Housing society issue

The disputes of group housing societies are referred to Tribunals, We have to check which society your house belongs to and which tribunal has juridiction over it, whether a non member can initiate proceedings or not??

Under what law is your Society registered? In olden days when we were a socialist country in co-operative societies, tenements were intended for one's own use and giving it on rent was not allowed. Even now such laws exist. But if the lanlord or the Society goes to court to evict the tenant they will not succeed.

What a tenant pays monthly to the owner of the house or the Society has two components. One is rent which is fixed based on mutual agreement between the landlord and the tenant. The other is maintenance charges, which are paid for such services as sweeper, security guards, liftman if there is one, common electricity consumption charges, water charges and such other expenditures. Such payments by the tenants should match with the payments made by the Society. If the Society is a co-operative society, the liability to pay the maintenance charges will be on the owner of the house only and he can take it into consideration while fixing the rent. The tenant is concerned only with the agreed rent payable to the owner. If it is not a co-operative society things are a little complicated. For instance, if it is a condominium, the Society may charge on the  actual  resident of the house or on the owner only dependig on the bye-laws of the Society or its established policy. In any case the Society is bound to account for the amount collected for maintenance to the person from whom it is collected. For instance if you send a person to the market with cash to purchase a few things, on return from the market, that person has to render you acccount and return the balance amount, if any. It is as simple as that. If the tenant is paying direct to the Society, he can demand account for the expenditure and your proportionate share in it as per the byelaws. If what you had paid is more than what the expenditure was, the Society should either return the amount to you or credit it to your account for future expenditure. If the owner is paying to the Society and collecting it from you separate from the agreed fixed rent, the owner can ask the Society and you can in turn ask the owner to render account to you.

Is there a provision in your byelaws to cut off water or electricity to a member who defaults in payment?  There will not be. If they cut supply of utilities you can go to court and easily get an injunction against the Society. Criminal proceedings also may be possible.

Tenancy is not permitted,  cannot be a reason to collect more from the tenant. If they allow those who pay Rs.1500/- and  prevent those who do not pay, it will amount to discrimination and can be challenged in a court of law.

Under the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, 1960 a Society can collect more from a member, who has let out his flat. Ironically it is called Non-Occupancy Charges. It is nominal amount and limits are fixed by the Government.