Non-Occupancy charge of flat in cooperative housing society

We have given property on leave and license in July 2010.At that time society asked us to pay Non Occupancy Charges at 10% of annual rent receivable and 1% of deposit taken.

 

At that time we were not aware of NOC circular issued by Maharashtra state govt. hence we made the payment as per society's letter.

 

Now we came to know that NOC should be 10% of Maintenance charges (excluding Municipal Charges) so we written letter to them to correct the NOC charges from beginning to October 11. Charged by them illegally, and also requested them to stop charging us excess NOC charges from November 11, and refund us our excess money.

 

But we have not received any reply of our letter, so we send them 2nd reminder but up till now we have not received any reply.

 

Now what should we do? Can NOC charged by society is as per law? and if not where should we make complaint against the society? and also what future action we have to take to get our excess money back lying with society.

1.  Non-Occupancy charges is   "FIXED"    at 10% of the society maintentance charges (excluding ALL statutory taxes i.e. BMC Taxes and so on).   There is no such thing as "minimum or maximum or more or less"  of non-occupancy charges  .AND.  neither the society can levy anything beyond 10% as non-occupancy charges and neither the society can levy less than 10% as non-occupancy charges.

2.  IF the society is charging more than 10% non-occupancy charges THEN THE REMEDY IS :
a)  Make a written petition to the area ward deputy registrar, and pray that the society may be directed to refund the excess charges alongwith with interest  .AND. further pray that the managing committee may be penalized  for abuse of power and harassment.
ADDITIONALLY ALONGWITH ABOVE ,
b)  Make a complaint to the local Consumer Court, alleging "deliberate negligence and deficiency in services"  .AND.  for abuse of power and harassment by the society managing committee and pray for compensation for causing mental and physical trauma.
MORE ADDITONALLY ALONGWITH ABOVE,
c)  File a written police complant  .AND / OR.  lodge a crinminal case with the local metropolitian magistrate court, against the society managing committee for "deliberate and malicious harrassment"  .AND. for  "criminal intimidation & threat"  to you and to your family members.
(follow due documentary procedures, before initiating above legal actions)

NORMALLY,  the above is more than sufficient to acheive your purposes,  UNLESS AND UNTIL the society's  nefarious managing committee members are retarded hardcore fanatic's and are prone to having their Patiala Pegs of the local daru 24x7 X 365.

HOWEVER,  "in the reverse sequence of events" as above, IF the aggrieved member / person does not have enough financial & mental courage to initiate the above, THEN of course the aggrieved member can always seek solace with his own Patiala Pegs, sitting in his balcony.

Keep Smiling .... Hemant Agarwal

Hello Sir,

 

I own a flat in Santacruz East. And I have rented this flat out. We have completed the stampduty registration for leave and license and also police verification formalities. However, when I went to submit all these documents to society office, they refused to accept and asked for a donation of 5000 Rs. I refused to pay that amount and was threatened by the secretary of society of the action against my subletting of flat. I spoke to chairman of society and she said that it was passed as resolution in annual general body meeting and hence the member who is subletting will have to pay 5000 Rs as donation every 11 months. The reason given for such collection is that in case the rented flat tenant creates any nuisance then the members have to pay for it. So this money is used for such purpose. The total monthly maintenance charge is 640 rs. She said that look at it this way: 10% (nonoccupancy percentage) of 640 rs (maintenance charge) comes to 64 Rs. Which is not sufficient. And people who have rented their flats earn so much money out of rents. So, it should not be too much for them to pay 455 Rs. Per month, which comes to 5005 rs for 11 months. And instead of paying monthly you pay it as yearly, in form of donation. Again, as per the monthly calculation, 455 rs per month is approx. 71% of 640 total maintenance charge.

I need help to understand whether them charging 5000Rs per year as donation for renting my ownership flat is right? If not then what action can I take against the society?

 

Habib Khan

Mr Agarwal,

Thanks alot for the 100% clear reply..but i have a few doubts..

