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Street Line Certificate Sri Lanka: Checker and Guide

Find out whether your transaction needs a street line and non-vesting certificate, who issues it, what documents and fee it takes, and how many square metres and perches a declared street line takes off the land you can build on. Free, no signup, every regulation quoted.

By Induwara AshinsanaUpdated Oct 4, 2026
Check your street line certificateUDA regulations and CMC procedure
Verified 2026-10-04

The certificate is a hard requirement for some of these and a lender or buyer requirement for the rest.

Which kind of local authority the land sits in. This decides who issues the certificate.

Colombo MC is the only authority whose street line fee sheet is published. Pick the other option for everywhere else.

Read only for the published floor area ratio (2.00) and plot coverage cap (60%), so the page can show what the street line costs you in floor area.

The extent on your survey plan or deed. Units convert exactly, so switch freely.

m

Length of the plot boundary that runs along the road. The street line strip is this long.

m

The lane or road as it is on the ground today, measured boundary to boundary.

The widening is shared, so half of it is taken from this plot and half from the plot opposite.

m

The future road width the authority has sanctioned. Taken from an earlier certificate or the planning counter.

Common plot sizes
Required

Yes. You need a street line certificate before the authority will process your building permit.

The building application form asks whether the land is affected by any street line, and the authority answers that question by issuing the certificate. No permit is processed with that box blank.(Schedule 1, Form q. 5.10)

Who issues it
Colombo Municipal Council, City Planning Division, Colombo 07. Address the application to the Director, City Planning Division. CMC has processed development applications under delegated UDA authority since 01.02.2017.
Inside the street line
18 m²
0.71 perch taken from this plot
Net extent (reg 47)
361.39 m²
14.29 perch counts for floor area
Access road width
9 m
Street line width, reg 49(1)
Floor area lost
36 m²
At the zone's FAR of 2.00

What the street line costs you

MeasureOn gross extentOn net extentLost
Plot extentReg 47379.39 m²361.39 m²18 m²
Permissible floor area at FAR 2.00Reg 47758.79 m²722.79 m²36 m²
Max ground footprint at 60% coverageSchedule 1, Form q. 6.4227.64 m²216.84 m²10.8 m²

The declared street line width is the access road width for the permissible floor area, even though the road on the ground is narrower.

Certificate fee

Rs 3,500

Item 1 of the CMC City Planning Division charges sheet: one figure covering the application fee and the processing fee together.

Item 1 is the only charge on that sheet with no “+ VAT + NBT” marking, so nothing is added here. The sheet carries no date, and the application form's cash box still prints a VAT line, so confirm the figure at the counter before you pay.

CMC published charges sheet

Documents to take with you

0 of 3 always-needed items ready

This is the Colombo MC check list. Other authorities ask for the same documents in practice, but confirm at the counter: a council can add its own.

Cross-checked two ways. The net extent computed in metres agrees with the same figure computed through perches to within 0 m², and the floor area lost recomputed as the strip times the floor area ratio matches the gross-minus-net difference, which it only does if the floor area is wired to the net extent as regulation 47 requires.

Sources cited:CMC City Planning charges sheetCMC street line check listCMC application formUDA Planning and Development Regulations, regulations 19, 47, 49 and 50

This tool explains the geometry and the procedure. It does not hold the street line register, so it cannot tell you whether your particular road carries a declared street line. Only your local authority can.

How it works

Two sources do the work. The geometry comes from the Urban Development Authority's Planning and Development Regulations under the UDA Law No. 41 of 1978, every clause read against the consolidated English text on 2026-10-04. The procedure and the fee come from Colombo Municipal Council's City Planning Division, which has issued these certificates under delegated UDA powers since 1 February 2017.

A street line is a line defined on one or both sides of an existing street to show its future width. It is the road the state intends to have, not the road you can see. The certificate exists because the building application form asks, at question 5.10, “Is it affected by any street line?”, and only the authority holding the register can answer.

