Available Society Expert on consultancy basis, for housing societies in Navi Mumbai, for further details contact on Mobile No.91675 86709

Available Society Expert on consultancy basis, for housing societies in Navi Mumbai, for further details contact on Mobile No.91675 86709

  

Following services offered:

As per Rule 65 of Maharashtra Co-operative Housing Society Rules, 1961, under sub-rule(1), every housing society shall keep the following books and accounts, namely the following

1)        Maintenance of Books, Files and Registers as per Bye-law No.141;

(a)   A Register of Members including persons nominated under Section 38 in Form “I”;

(b)   A list of active members in Form J-1;

(c)    A list of non-active members in Form J-2;

(d)   A Register of Shares - Share Certificate Register;

(e) Minute Book recording proceedings of General Body Meeting and Special General Body Meeting;

(f)     Minute Book of Managing Committee;

(g) Record of attendance of General Body Meetings, Special General Body Meetings and Committee Meetings;

(h)   Nomination Register;

(i)     Society Members’ Mortgage Register;

(j)     Individual Correspondence Files with each Member;

(k)    Sinking Fund Register;

(l)     “O” Form Register;

(m) Fixed Asset Register;

(n)   Stock/Dead Stock Register;

(o)   Books of Accounts;

(p)   Other Records to be maintained.

2)    Liaise with Bank, Joint Registrar’s Office, Federation, Police Station Advocates, Auditors, Fire Department, Water Department, NMMC, etc.;

3)     Liaise with Housing Society Members for any requests pertaining to their flat, correspondence, payment issues, complaints, for issues of NOCs, transfer documents, nominations, etc.;

4)        Liaise with outside Agencies/Vendors including Security Service Providers, Lift Service Providers, etc.;

5)     Drafting of letters for correspondence with member, meeting notices, minutes of the meeting, circulars, information, etc.;

6)       Assist in making the notice of MC Meeting, AGM, SGM, etc.;

7)       Accounts related work can also be complied with as per requirement;

8)       MIS also provided on monthly basis

9)       Monthly reports in .docx and .xlsx formats also provided;

10)   Registration, Deemed Conveyance & Redevelopment Process.

As managing housing societies require expertise, dedication and continuous follow up on tasks and updated periodically as and when required, you can rely on me for solutions to any issues pertaining to the statutory records to be kept and pertaining to the efficient running of your society.

Interpretations of Common Terms used in Housing Society Bye-laws Amendment 2014, Maharashtra (cont'd from previous post)

xxi)

“Open terraces” means terraces which are otherwise not in the exclusive possession of any of the Members;

xxii)

“Common Areas and Facilities” means

(a)

the land on which the building is located;

(b)

the foundations, columns, girders, beams, supports, main walls, roofs, halls, corridors, lobbies, stair-ways, lifts/escalators, fire escapes and entrances & exits of the building;

(c)

the basements, cellars, yards, gardens, parking areas unless demarcated parking slot and storage spaces;

(d)

the premises for the lodging of janitor-or persons employed for the management of the property;

(e)

installations of central services such as power, light, gas, water storage and water heating, water harvesting, pump houses, refrigeration, air condition and generators, roof top solar devices, common antennas and mass communication and date sharing devices;

(f)

the elevators tanks, pumps, motors, fans, compressors, ducts and in general all apparatus and installations existing for common use;

(g)

such community and commercial facilities as may have been provided for;

(h)

all other parts of the property necessary or convenient to its existence, maintenance and safety, or normally in common use;

xxiii)

“Society” means the ………………. Co-operative Housing Society Ltd.,  …………………….. registered under the Act;

to be cont’d..

Interpretations of Common Terms used in Housing Society Bye-laws Amendment 2014, Maharashtra (cont'd from previous post)

xvi)

“Repairs and Maintenance Fund” means the fund constituted under the Bye-law No.13(a);

xvii)

“Sinking Fund” means the fund constituted under the Bye-law No.13(c);

xviii)

“Major Repairs Fund” means the fund created by the Society and constituted under the Bye-law No.13(b), for the purpose of Major Repairs including Plastering, building of compound wall, pavement, total painting and reconstructions;

xix)

“Municipal Act” means the Maharashtra Municipalities Act, 1965 (Mah. XL of 1965);

xx)

“Open Space” means an Area, forming an integral part of the site, left open to sky;

to be cont’d..