1) the judgement of the hon'ble HIGH COURT, gave interim relief to the petioners for a period of 8 weeks and which was further extended by the APEX COURT till date..soo would this judgement still be enforcable?

2) Many socities are levying 10% of rent/licensee amount from flat owners on account of non occupancy charges by saying "that the HIGH COURT and the HON'BLE SUPREME COURT has given a interim relief by the virtue of which they can now simply pass a resolution in the special general body meeting of the society and levy 10% of rent, and they also claim that as the said society is a petioner in the appeal filed in front of the APEX COURT so they can levy 10% NOC of RENT"

 

i request to know from you sir that as the HON'BLE HIGH COURT gave the ruling on the matter on 2.03.2007 and also the interim relief to the petioner then..soo is the society correct in changing the rate of NOC after 6-7 months that is october november 2007 by claiming to be a petioner in a sub judice matter and having the rightfull right of increasing its NOC charges by virtue of the INTERIM RELIEF given till the final orders??

Hi Hemant

One query..I have my flat locked..it is not rented. in my apartment complex, water is bought from outside..which comes to a big amount in the maintenance charges per month.

I am ready to pay the common charges like Lift, common area elec,other maintenance etc...But the association is asking me for full maintenance amount including water charges. Do I have pay that?

 

If a Flat is not occupied, only a nominal charge has to be collected I believe. Please clarify

 

Thanks

Srini

1.  Water charges are under the defination of Common Amenities and would be billed irrespective of whether the member occupies the flat or keeps it closed.  Supply of water is essentially under the Essential Services and hence cannot be discontinued or stopped or started again repeatedly by the society and neither it is the business of the society to keep on their toes for the likings of individual members needs.

2.  However if you have a seperate water meter for your flat (usually located in the buildings terrace area),  then the society would bill you as per the water-meter-readings.  A disputant member may apply to the society and the civic dept., to install a "SEPERATE"  "let-down water-meter" for your individual flat and then you would be billed according to this let-down water-meter.  All expenses for this meter plus seperate water  pipe-line from the main over-head tank, will have to be borne by the individual member. A seperate court order also can be obtained for the same, if the society refuses to heed to your request.

3.  It is immaterial whether the flat is occupied or kept closed,  All common amenity charges of the society will have to be borne in equal proposition by each member.

4.  However the same would not be applicable, if you have your own bungalow in your farm.

Keep Smiling .... Hemant Agarwal

Dear Hemant Sir,

Could you please clarify the following? If an office is in an individual name and is being used by a partnership firm, where all the partners are family members (brother, son) of the owner, can the Society charge non-occupancy charges? No rent is being charged from the firm and the owner also visits the office regularly. The partnership firm is not a separate entiy from its partners and as all of them are family members are non-occupancy charges valid?

Thanks and best regards,
Suneet

for:  "Suneet Gupta"

 

1.  When you use the word "offfice", it would imply that the said premises is a "commercial premises"  AND NOT a "Housing premises".

2.  A "partnership firm", is by no way any relation (individual person) and lawfully the "partnership firm" shall be treated as a "juristic person" AND such "juristic person"  cannot be said to have family members (sister, brother, son and so on).

3.  A "partnership firm",  running from an individuals office, wherein the individual is not a owner/partner of the "partnership firm" is an alien to the Society AND hence non-occupancy charges would be applicable for the office.  However IF the individual is a  "owner/partner" of this "partnership firm", THEN non-occupancy charges would  .NOT.  be leviable, since it would clearly come under  "self-usage" irrespective of the fact that the office is being used jointly / collectively by other partners.

4.  It is immaterial whether the  "individual office-owner"  is charging rent to the partnership firm, meaning that even if the "individual office-owner" does not charge anything from the alien "partnership firm" THEN too the "individual office-owner" is liable to pay "non-occupancy charges" to the society.  The chief-criteria here would be that the "individual office-owner" should be a partner in the "partnership firm", to be out of the defination or perview to pay the "non-occupancy charges" to the society.