The four calculations

  1. Which side the widening comes from. Regulation 19(2): widening is made equally on either side from the centre line of the road. So a line declared on both sides takes a strip (street line width − existing road width) ÷ 2 deep off your plot. Declared on your side only, the whole widening falls on you. Declared opposite only, or nowhere, nothing is taken.
  2. How much land that is. The strip runs along the frontage, so it is frontage × setback depth square metres. Perch conversions use the exact Survey Department factor of 25.29285264 m² per perch.
  3. What is left to build on.Regulation 47: the extent of the plot, excluding the portion inside the street line, counts for the permissible floor area. Plot coverage is measured the same way, per application form question 6.4: site area “excluding area within Street Line”. So the street line costs you floor area equal to the strip times your zone's ratio.
  4. Which road width the calculation uses. Regulation 49(1): the street line width is taken as the access road width, and the existing physical width only where no street line applies. This is the part most buyers get backwards: a 6 m lane carrying a 9 m street line is a 9 m road for planning, which can lift the plot into a better band even as the strip takes land away.

One obligation sits outside the arithmetic. Regulation 50 applies where the existing road is 6.0 m and the street line is marked on a single side only: the owner of the plot opposite must award the authority half the compensation value of the other side for the same frontage. No rate is published, so the checker raises it and stops. Two further clauses matter: regulation 19(2) requires the strip to be conveyed to the authority without payment on Form D, and regulation 58(3) lets the authority treat the full street line width as the physical road width where the owner formally renounces that strip.

The non-vesting certificate is the companion document, and here the sources are thinner. No statute reachable for this build names it, so this page prints no section number. The regulations do establish why it is asked: a public street is one vested in a relevant institution by operation of law, and the street line strip is conveyed to the authority. A lender wants it in writing that neither has happened to your plot yet.

Worked examples

15 perches in Colombo 05, 9 m street line on both sides

12.0 m frontage on a 6.0 m lane, Secondary Residential (FAR 2.0)

  1. Extent: 15 × 25.29285264 = 379.3927896 m²
  2. Setback (reg 19(2), both sides): (9.0 − 6.0) ÷ 2 = 1.5 m
  3. Strip inside the street line: 12.0 × 1.5 = 18.0 m²
  4. In perches: 18.0 ÷ 25.29285264 = 0.7117 perch
  5. Net extent (reg 47): 379.3927896 − 18.0 = 361.3927896 m² = 14.2883 perch
  6. Access road width (reg 49(1)): 9.0 m, the street line, not the 6.0 m lane
  7. Floor area on gross extent: 379.3927896 × 2.0 = 758.79 m²
  8. Floor area on net extent: 361.3927896 × 2.0 = 722.79 m²
  9. Floor area lost: 36.0 m², exactly the strip times the ratio
  10. Regulation 50: does not apply, the line is on both sides
  11. CMC fee: Rs 3,500

10 perches, street line on the opposite side only

9.0 m frontage on a 6.0 m road, 9 m street line, FAR 2.0

  1. Extent: 10 × 25.29285264 = 252.9285264 m²
  2. Setback: 0 m, the widening falls on the plot opposite
  3. Strip: 9.0 × 0 = 0.0 m², so nothing is lost
  4. Net extent: 252.9285264 m², the full 10 perches
  5. Access road width (reg 49(1)): 9.0 m, the street line width
  6. Floor area: 505.86 m² either way, nothing lost
  7. Regulation 50: APPLIES. The road is 6.0 m and the line is on one side only, so this owner must award half the compensation value of the other side for the same 9.0 m of frontage to the authority

The case that proves the tool reads the regulations instead of subtracting a setback reflexively. The plot loses no land, gains the wider road band, and still carries a cash obligation.

Edge case: the strip is deeper than the plot

2 perches, 40.0 m frontage on a 6.0 m road, 20 m street line on my side only

  1. Extent: 2 × 25.29285264 = 50.58570528 m²
  2. Setback (my side only): 20.0 − 6.0 = 14.0 m
  3. Strip by the formula: 40.0 × 14.0 = 560.0 m²
  4. Average plot depth: 50.58570528 ÷ 40.0 = 1.26 m, far less than 14.0 m
  5. Loss reported: capped at 50.58570528 m², the whole plot
  6. Net extent: 0.0 m², and the checker says so instead of printing a 560 m² loss on a 50.6 m² plot
  7. A warning names the frontage and extent to re-check against the survey plan

Arithmetic that is correct in isolation can still be nonsense. A strip cannot be larger than the land it is cut from, so the loss is capped at the extent and the inconsistency is surfaced rather than swallowed.

