• Apartment maintenance charges

Ours is a society register under Karnataka housing society act having 165 flats with different sizes and management Committee as charging as per sft which is leaving higher volume flats owners to pay more maintenance even though the amenities are common for all and I am asking the committee to charge equally I.e per flat.kindly please help in this regard and what is the legal way of charging and even for penalty charges for non payment of Maintanance
Asked 2 years ago in Property Law
Religion: Hindu

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9 Answers

1) it is necessary to peruse bye laws adopted by society 

 

2) if as per bye laws maintenance should be equal irrespective of size of flat society cannot charge maintenance in square feet basis 

Ajay Sethi
Advocate, Mumbai
94518 Answers
7485 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

Hi, Management Committee can't fix the maintenance on the basis of the square feet. You are paying maintenance for common area maintenance and amenities and all the owners have enjoying the same facilities irrespective of size of the apartment. Fixing maintenance  on the basis of the square feet basis   is unscientific. First you have to issue legal Notice and then you can file a suit in the Jurisdictional court.

Pradeep Bharathipura
Advocate, Bangalore
5604 Answers
335 Consultations

4.5 on 5.0

As far as maintenance is concerned it is the decision taken in a general body meeting supported by majority members of the association and has been framed as bylaws. 

If you are aggrieved over the injustice meted to the bigger flat owners then you can represent your grievances in this regard in the next meeting at least towards the levy of charges for the common amenities  enjoyed equally by all the flat owners.

You can gather support from fellow aggrieved members of the association and can enlist this point in the agenda of the next meeting and ensure the association is passing a resolution to amend the bylaws to at least some extent so that the aggrieved members are given a little relief if not the maximum.

T Kalaiselvan
Advocate, Vellore
84711 Answers
2172 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

Check what your society's bylaws say on this- payment of maintenance charges on what basis. In any case, as you rightly said, the charges should be uniform for users of the common areas and amenities, irrespective of their apartment sizes. Object in writing. In the AGM, if any convened to discuss the issue, raise your voice. 

Swaminathan Neelakantan
Advocate, Coimbatore
2773 Answers
20 Consultations

4.9 on 5.0

 As per rule, the popular methods to calculate the maintenance fee for your apartment is 

1. Equal Fee for All, but it is common in the apartment, where all the flats are of same sized.

2. The most commonly used method is Area Wise maintenance charge, A rate is fixed for one square feet and then multiplied by the total square feet area of your flat in this method. It means that if you have a larger home, you will end up paying more.

- Further, the common areas are divided equally using a fixed rate while flats are calculated depending on the size of the apartment. 

- However, you can check the society rules & by-laws which has passed in the GBM.

Mohammed Shahzad
Advocate, Delhi
13095 Answers
195 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

Dear Client,

Housing societies are within their rights to collect maintenance charges, based on the size of the flat, the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has ruled. The Commission said that if a legally elected body like the RWA (residents’ welfare association) decides to collect maintenance charges based on the plinth area of flats, rather than charging the same amount from all the residents irrespective of the flat’s size, owners of bigger flats have no reason to find fault with that methodology.

Thank You

Anik Miu
Advocate, Bangalore
8742 Answers
109 Consultations

4.7 on 5.0

Yes it should be equal for common amenities only property tax differs

Prashant Nayak
Advocate, Mumbai
31802 Answers
175 Consultations

4.1 on 5.0

Dear Sir,

Popular methods of calculating Maintenance charges

There are two common ways in which each housing society can decide the service charges for each member. The society is free to choose the design that suits their respective needs. The two popular methods used to calculate maintenance charges are:

Flat Wise: Flat wise service charge module calculates sum or total maintenance charge to be incurred by the society and divides equally among all flat owners irrespective of the size of the flat. This method brings a sense of fairness to each flat owner and society resident. This method is best adopted in housing societies where each flat is of the same size.

Area Wise: Under the Area Wise maintenance charge method, the total costs incurred by the society are charged according to the area in terms of per square feet owned by each member. The common areas are divided equally using a fixed rate while flats are calculated depending on the size of the apartment. For example, If acrate is Rs. 2/sqt then for 1000 sqft flats it is Rs 2000/per month and for 1500 sqft flat it is Rs 3000/per month.

Understanding Maintenance Charge Calculations

Housing societies have the option of charging their maintenance charges in either per square feet or per flat basis. Regulations in most states are not clear, but the model bye-laws of MOFA provide a simple solution. As per the Act, each housing society must follow a combination of per sq ft and per flat for various heads. There are however some exceptions as Co-operative Housing Socities (CHS) are not allowed to levy maintenance charges based on the area of flat of members under MOFA. This was clearly mentioned in the judgment following a writ Petition of Venus CHS Ltd and another, when the cooperative housing society wanted to switched from flat-wise monthly charges to area-wise monthly charges.

 

Kishan Dutt Kalaskar
Advocate, Bangalore
6135 Answers
483 Consultations

4.8 on 5.0

This is most common asked question in societies which arises only after some time. 

Nobody think of it while buying. 

 

There are 3 methods of maintenance fixing. 

  1. Sq Ft Area wise
  2. Flat Wise
  3. Hybrid - some amount flat wise and some amount area wise. 

All these depends on society bye-laws.

 

management Committee consists of whichever type of sizes will select the option which suits them most. 

Ankur Goel
Advocate, Bangalore
454 Answers

4.9 on 5.0

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