Vilva Sabarikanth (President) 11 November 2013

Maintenance amount collection

Respected Sirs & Madams,

We are running the owner's welfare association(Registered) for our apartment and managing the day-to-day activities and some improvements.

In one of the meetings, the question has been raised in Maintenance Charges & Capex Amount for the 2BHK and 3 BHK houses.

Just to give a quick background, we recently implemented the Water Meters in our apartment and segregated the water expenses from the general maintenance. So people have questioned:

1. Why should we have the per sq.ft based charges for the general maintenance, as all the houses are using the same amenities and there is no difference between a 2 BHK and 3 BHK? The general maintenance should be shared equally by all the apartments right?

2. Should the CAPEX money be collected equally for a 2 BHK & 3 BHK house or it should be based on per sq.ft charges, as the CAPEX will act as a buffer to suffice our general maintenance?

We couldn't take up any immediate decisions on this front. So we are still continuing the same way how we were doing it (per sq.ft based charges) though the water charges are removed from general maintenance.

Your valuable suggestions & decisions will help us in resolving any consensus raised related to this.

Thanks,
Vilva Sabarikanth

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2 Replies

BAALASUBRAMANNYAMM (Advocate) 11 November 2013

Your doubt is right. If the apartment is a recidentaial apartment, there should be no meaning of collecting charges as per Square feet wise. So there should be a universal one in collecting maintenance amount. It is only object of the Association, only to see the welfare of the building and to maintain the building properly. It should be depend upon the acceptance of the other residents too, not only decision of the Association.

If it is a commercial complex, there should be a meaning of collecting maintenance on square feet basis.

T. Kalaiselvan, Advocate (Advocate) 12 November 2013

I agree with Mr. Baala, the sq.ft based maintenance charges is unjustified. If at all you find the funds are insufficient for maintenance augment the same through other sources so that there is no partiality shown to any sect of the residents in the same building. The association should work for the welfare of the entire occupants in general and should not burden any separate entity for some traditional reasons.