What a street line certificate application takes

The seven items on the Colombo MC City Planning Division check list, verbatim, plus the owner's consent letter the application form itself asks for. Other authorities ask for the same set in practice, and a council may add to it.

  1. Duly filled applicationBlock letters, signed by the applicant, addressed to the Director, City Planning Division.
  2. Three copies of the survey plan, at scale 1:1000 or one chain to an inch, the same size as the original survey plan
  3. A clarification letter from the Municipal Assessor's Department, if the assessment number on the survey plan does not tally with the number on the application
  4. Copy of any earlier approved sub-division or amalgamation, if available
  5. Copy of any earlier issued street line certificate, if available
  6. Photocopy of the NIC of the owner or applicant
  7. Photocopy of the NIC of the authorised person, if the owner is not the applicant
  8. Owner's consent letter, where the applicant is not the ownerAsked for at item 07(ii) of the CMC application form rather than on the check list sheet.

The regulations this page quotes

ClauseWhat it governs
InterpretationWhat a street line is““Street Line” means a line or lines defined on one or both sides of any existing street, to show its future width or to show the width of a future street as sanctioned by the Relevant Authority or Relevant Institution.”
InterpretationWhy vesting is a question at all““Public Street” means any street over which the public have a right of way and has become vested in a relevant Institute under any Law or by operation of any Law and includes the drain or footway attached thereto.”
Reg 19(1)Sub-division where no street line applies“Where Street Lines are not applicable for any access road of a land sub division shall be made considering the existing physical width of such road.”
Reg 19(2)Which side the widening is taken from, and who gets the strip“Where a land contains access by a road with a Street Line, the number of Lots in a sub-division of such land shall be decided on the basis of width of the Street Line of the road. Widening of such Street Line shall be made equally on either side from the centre line of such road and the land subjected to widening of such road shall be bequeathed to the Relevant Authority without any monetary consideration by a deed of conveyance or transfer for the purpose of widening of the road in accordance with the Form “D” as set out in Schedule 1.”
Reg 47The extent that counts for permissible floor area“The extent of the land plot, excluding the portion that falls within the Street Line/s shall be considered for the purpose of computing as the Permissible Floor Area for the Development Activity.”
Reg 49(1)Which road width the floor area calculation uses“The width of the Street Line shall be considered as the width of the access road for the purpose of calculation of the Permissible Floor Area, where there is no Street Line which is applicable for a road, the existing physical width of the road from which the land has right of way, shall be considered for the same.”
Reg 50The payment owed by the owner opposite a one-sided street line“Where the existing road width is 6.0m and the Street Line/ Proposed Road Width is demarcated /marked only on a single side of the Access Road, the land owner occupying the opposite plot is required to award ½ of the compensation value of the other side for the same frontage to the Relevant Authority in order to derive a tangible benefit from the development.”
Reg 58(3)Renouncing the strip to get the full width counted“Where the owner agrees to renounce any land which falls within the Street Line, by the execution of an appropriate legal instrument to the Relevant Authority, as the case may be, the Relevant Authority may consider the full width of the Street Line as the physical width of the road in order to determine the access road to a development site.”
Reg 59(b)What you may not build into“No part of any Building or a fixture shall project into a Street Line or acquisition line as indicated in relevant documents or plan approved by the Relevant Authority.”
Schedule 1, Form q. 5.10Why the certificate exists“Is it affected by any street line? Yes /No”
Schedule 1, Form q. 6.4Plot coverage is measured on the net extent too“Plot Coverage (area covered by the building / site area (excluding area within Street Line))”

Quoted from the consolidated English text of the UDA Planning and Development Regulations and from the Schedule 1 building application form, read on 2026-10-04.

Frequently asked questions

Sources & references

The regulations, the fee and the check list were last read against these sources on 2026-10-04. The Colombo MC charges sheet carries no date of its own, so the Rs 3,500 is presented as that council's published figure rather than as a gazetted rate. Fees outside Colombo are set by each authority's own by-law and are not published nationally, so this page states that instead of filling a table with guesses. Nothing here is legal advice: for a specific plot, the certificate and a lawyer are the answer.

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Comments & feedback

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