Is Your PG Legal? What Bengaluru’s New PG Safety Rules Mean for Residents (Sept 2026)
 On 10 September 2026, the Karnataka High Court set new PG rules for Bengaluru. Civic authorities now have to find and act against every PG running without a trade licence, an approved building or fire clearance. The numbers behind the order are hard to ignore: the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) told the court that about 2,500 of the roughly 5,000 PGs in Bengaluru East were operating illegally. That’s one in two. Residents aren’t the ones being penalised, but if you live in a PG or you’re about to pay a deposit for one, there are eight things worth checking this month.
| Question | Short answer |
|---|---|
| What happened? | A Karnataka High Court order dated 10 September 2026 (Justice Suraj Govindaraj, WP 14750/2025) set safety and licensing rules for PGs across Bengaluru |
| How many PGs are illegal? | About 2,500 of roughly 5,000 in Bengaluru East, according to GBA. Another 68 PGs in Bengaluru North got violation notices |
| Which areas were named? | Whitefield, Mahadevapura, KR Puram, Indiranagar and CV Raman Nagar |
| Minimum space per resident | 70 sq ft per occupant |
| CCTV | Entrances and common areas only. Never bedrooms, bathrooms or toilets |
| What should residents do? | Ask to see the trade licence and fire clearance, count the beds against the room size, and keep your agreement and rent receipts safe |
What did the Karnataka High Court order in September 2026?
The short version: find every PG, licensed or not, and act against the ones running without a trade licence, a sanctioned building plan or fire safety clearance. The court also closed a gap many owners relied on. A trade licence, it said, does not make an unauthorised building legal.
The case started small. M/s Princess Ladies PG v The Chief Commissioner was one PG owner challenging civic notices. It ended with guidelines that now apply to every PG in the city.
The rules below are in the order you’d notice them as a resident, starting with your own room.
| Area | What the order requires |
|---|---|
| Space | At least 70 sq ft per occupant, and no more beds than the sanctioned plan allows. Corridors, staircases, balconies and parking areas can’t be turned into sleeping space. No unauthorised mezzanine floors or terrace rooms. |
| Fire safety | The court’s first priority. Inspectors check fire clearances, extinguishers, smoke detectors, emergency lighting, staircases, exits and evacuation routes. LPG cylinders can’t be kept in staircases, corridors or sleeping areas. |
| Electrical safety | Panels, earthing, circuit protection, overloaded circuits and exposed wiring are checked on every inspection. |
| CCTV | Cameras must cover entrances, exits and common corridors, record the correct date and time, and have power backup. They’re banned in bedrooms, bathrooms and toilets. |
| Women’s safety | Controlled entry, visitor verification, proper lighting, working locks, a way to call for help, and security staff where the PG needs them. |
| Staff and records | Police verification for guards, cooks and other staff. PGs must keep up-to-date records of each resident’s ID, permanent address, emergency contact and check-in and check-out dates. |
| Privacy | Safety rules don’t give an operator the right to photograph or share residents’ private activities. |
| Enforcement | Violations fall into three bands: immediate threats such as blocked fire exits or gross overcrowding, serious regulatory breaches, and fixable gaps. Closure, sealing or demolition follow the legal process for each. |
Two parts of the order matter more than they first look. Officials who ignore a known violation can now be held personally liable if something goes wrong at that PG, which gives inspectors a real reason to follow through. And the court wants a single digital database of every PG in Bengaluru, plus a consolidated inspection protocol within six weeks. Inspections are meant to carry on long after this round of notices.
Why is this happening now?