Keep Smiling .... Hemant Agarwal

Dear Sir,

Thanks for your quick and lucid reply. This clarifies the issue.

Thanks and best regards,
Suneet

Dear Sir,

I have been staying in a flat in pune as a tenant for the last three years,was paying society maintenance charges of 500,which was same with all owners who are staying here,they said the society maintenance have increased,so i beleived them,and started paying 650 monthly,and again recently they scoiety charges increased by 100 rupees.When i enquired i came to know that owners are paying 500 curently,almost 150 rupees less what we tenant are paying.

My quiry is why this difference in payment,is there any law which govern this?or society  can do it on there will,and owners can pass on there overheads expenses on the tenants,and we end up paying more and they save money.

is this related to non occpancy charges?pls explain me.

Regards,

Bikiran,

Dear friends,

 

Anyone having format of the complaint to the registrar plz share

Thanks in advance

Non occupancy charges cannot be more than 10% of service charges ( excluding property tax ) and what is included in service charges is specified in bye laws ( 13 items ), but the method of calculation is not clear e.g which of the following option is correct method a) The amount of services charges as per 13 matters included in the service charges as per bye law no 68 is Rs 100000 per annum. Non occupancy charge is charged per member who has given his flat on rent and is restricted to 10% of service charge. so the non occupancy charge for the member comes to 10% of 100000 i.e. rs 10000 pa or Rs 833 pm method b) The amount of services charges as per 13 matters included in the service charges as per bye law no 68 is Rs 100000 per annum.Total no of flats 18. The share of each member in the service charge pa comes to Rs 5555 i.e. pm rs 463. Non occupancy charge is calculated on the 10% of the share of the service charge of the member who has given his flat on rent and thus it comes to Rs 46 pm. method b) assumes the calculation is based on the word "SHARE", where as no where in the bye laws it is mentioned that it is to be calculated on the "SHARE" portion. now my question is which method is correct - legally

The non-occupancy charges cannot be more than 10% of the service charges levied to a member in the society. Therefore, in you case the b) method shall apply.

Levying 10% of the entire service charges of the society, as non-occupancy charges to a single member is preposterous. Therefore, method a) and totally illegal. Even though it might not be clearly mentioned anywhere in the Government Order, law still contains some common sense. :-)

Dear Mr.Agrawal, Firstly, Thank you for your valuable inputs! I really appreciate your time and effort in helping people to solve their issues. I own a flat in Chandivali Andheri East, and I have rented this flat out in Jan 2014. We have duly completed the stamp duty registration for leave and license and police verification formalities. A photocopy of these documents were forwarded to the society office. The society asked us to pay an additional amount of Rs. 6000/- towards NOC & lift charges and informed me that it would receipted in the favour of “Voluntary Contribution to Society Welfare” (Building Fund). I opposed to make this payment to the society. I informed the society that as per Bye Laws Society is entitled to charge 10% of normal maintenance charges as Non Occupancy Charges and any other charge is illegal and unauthorized and would be contempt to court orders. The Chairman & Secretary argued that all the other societies in the vicinity are levying this charge and I may have to face consequences if this payment is not done. They even informed me that they could stop my tenant from entering the society, using the flat and other facilities of the society. I refused to make the said payment requested by them and my tenant shifted without any hassel. At present the society is charging me 10% of normal maintenance charge. This NOC charges to levy for leave & licence owners was discussed at the recent Special General Body Meeting. The Managing Committee (MC) took a poll from the rest of the members and have now settled this amount at Rs. 2000/- and it would be receipted as “NOC/shifting charge”. During the meeting it was also decided that the tenants will not be allowed to use the lift for the purpose of shifting their household stuff. The MC were of the view that the tenants misuse the lift during the shifting process which results in frequent breakdown of the lift. My flat is on the 5th floor. There were a couple of other owners who has sub let their flats who opposed this ruling. Kindly advice if the above practice followed by the society is lawfull. Whom should I consult in case I need to address my above concerns. Best regards, Marina