Your Housing Problems & Solutions
Dues of past 14 years
Q: I am staying at a cooperative housing society at Goregaon and the Management Committee is harassing me and my family. They have not accepted our cheques in the year 2003 for monthly maintenance bills. Our building is under MHADA supervision. Society has been formed only for maintenance of building. I have submitted letter to the society not to file suit u/s 101 of MCS Act, 1960 but they are not taking it seriously. Now they are demanding maintenance dues by claiming some huge unpaid amounts. I am ready to pay dues of certain amount relating to charges of non-occupancy, interest and penalty. But this is not acceptable to the society. A: In MHADA building CHS, you should not face such a difficulty. If your CHS asks you to pay certain dues, then it should give you details of the dues, under each heading, month wise. Kindly read new Bye-law book of the year, 2014. In part IX of the Byelaws book, under title, ‘Levy of Charges of the Society’, there are seven Bye-laws, Nos. 65 to 71. If any dues of the CHS are to be charged, then how it can be charged under what heading it can be charged, i.e. whether flatwise or area of flatwise, is clearly stated in byelaws nos. 65 to 68. Byelaw no 69 says how to recover dues from the members and Byelaws Nos. 70 and 71 says how defaulter member's dues can be recovered. It says maximum 21 per cent simple interest can be charged as interest on defaulted dues.
In bye-law No.174 (A)(xii), if CHS asks any undue charges or levies the fine, then member of CHS without paying it, he can make a complaint against the CHS to the Deputy Registrar.
When your CHS showed any default in dues on your flat, it seems that you have not opposed to it under above procedure. Remember, if you pay any wrong dues asked by your CHS, then to recover it from your them you have to approach Co-operative Court under the Bye-law No. 174(B)(ix), which is much tedious than not paying the dues and making complaint to Deputy Registrar, as stated above at earliest. Your CHS did not accept your maintenance cheques for almost 14 years and yet you did not make a complaint against them to the Deputy Registrar under Bye-Law No. 174(A)(ix). This is essentially your fault. If you would have made complaint to Deputy Registrar when it was a newly committed default, it would have resolved your complaint long ago.
Under present circumstances, you will write to your CHS that you are ready to pay its long-standing dues with applicable fine, and you will not command your terms and conditions of payment of your CHS's dues, if dues are justifiable. For not accepting your dues cheques by your CHS, you would have had to make your complaint to Deputy Registrar long ago.
Maintenance charges
Q: My society is of a commercial premises with more than 400 members and different sized units. There are two basements, one podium level, one podium garden and several amenities. How should the society charge the maintenance bill apart from property taxes, is it based on area of number of offices? A: How a Society's bill is to be charged is given in Byelaws book of the year 2014. In that book, under part IX, ‘Levy of Charges of the Society’ is mentioned under Byelaws 65 to 71. In Byelaws 65 to 68 under each heading, it is clearly stated whether maintenance has to be charged flat wise or by the area of the flat. Byelaws 69 and 70, state how to recover the society's dues, if member defaults in his payment. Byelaw No. 71 states how to charge the interest on defaulted payment. Default on payment fine is 21 per cent simple interest.These Byelaws are also applicable to commercial premises Co-operative Societies.
Kindly buy the Byelaws book of year 2014 or download it from Government sites www.mahasahakar.maharashtra.gov.in or www.sahakarayukta.maharashtra.gov.in Answers Provided by Experts of Moneylife Foundation