Because the rules written in 2024 didn’t stick. Each step below followed a death, a newspaper investigation or an inspection that found the earlier rules being ignored.
| When | What happened |
|---|---|
| July 2024 | A young woman was killed inside a PG in Koramangala, and the city started asking what its PG rules actually required |
| 9 August 2024 | BBMP issued PG guidelines: CCTV at entrances, exits and corridors with at least 90 days of footage, 70 sq ft per occupant, a 24/7 security guard, clean washrooms and drinking water, fire safety clearance, emergency numbers on display and waste segregation |
| August 2025 | Deccan Herald called 10 PGs posing as a prospective tenant. Five didn’t ask for any government ID |
| 1 January 2026 | GBA’s East Corporation gave PGs seven days to fix safety lapses after an LPG cylinder blast in Kundanahalli killed and injured people |
| 16 February 2026 | The High Court ordered inspections from 18 February, including whether each building matched its sanctioned plan |
| 3 June 2026 | About 1,500 inspections turned up violations in zoning, overcrowding, fire and hygiene. The court asked owners to file affidavits saying how and when they’d fix them |
| 10 September 2026 | The court issued the detailed guidelines above, and GBA reported about 2,500 illegal PGs in Bengaluru East |
Which areas are affected?
All of Bengaluru. The order applies citywide. Bengaluru East gets the attention because it’s the zone with the clearest numbers so far, and that count covers Whitefield, Mahadevapura, KR Puram, Indiranagar and CV Raman Nagar. These are some of the city’s busiest PG markets, mostly because ITPL and the Outer Ring Road tech parks are a short commute away.
If you’re looking at a PG in Whitefield, a PG in KR Puram or a PG in Indiranagar right now, expect a few listings to go quiet or change their terms while owners deal with notices. Don’t panic about it. Just ask more questions before you pay.
Colive has homes across this belt, including Colive Signature Towers in Mahadevapura, Colive Rainford in Whitefield and Colive Napier in Hoodi. Whichever place makes your shortlist, run the eight checks below on it.
Is my PG legal? 8 checks before you pay a deposit
You don’t need a lawyer for any of these. The whole list takes about 20 minutes on a site visit, and an operator with nothing to hide won’t mind the questions. Pair it with these questions to ask before choosing a coliving space, which cover location, community and what the rent includes.
- Ask to see the trade licence. The name and address on it should match the building you’re standing in, and it shouldn’t have expired. A licence for “PG accommodation” at some other address isn’t a licence for this one.
- Ask about fire safety clearance, then check for yourself. You want extinguishers on every floor, emergency lighting, and at least one way out that isn’t blocked by bikes, gas cylinders or stacked mattresses.
- Count the beds and pace out the room. Seventy square feet per person is about 7 ft by 10 ft. So a triple-sharing room smaller than roughly 210 sq ft is already over the limit.
- Walk the corridors, the staircase and the terrace. Beds in a passage, a boarded-up balcony or a new room on the roof are the exact conversions the court named.
- Find the gas cylinders. They belong in the kitchen or a marked storage area. Not on the staircase, and not near anyone’s bed.
- Look at where the cameras point. Entrances, exits and corridors are fine. A camera anywhere near a bedroom or bathroom is a reason to walk out.
- Notice whether they ask for your ID. If a PG will take your deposit without your ID or an emergency contact, it’s skipping a basic requirement, and it probably hasn’t checked its own staff either.
- Get everything in writing. Rent, deposit, notice period and the refund timeline all belong in the agreement. If you’re not sure what a fair deposit looks like, this breakdown of deposits and move-in costs in Bangalore coliving has typical ranges.
What happens to residents if a PG is sealed?
You’re not the target. The order is aimed at owners and operators, and the court told authorities to follow the legal process for closure, which begins with notices to the operator. That also means you may not hear about a notice unless your operator tells you. If inspections are happening on your street, ask.
Paperwork is your protection. Keep your rental agreement, rent receipts and deposit receipt somewhere other than your room (a photo on your phone counts). If your PG gets a notice, ask the operator in writing two things: when your deposit comes back, and where residents will be moved. Hold off on paying several months in advance until it’s settled.
One useful detail from the order: a complaint sent to the wrong department has to be forwarded, not rejected. So even if you complain to the wrong office, it should still reach the right one.
What the order means for women’s PGs
Women’s safety gets its own section in the guidelines: controlled entry, visitor verification, lighting, working locks, a way to raise an alarm, and security staff where the PG is big enough to need them. Staff verification matters most here. Guards and cooks have the most access to the building, and the order now requires police verification for both.
Comparing a women’s PG in Bangalore? Add a few questions to your visit. Who holds the master keys? How are visitors logged? Is the night guard on the payroll, or supplied by an agency that has done police verification? And what happens on a night the guard doesn’t turn up? Our safety checklist for women’s PGs covers the rest.
