Housing society
pawan
(Querist) 06 July 2012
This query is : Resolved
dear sir / madam
my society has decided to go for exterior repairs and colour of building. each flat's contribution is final for 30,000. most of members are from lower middle class group. so it is decided to pay 5000 X 6 mnts. secretry promised to start the work from may 2012, bt till date no outcome. so members had stop doing payment. now secretry is forcing to pay 10% interest as penalty on total amt. is this type of penalty is legal? if yes then 10% interest is allowed? your expertise required.
thanks and regards
pawan santoshi.
-----------------------------------------------------
thanks a ton to all for your valuable advices....
as per above query
now every member is ready to pay,,,,bt secretry is charging 10% interest on 5000 for every month. now we want to know that secretary is legally liable to chare the 10% interest monthly.
adv. rajeev ( rajoo )
(Expert) 06 July 2012
It is an illegal act of the secretary. Is there any agreement between the members and the society in respect of paying interest? You can lodge a complaint before the Asst., Registrar of co-operative societies regarding claiming of illegal interest and you all can issue legal notice to the society for illegal act.
Sudhir Kumar, Advocate
(Expert) 06 July 2012
The Secretary must of having some justifiable reasons fro delay. That certainly does not mean that members should stop paying. If the civil work has not commenced that certainly does not mean that expenditure has not commenced.
The action of the members may not be legal.
ajay sethi
(Expert) 06 July 2012
the contribution payable by members must have been decided in AGM .
it must have beend ecided that rs 5000 be paid per moth . resolution must have been passed after voting .
if members dont pay how will society carry out repairs . ?
society can charge interest of 21%pa on outstanding dues . interest charged by society is reasonable . pay the repair charges
girish shringi
(Expert) 06 July 2012
My senior advocate Mr. Sethi has rightly advised.
However in this case the work has not been started,so question of interest does not exists.
Usually society means co.-operative where members are co-opeating each other and decisions are made by majority and not by any authority unilaterlay.
Sudhir Kumar, Advocate
(Expert) 07 July 2012
Startingor work and starting of expenditure are two different things. expenditure commences much beofrre physicall arrivalof labour. Even taking estimates and quotations costs money.
vswaminathan
(Expert) 07 July 2012
The discussion, it appears, has proceeded on the premise that the 'society' is one duly formed and registered in accordance with the special State enactment applicable to "Flats". In case it is not 'Flat' but 'Apartment', then a separate/distinct enactment applies. For a better appreciation,anyone really concerned/interested may look up for inputs in public interest, in the related Blogs @vswaminathan-swamilook.blogspot.com.
It should be of interest and useful guidance to look up the reply by Anup Shah, a known property law expert,on a like point, in his column - Legal Eagle in the TOI Supplement, Issue of June 22, 2012.