Interpretations of Common Terms used in Housing Society Bye-laws Amendment 2014, Maharashtra (cont'd from previous post)

xi)

“Prescribed Form” means the form included in the Annexure II indicating the Bye-law No. under which it is prescribed and the Appendix at which it is enclosed;

xii)

“Promoter” means a person, who has signed the application for registration of the society;

xiii)

“Promoter Builder” means a person and includes a partnership firm or a body or association of person, [whether registered or not] who constructs or causes to be constructed a block or building of flats [or apartments] for the purpose of selling some or all of them to other persons, or to a company, co-operative society or other association of persons, and includes his assignees; and where person who builds and the person who sells are different persons, the term includes both;

xiv)

“Rules” means the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Rules, 1961;

xv)

“Reserve Fund” means the fund constituted under the provisions of Section 66(1) of the Act and the Bye-law No.12(1);

to be cont’d..

Interpretations of Common Terms used in Housing Society Bye-laws Amendment 2014, Maharashtra

Unless otherwise separately provided in these Bye-laws(Bye-law 2014), the following words and terms shall have meaning assigned to them herein:

i)

“Act” means the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, 1960 (MCS Act);

ii)

“Bye-laws” means the by-laws consistent with Act and registered under this Act for the time being in force and includes registered amendments of such Bye-laws;

iii)

“Chief Promoter” means the promoter who is elected by the Promoters, in their first meeting, or in their subsequent meetings & in case the post of the Chief Promoter lies vacant, till the first General Meeting;

iv)

“Commitee” means the committee of management or board of directors or the governing body or other directing body of a co-operative Housing Society, by whatever name called, to which the management of the affairs of a society is entrusted and vested under section 73 of the Act;

v)

“……Days Clear Notice” means the number of calendar days intervening between the day of posting the notice and the day of the meeting;

vi)

“Flat” means a separate and self-contained set of premises used or intended to be used for residence, or office, or show-room or shop, or godown and includes a garage, or dispensary, or consulting room, or clinic, or flour mills or coaching classes, or painaghar or beauty parlour, the premises forming part of a building and includes an apartment;

vii)

“Housing Society Federation” means the Federation of Co-operative Housing Societies registered and notified under the Act;

viii)

“Ownership Flat Act” means the Maharashtra Ownership Flats(Regulation of the Promotion of construction, Sale Management and Transfer) Act, 1963;

ix)

“Paper” means all or any of the items mentioned in the Bye-laws Nos. 141 and 142.

x)

“Parking Space” means open space within the premises of the Society earmarked by it for parking of vehicles and includes the stilt, basement, podium, mechanized parking;

(a)“Parking Slot” means demarcated and numbered individual parking slot for single vehicle (for four wheeler LMV or two wheeler) within the Parking Spaces available in the society.

to be cont'd.....

Members to Co-operative Housing Society in Maharashtra

“Member” means a person joining in an application for the Registration of a Co-operative Society which is subsequently registered, or a person duly admitted to membership of a Society after Registration and who holds the rights, title and interest in the property individually or jointly, as per defined by the MCS Act, 1960, Section 2 (19a).

“Active Member” means

(a)

A member who participates in the affairs of the society and utilizes the minimum level of services or products of that society as may be specified in the bye-laws, as per defined by the MCS Act, 1960, Section 2 (19a) amended vide Notification date 13^th August, 2013;

(b)

One who has purchased and owns a Flat/Unit in the Society;

(c)

One who attends at least one General Body Meeting of the Society in the previous five consecutive years, provided that nothing in this clause shall apply to the members whose absence has been condoned by the General Body Meeting of the Society.  Note that those who have attended even one General Body Meeting of the Society from the date and year of Notification i.e. 2013 till 2018 is an Active Member;

(d)

Who has paid the Society Maintenance Service and other charges regularly as per Bye-laws No.22 (c) (iii)

“Non-Active Member” means a member who is not “Active Member” at the close of every financial year, starting from 2018 onwards.

