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Issuing Certificate of Street Lines Building Lines
1. Introduction.
(a) Street Line Limit
i. In the event that the Local Authority has decided to widen certain roads within its limits in a way that is convenient for traffic, the Local Authority should decide on the amount of land to be annexed to the respective roads from the lands located on both sides of the roads by marking on the survey plan depicting parts of the administrative limits of the Local Authority on which marked those roads, the area expected to be widened in the future and should publish a notice thereon in the gazette and newspapers. After making the decision, the lines marked on the relevant survey plan shall be deemed to be the lines of the street. The portion of land from the center of a road having a specified street line to the street line will be subject to acquisition by the local authority at some future date. For this reason, no construction will be allowed in this area.
ii. At present street lines in Sri Lanka are specified only by the Municipal Councils of Colombo and Dehiwala – Mount Lavinia Other local authorities have not defined the street lines so far.
(b) Building Lines
i Local authorities will not permit any construction within a specified distance equally on either side from the center line of such road situated within its administrative limits. This limit is known as building limit. The building limit within the limits of a Urban Council and a Pradeshiya Sabha is twenty-five feet (7.62 m) on either side of the center line of the road.
ii. In respect of a road belonging to any other authority, in case the building limit is not demarcated by that authority, the aforesaid limit shall apply to every existing and proposed road within the limits of the local authority.
iii. Likewise, in relation to an urban development area, the Minister in charge of the subject under the powers vested in him under the Urban Development Authority Act, No. 41 of 1978, has demarcated building limits in relation to the roads situated within the parts to which the development plan of that area applies.
iv. Furthermore, building limits have been specified by the Road Development Authority in relation to the roads belonging to the Authority, and by the Provincial Road Development Authority in relation to the roads in any province belonging to the Provincial Road Development Authority.
(c) Certificate of Street Lines and Building Lines
i. A certificate of street lines cannot be presented in a form of a letter. This certificate should be issued by marking the relevant street line on the survey plan of the land, while taking into consideration the scale of the survey plan on which the street lines are marked and the scale of the survey plan of the land in question.
ii. How far the building line is from the center line of the road can be notified in a letter.
iii. In the case of a local authority where street lines have not been demarcated, a letter should be issued indicating that street lines have not been specified and that how far the extent of the building limit is.
iv. Until the street lines are demarcated, both these certificates can be issued by way of a letter, and for that, Annexure No. 01 herein can be used.
(d) Requirement of Street Lines and Building Lines Certificate
As a result of the fact that a street line has been demarcated, the financial value of the parts which are compulsorily excluded from the land on a certain date is treated as zero in calculating the financial value of that land. In calculating the value of the parts of land coming under the building limits where no construction is allowed, the commercial value of that portion of land will be calculated less than the value of the portion of land where construction is allowed. Accordingly, when a person makes an application to get a loan from a commercial bank or any other financial institution by pledging a land or a building, the financial institute will take these lines into account in calculating the amount of loan that can be granted. For the purpose, the commercial bank or the financial institution requires the loan applicant to submit the necessary street line and building line certificates from the relevant authorities.
2. Applicable Legislation
(a) Street line:
i. Section 69 of the Municipal Council Ordinance (Chapter 252);
ii. Section 19 of the Housing and Town Improvement Ordinance (Chapter 268) and Regulation No. 8 of the Regulations made thereunder.
(b) Building Limit:
i. Section 74 (1) (a) of the Urban Council Ordinance, (Chapter 255);
ii. Section 49 of the Pradeshiya Sabha Act No. 15 of 1987.
iii. The limit demarcated in the development plan approved and published by the Minister in respect of any urban development area under the Urban Development Authority Act, No. 41 of 1978;
iv. The building limit demarcated and published by the Road Development Authority in respect of the roads belonging to that Authority;
v. The building limit demarcated and published by the Provincial Road Development Authority in respect of the roads belonging to that Provincial Authority.
3. Eligibility
Any person who is desirous of applying for a loan from a commercial bank or any other financial institution or getting the real market value of his land assessed, may apply for these certificates.
4. Fees
(a) Application fee as may be determined and prescribed by the local authority from time to time.
(b) Certificate issuing fee
Note: 1. No application fee should be levied for application obtained online.
2. A reasonable fee should be levied for issuing certificates.
5. Documents to be submitted
(a) Application prepared as per the Specimen in Annexure 02 hereof
(b) A copy of the survey plan (approval for the survey plan will not be taken into consideration only for the purpose of issuing this certificate)
(c) A certified copy of the National Identity Card of the applicant
(d) When the applicant is not the owner of the land, a consent letter from the owner of the land
6. Procedure
| Procedure | Duration | Responsibility |
| Obtain the application (From the Front Office or the Website of the Local Authority) | Applicant | |
| Receive perfected application and a copy of survey plan of the land | Officer of Front Office | |
| Identify roads bounded to the land with the help of the survey plan and by enquiring the applicant/if failed seek assistance of Technical Officer. | At the time of receiving application | Officer of Front Office/ Technical Officer |
| Check whether any amount is due to the local authority in respect of the property and charge the dues if any, and certificate issuing fee and issue receipt. | At the time of receiving application | Officer of Front Office |
| Issue Street line / Building line Certificate | 1. if street lines are demarcated, within three days from the day application received. 2. if street lines are not demarcated, on the day application received, itself. | 1. Head of Engineering Division 2. Officer of Front Office |
Note: 1. When the applicant is not the owner of the property, it is mandatory that the consent regarding the issuance of the relevant certificate to the applicant has been expressed in paragraph 7 of the application form in Annexure 02.
2. If the local authority has specified the street lines, the street line should be depicted on the survey plan submitted and handover the same and the letter in Annexure 01 should also be issued indicating the building lines.
3. When the street lines are not specified, the letter in Annexure 01 should be issued indicating that no street lines are demarcated and what the building lines are.