Trade licence vs legal building: why one document isn’t enough
Most residents miss this one. A PG can have a valid trade licence and still be illegal, because the licence covers the business, not the building. The court said it directly: a trade licence does not regularise unauthorised construction. A house built for one family and turned into 40 beds can be acted against with the licence framed on the wall. So can a building with floors that were never sanctioned.
You can’t check a sanctioned plan in a 20-minute visit. You can spot the signs of a conversion, though. Far more rooms than the building’s size suggests. Rooms added on the terrace. A ground-floor parking area turned into bedrooms. One narrow staircase serving five crowded floors. If you see any of these, ask the operator straight out whether the building is approved for PG use.
House rules vs legal rules
Not every “PG rule” is the law. Curfews, visitor timings, meal schedules and notice periods are house rules, and they change from one PG to the next. The High Court order covers the legal floor underneath all that: licences, space, fire and electrical safety, camera placement, staff verification and resident records. For the day-to-day side, read our guide to PG house rules like curfew, visitors and notice periods.
Where Colive stands
Colive homes run with 24×7 security, CCTV and video surveillance, facial-recognition entry, digital door locks, power backup and an emergency response team, all listed in Colive’s 6S promise. [CONFIRM: Every Colive home in Bengaluru holds a current trade licence and fire safety clearance.] [CONFIRM: Residents can ask the property manager for a copy of the trade licence during a site visit.] When you visit a Colive home, run the same eight checks. You should get straight answers to every one.
Frequently asked questions
What are the new rules for PG accommodations in Bangalore?
A Karnataka High Court order dated 10 September 2026 requires every Bengaluru PG to hold a valid trade licence, run from a building approved for that use, give each resident at least 70 sq ft, meet fire and electrical safety standards, keep CCTV out of rooms and bathrooms, and get its staff police-verified.
Is it illegal to run a PG without a trade licence in Bangalore?
Yes. Authorities have been told to find every PG running without a licence, or with an expired one, and act through notices, sealing or closure. In September 2026, GBA told the court that about half of the roughly 5,000 PGs in Bengaluru East were operating illegally.
How much space should each person get in a Bangalore PG?
At least 70 square feet per occupant, which is about 7 ft by 10 ft. The number of beds also has to match the building’s sanctioned plan, and corridors, staircases, balconies and parking areas can’t be used as sleeping space.
Can a PG install CCTV cameras inside rooms?
No. The guidelines allow CCTV at entrances, exits and common corridors, with correct date and time stamps and power backup. Cameras are banned in bedrooms, bathrooms and toilets, and operators can’t photograph or share residents’ private activities.
What happens to my deposit if my PG is sealed?
Action is taken against the operator, not residents, and closure follows a notice process. Keep your agreement, rent receipts and deposit receipt, and ask the operator in writing when your deposit will be refunded. Don’t pay months of rent in advance while a notice is pending.
Which areas of Bengaluru had the most illegal PGs?
GBA’s inspection figures cover Bengaluru East, including Whitefield, Mahadevapura, KR Puram, Indiranagar and CV Raman Nagar, where about 2,500 of roughly 5,000 PGs were operating illegally. In Bengaluru North, 68 PGs were issued violation notices.
Do PG staff need police verification in Bengaluru?
Yes. The September 2026 guidelines require police verification for security guards, cooks and other PG staff. PGs also have to keep records of each resident’s ID, permanent address, emergency contact and check-in and check-out dates.
Does a trade licence mean the PG building is legal?
No. The High Court said a trade licence does not regularise unauthorised construction. The PG also has to run from a building whose sanctioned plan and zoning allow that use, so a licensed PG in an illegally extended building can still face action.
The bottom line
The order won’t shut PGs overnight. What it does is make enforcement continuous and put named officials on the hook, so the gap between PGs that follow the rules and PGs that don’t will only get wider. Twenty minutes of questions before you pay is the cheapest protection you’ve got. House-hunting in Whitefield, KR Puram or Indiranagar? Book a visit to a Colive home and ask to see the licence while you’re there.