(a)

Provided that the Society shall communicate to every Non-Active Member about his/her classification, within a period of 30 days from 31^st March, of every year from 31^st March, 2018 on ward and thereafter every year as prescribed by these Bye-laws;

(b)

In case of dispute about classification of a member being Active or Non-Active, an appeal shall lie with the Registrar within a period of 60 days from the date of communication of such classification;

(c)

A “Non-Active Member” can be reclassified as “Active Member” from the date he satisfies the condition laid down under Bye-law No.22(c);

“Associate Member” is an individual, means a member who holds the right, title and interest in the property individually or jointly with other, but whose name does not stand first in Share Certificate, as per defined by the MCS Act, 1960, Section 2 (19b);

“Nominal Member” means a person who does not hold the right, title and interest in the property individually or jointly and admitted to Membership as such after registration in accordance with the bye-laws, as per defined by the MCS Act, 1960, Section 2 (19c);

MOFA is Scrapped and New Law RERA is introduced

Regulation of real estate sector was necessitated due to large scale cheating of the consumers of real estate purchasers/consumers.  MOFA Act, lacked the teeth to reign in the builders lobby which were becoming too powerful with the support of those in power and mainly due to the corruption introduced by the British Rule which is prevailing and getting more and more teeth day in an day out.  In order to regulate the real estate sector, the government has come up with the idea of Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) Bill which is expected to help buyers. RERA is supposed to protect the interest of the homebuyer and ensure timely delivery of projects. Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) Bill was introduced in 2013 and finally the bill got approved in March 2016 last year.  Only hope that the Government doesn’t come under pressure from Builders Lobby and without the knowledge of the public filter down the clauses so as to give some leniency the way Rights to Information Act is being done, in order that this doesn’t happen corruption has to be nipped in the bud and stringent punishment for those in government is in the order of the day.

Although RERA is a central law, its implementation will depend on state governments, as real estate is a state subject but dilution of the this should not happen, if it happens we will have a 2^nd MOFA Act with is toothless. Maharashtra government had approved the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act (RERA).

Under RERA, each state will have to setup regulatory bodies as appellate tribunals to solve the disputes between buyer and builder within 120 days.

Developer will have to put 70% of the money collected from a buyer in a separate account to meet the construction cost of the project.

RERA will make it mandatory for all commercial and residential real estate projects where the land is over 500 sq. mt. or eight apartments will have to register with the regulator before launching a project.

RERA also seeks to impose strict regulations on the promoter and ensure that construction is completed on time.

Carpet area has been clearly defined in the bill to include usable spaces like kitchen and toilets imparting clarity which was not the case earlier.

A developer’s liability to repair structural defects has been increased to 5 years from the earlier 2 years.

The buyer will pay only for the carpet area (area within walls). The builder can’t charge for the super built-up area, as is the practice at present.

Developers will be able to sell projects only after the necessary clearances. Under RERA, builders and agents will have to register themselves with the regulator and get all projects with more than eight apartments registered before launch.

To enable informed decisions by buyers, Real Estate Regulatory Authorities will ensure publication on their websites information relating to profile and track record of promoters, details of litigations, advertisement and prospectus issued about the project, details of apartments, plots and garages, registered agents and consultants, development plan, financial details of the promoters, status of approvals and projects etc.

Prior to RERA, one instance of how the builders used to cheat the buyers was that builder used to collect money from the buyers of Project A and put that money to use in Project B, so the Project A buyers project is stalled for want of money.  Though RERA will not give 100% relief to the buyers but it has got more teeth than the earlier MOFA Act and if the buyers are aware, they can ensure that they are not cheated by the builders.

In case of any queries, please do not hesitate to write to me, I will try to answer your queries to the best of my ability.

