission within 45 days of receiving the plan and everything it asked for. A permit is valid for five years and can be extended once by three years if you apply before it lapses, though CMDA's own page still gives three years for its planning permissions. A house up to 14 m with at most 8 homes or 750 sq m gets water and power connections without a completion certificate.

Under the Town and Country Planning Act 1971 the authority can order the work stopped, seize the materials, tools and vehicles on site, lock and seal the building until a permission is produced, and order it restored or demolished; if you do not comply it can demolish at your cost and prosecute you. You can ask the government to revise a sealing order within 30 days. CMDA sealed an unauthorised stilt floor in Choolaimedu, Chennai, in December 2023 after two notices. A self-certified permit obtained with false papers is cancelled after a show-cause notice and can lead to prosecution.