UNDIVIDED SHARE

Undivided Share of Land (UDS) is the share of land owned by you when you purchase a property. Basically, when you buy a flat or an apartment, you are buying two things, the constructed area where you actuall reside, and the proportionate share on the land where the whole property is built. 

UDS is the part of the land which is associated to an individual apartment and registered in the name of the apartment’s owner(s). This share of land has no specific boundaries within the total extent of the land on which the apartment complex is built. The sum of all UDS will be equal to the total land area of the apartment complex.

UDS is usually calculated as the percentage of the apartment’s super built-up area to the total super built-up area of all apartments as hereunder: UDS = Individual apartment’s super built-up area / Sum of all apartments’ super builtup are X total land area.

Example 1: Assuming a complex of four apartments of equal sizes, of say 900 Sqft, on one ground (2400 Sqft) of land. UDS = 900 / (900+900+900+900) X 2400 = 600 Sq.ft In this case, the UDS of each apartment is 600 Sqft

Example 2: If the four apartments were of different sizes, say 700 Sqft, 800Sqft, 900 Sqft and 1200 sqft, then the UDS of each apartment would be UDS 1 = 700 /(700 + 800 + 900 + 1200) X 2400 = 466.67 sqft UDS 2 = 800 /(700 + 800 + 900 + 1200) X 2400 = 533.33 sqft UDS 3 = 900 /(700 + 800 + 900 + 1200) X 2400 = 600 sqft UDS 4 = 1200 /(700 + 800 + 900 + 1200) X 2400 = 800 sqft

As the apartment ages, the building component depreciates in value, but the UDS component appreciates in value. So, the more the UDS, the better the deal. Buyers are sometime tempted to accept a lower share of land since stamp duty and registration charges can be reduced thereby saving money. But the implications of this are many. After a period of about 20 or 30 years when the building is demolished either out of compulsion or for re-development, the owners will have fewer shares than what is due to them. The compensation they receive will be reduced since it will be based on the extent of the UDS they hold.