The Maharashtra Co-operative Societies (MCS) Act, 1960

The Maharashtra Co-operative Societies (MCS) Act, 1960(MCS Act 1960 in short), governs the Co-operative Housing Societies.  This Act came into effect on 09/05/1961 to ensure that the Co-operative Housing Societies within the Maharashtra State is in accordance with the directive principles of the State policy under the constitution of India.  Amendment of this is an ongoing process, as and when required, in line with the changing scenario in the Co-operative Housing Sector and hence MCS Act 1960 has been amended from time to time.  The latest amendments which took place in 2013 namely MCS (Amendment) Act, 2013.

In order to conduct and regulate the business of Societies and also to carry out the purposes of the MCS Act, 1960, the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Rules, 1961 was also introduced on 23^rd December, 1961.  Amendment to The MCS Rules, 1961 is also subject to the changing scenario in the Co-operative Housing Sector.

Also, in order to resolve issues with require urgent remedial measures the State Government may also bring out GR, the rules of which needs to be followed by any Co-operative Housing Societies in Maharashtra State.

Last but not the least is the Bye-laws, as the MCS Act, 1960 and MCS Rules, 1961 being an elaborated laws and wherein the terms used were more or less technical nature and not easily understood by the people and also keeping in view that that issues faced by the Societies are evolving and changing as years goes by, there was a need to have a shorter version of the Act so that this can be referred by those running the Co-operative Housing Societies and which can be changed by a Housing Society, to suit their purpose, the Bye-laws were introduced.  As the Co-operative Housing Societies were not in a position to frame the wordings of the Bye-laws, the State of Maharashtra took onus of responsibility and framed a common Bye-laws for the Co-operative Housing Societies in Maharashtra State and these Bye-laws are also subject to amendment as per the changing scenario in the Housing Sector.  The Bye-laws amendment have taken place in 1984, 2001, 2009, 2011, 2013 and 2014 being the latest and further expected to be amended in the year 2018 since new issues and to cope up with the dynamism of the socio-economic situations and the need of the Society.

Society can also frame their own Bye-laws keeping in mind that such Bye-laws rules and regulations should be framed within the framework of the existing and current MCS Act, 1960 and MCS Rules, 1961 and also the following the procedure for making their own Bye-laws.

Thus, the importance of knowledge of the MCS Act, 1960, MCS Rules, 1961 and the Bye-laws are very important and the Managing Committee of the Housing Society should make themselves aware of these Acts, Rules & Bye-laws.

In general, there can be no problem in the functioning of the Co-operative Housing Society which cannot be resolved under the framework of the existing set of laws, rules and bye-laws of the Society, yes off course there are few exception.  As mentioned yesterday, most of the problems as it appears, mainly rise on two points namely “ignorance” about the Co-operative Laws and the “ego” of the individuals involved in the disputes and though “ego” is something each one of us have, lack of knowledge or ignorance of the laws escalates the disputes hence it is imperative that right action be taken which is correct in the eyes of the law otherwise, it leads to escalation of the matter, without understanding the consequences, to the Registrar, Consumer Forum, Co-operative Court, High Court and Supreme Court.  A wrong decision taken by the Managing Committee can end up with the Managing Committee being penalized by the Court.  Thus, it is imperative that most issues arising in Housing Society be settled amicably under the existing set of laws, rules and bye-laws.

One needs to understand that effective discussion is always better than arguments because an argument is to find out who is right but a discussion is to find out what is right and this holds good and true because when the discussion goes in the right direction, most decisions taken in line with the acts, rules and bye-laws ultimately leads to resolution of the issues to the satisfaction of both the parties involved.

As it is, India has already moved into an era where the rules, laws framed in India are copycats of the Western Countries and the setup of laws that govern the Co-operative Housing Societies in US, Europe are being slowly imported and enforced in India so it is not far when Housing Societies will have to adhere to the Co-operative Laws of the land 100%.  Currently, as it stands, the enforcement mechanism of the Government is not that much active in Housing Society Matters.