Farmhouse Rules in Delhi (2026): LDRA, Plot Size and the Master Plan

Which master plan applies: 2021, 2041 or 2047?

Three names circulate and they are easy to confuse. The Master Plan for Delhi 2021 (MPD-2021) was the operative plan for years. A draft called MPD-2041 was released for objections in June 2021 and, in our research, was never notified under that name. In August 2026 the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) approved a Master Plan for Delhi 2047 (MPD-2047), and Business Standard reported on 20 August 2026 that it was notified that day as an extensive modification of MPD-2021.

We could not open the gazette itself. The DDA site blocks automated reading and the ministry file we found could not be confirmed as the right document. Everything below about MPD-2047 is therefore "reported" and not "read from the gazette". Read the gazette text yourself, or have your lawyer do so, before relying on any farmhouse figure. See our wider note on the Delhi master plan, farmhouses and the green belt and how to read a master plan.

The legal frame in plain terms

The Delhi Development Act, 1957 is the base. From the text in our legal library: section 7 requires DDA to prepare a master plan; section 11A lets the plan be modified (low density farmhouse policy has historically entered through such modifications); section 12 requires written permission from the Authority for development in a development area; section 14 prohibits use of land and buildings in contravention of the plans; sections 29 and 30 provide for penalties and for demolition. These were read from a mirror copy of the Act, not from India Code, which has no file attached for it.

The Delhi Land Reforms Act, 1954 is the second layer. It deals with who holds agricultural land and how it may be transferred. In the text we read, section 33 says a bhumidhar (the main category of land holder) cannot transfer land by sale or gift where the transferor would be left with less than eight standard acres, and section 45(1) says a transfer made in contravention of that chapter is void. A Revenue Department draft public notice of 2016 proposed deleting section 33, along with sections 81 and 82 on non-agricultural use. We could not confirm whether any of those proposals became law, so check the current text of the Act and any amendment before relying on section 33 either way. For the broader picture see agricultural land rules in Delhi.

Put simply, a farmhouse needs the land to be usable for that purpose under the plan and the land-holding rules to allow the sale that gave you title. Failing either, a registered sale deed does not cure the problem.

Low Density Residential Areas (LDRA)

LDRA is the route through which farmhouse-type plots have been recognised in certain villages. Our library records the Ministry of Urban Development notification of 18 June 2013 (cited in Delhi orders as S.O.1744) that modified the plan and declared LDRAs. We opened a Financial Commissioner, Delhi order of 15 December 2023. It records that "Low Density Residential Areas and Low Density Residential Plots were also allowed in villages falling in green belt" and, quoting a High Court judgment, that an area declared LDRA in urban extension "ceases to be a rural area and becomes part of urban area". It also records the view that such land "can no longer be said to be for agricultural purposes".

That last point matters to a buyer. Once a village is inside the LDRA framework, the land-reform assumptions that apply to rural agricultural land may not apply in the same way, and the planning rules become the main control. The order does not give plot sizes, coverage or any farmhouse norm. For a village-by-village explanation, use our LDRA explainer.

What we could not confirm: the exact list of LDRA villages, and the current plot-size and floor-area rules for them. Whether a given village is on the list must be checked against the notification annexure and DDA records.

Plot size: 1 acre or 2.5 acres?

This is where the confusion is greatest. Business Standard reported on 20 August 2026 that, under the notified plan, farmhouses cannot be built in low-density development zones on plots smaller than 2.5 acres (about 10,000 sq m), that internal roads in such zones are 18 metres and master trunk roads have a 45 metre right of way, and that smaller plots keep the floor area ratio of a 2.5-acre plot. The same report quotes an industry source saying the one-acre norm in the DDA-approved draft is absent from the gazette. It also reports that the Green Development Area policy was dropped.

We treat these as reported figures, not confirmed law. If correct, a one-acre plot that was marketed on the strength of the draft would not qualify for fresh farmhouse sanction. Existing farmhouses are a separate question: nothing we found makes them illegal by itself, and their position runs through sanction, regularisation and enforcement.

Figures such as coverage, height and setbacks appear on private advisory websites, but those sites disagree with each other and are not government sources. We do not print them. See minimum land for a farmhouse by state for the cross-state picture and farmhouse construction norms for what to ask for in an approval.

Green belt, floodplain and village land

Three overlays can sink a farmhouse plan even where the plot size looks fine.

• Green belt. The Financial Commissioner order above confirms that LDRA plots have been allowed in some green belt villages, so green belt alone is not an absolute bar. We could not confirm how the notified MPD-2047 treats green belt land.
• Yamuna floodplain (O-zone). Press coverage of the plan says the core floodplain allows no concrete structures and the rest recreational use only. Read Yamuna floodplain land restrictions before you look at plots near the river.
• Lal dora and abadi. Village habitation land is treated differently from agricultural land. Rules inside and on the edge of lal dora are not confirmed in the plan text we could reach. See lal dora and abadi land and land use change in Delhi.

Land pooling is a further factor in the urban extension villages. Where DDA has notified a village as a development area, your title may be drawn into a pooling scheme. Our guide to DDA land pooling sets this out.

How to check a specific plot, step by step

1. Get the revenue record. Ask for the khasra number, the village and the current record of rights, then confirm the seller's name matches. Our Delhi land records guide shows where.
2. Find the land use on the DDA map. DDA was reported in late September 2026 to have put a plot-level land-use map online. We could not find the direct address, so start from the DDA website and look for the Master Plan for Delhi 2047 section. The map was described as indicative, so treat it as a first screen only.
3. Confirm whether the village is an LDRA village or a development area village in writing from DDA or the Delhi revenue authorities.
4. Check plot area and road width against the reported 10,000 sq m and 18 m norms, and ask for the gazette clause that says so.
5. Check holding limits. Ask your lawyer whether the sale leaves the seller with less than eight standard acres and whether section 33 of the Land Reforms Act is in force in the form you were shown.
6. Check overlays: Yamuna floodplain, Ridge or forest, pooling notifications, unauthorised colony lists.
7. Look at what is already built. Ask for sanction, completion and regularisation papers, not just electricity bills.

Follow with the full land due diligence checklist and a title search.

Who can buy, and other limits

A buyer who is a resident Indian citizen faces the land-holding and plan rules above. NRIs and OCIs face an extra limit: the Foreign Exchange Management (Non-debt Instruments) Rules, 2019, rule 24, as read in our library, allow them to acquire immovable property other than agricultural land, farm house or plantation property. Inheritance is treated differently. See can NRIs buy agricultural land and NRI farmhouse buying.

Buying through another person's name to get around a restriction is a legal trap in its own right; read the Benami Act and land. Power of attorney sales do not transfer title; read GPA land sales risk. Delhi circle rates for stamp duty are covered at circle rate lookup Delhi.

What is unconfirmed

We could not confirm: the MPD-2047 gazette number, text and farmhouse clause; the LDRA village list and current LDRA plot rules; whether sections 33, 81 and 82 of the Delhi Land Reforms Act were amended after the 2016 draft; any fee or timeline for a farmhouse sanction in Delhi; and the direct address of DDA's land-use map. Where a figure appears here it is marked as reported, and its source is listed below.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources

• Business Standard: Delhi Master Plan 2047 report (20 August 2026)
• Office of the Financial Commissioner, Delhi: order of 15 December 2023 on LDRA and green belt
• Delhi Revenue Department: draft amendment notice, Delhi Land Reforms Act, 1954 (2016)
• India Code: Delhi Land Reforms Act, 1954
• Delhi Development Authority (home page; gazette file blocked to automated reading)