Your Housing Problems & Solutions
Water Crisis Q: In our CHS, 10 flats out of 24 is facing water crisis. After failed verbal complaints, we posted a written complaint to the secretary which was returned. The councillor increased the water supply but that did not solve the problem. The Chairman has illegally installed a personal tank in his flat and is threatening or bribing the guards for water supply in his flat only. This has been the case for two years. How can we solve this issue?
A: Under Bye-law no. 174(b) (viii) kindly make a complaint to co-operative court, against the society for unequal water supply to your flat. There is no need to hire the services of an advocate. Kindly go to Aarati Law Book Depot, near Flora Fountain, buy a good book on co-operative law, in which how to make complaint to co-operative court is given. Since your complaint is related to water supply, you can file the complaint and fight in co-operative court alone.
Box Grills Q: Do we need to give a letter to the society to put box grills? What is the maximum size a box grill and can it be stretched out from the window? What if it is in the corner where it does not come in anybody's way?
A: To fix box grills to the society's flats, a service from a BMC approved structural engineer or architect has to be availed. Box grills stretch outside walls of the society's building, and they are projecting few inches outside the external walls of the building. Therefore, if structural engineer is appointed, he will do structural audit of the society's window walls and then fix the grills of proper size and weight. After obtaining the necessary permission form building proposal department of BMC, grills will be fixed to the windows of all the flats.
Since all the flats owners are interested in installing the box grills to their windows, then let society take a special general body meeting and pass the resolution of obtaining the services of a structural engineer or an architect to fix the box grill to windows of all the flats of your society's building. After structural engineer or architect gives his design in installing the box grill, then society will call tender to fix the grills to all the flats of the society, collect the fund from all the members and give the contract to complete the work of all the flats.
Parking Trouble Q: I have been residing in an apartment governed by a co-operative society in Andheri (west), Mumbai. In my society the tenants are not allowed to park their vehicles inside the premises. So, all tenants park the vehicles out on the street outside. The society argues that there are not enough spots for owners themselves so they can't let Tenants Park inside. Recently, four or five CHS have gotten together and started charging parking to anyone who parks their vehicles on the street. Both owners and tenants. As per them, BMC is not willing to maintain the road since it is private. Hence, all the proceedings from the parking fees will go towards cleaning and maintaining the road.
A: In your query, you didn't say whether any parking space is vacant inside your society's campus. Parking of the vehicles are governed by Bye-laws Nos. 78 to 84, of bye-laws book of the year 2014. If parking slots are available inside the society's premises, then managing committee cannot reject request for parking space by a rentee of the society. For rentee, society can charge only 10 per cent additional charges, over and above parking charges applicable to its
members (flat owners). Because a road outside your society's land is a private road, so you have to pay parking charges, when you park your vehicle on that road, then ask your society to give you building plot plan of the all the buildings, on either side of that road. In that plan, if it says it is public road, then it belongs to BMC. In such a case, your society cannot charge you for the parking on the road. You make complaint to BMC ward office, against such people or society who ask you to pay parking charges, for parking of your vehicle on a public road.
If the building and surrounding area plan of your society's building says that road belongs to all the societies around that road, then you ask your society, how society will ask your tenant to pay parking charges, when vehicle is parked, when society has no full ownership of the road. Even if partial ownership right on the road to your society exists, then society can charge parking charges to the vehicle, when vehicle is parked alongside of the road, touching the society's compound wall.
Even in that case, the parking charges will be the same as for vehicles parked inside the society's campus (with 10 per cent additional parking charges for person residing on rent in society's premises). In case, you find that there is injustice done to you by the society in allotment of the parking space inside the society's premises to you or your tenant, then under the Bye-law No. 174 (b) (iv) you can take up the matter to the Co-operative Court.