Your Housing Problems & Solutions

Change of name on Share Certificate Last year, I lost my parents to Covid. My parents had not made any will. Now, I want to transfer the Share Certificate of our flat in CHS to my name. My sisters are giving NOC for the same. Also, we're submitting an affidavit to our Society, which will mention that if any problem arises in future the Society will not be liable. But our Secretary is insisting on a Succession Certificate. As its expensive, I wanted to ask whether it is mandatory to have a Succession Certificate?

Kindly make a Release Deed on Rs 500 non-judicial stamp paper with consent from all your siblings, copy of your parent's death certificates and copy of Share Certificate of the flat attached to the Release Deed. Then register the said Release Deed with sub-registrar of assurances. This is the legal document, and not the Succession Certificate. Succession Certificate is needed only when children of parents are not ready for the Release Deed. With Release Deed, you have to attach other documents in following forms. These forms with the appendix number are mentioned in Bye-laws Book of the Society, 2014.

(1) A covering letter addressed to the Secretary of your Society, stating you are submitting following documents in a file, arranged in the same order, to transfer the Share Certificate of your parent's flat in your name. All forms are to be printed on a ledger paper (parrot green paper). (2) In a transparent punched plastic folder, put original share certificate, and a crossed cheque of Rs 600 in Society's name. For this cheque, you will get a society's receipt in your name, under the heading (i) Entrance Fee Rs 100, and (ii) Membership Fee Rs 500.

(3) Membership application form by

you, as in appendix-17.

(4) A public notice to be published in two newspapers, as in Appendix-16. A copy of the advertisements placed in the newspapers should be pasted on a paper, and place that paper here. (Give one advertisement in Marathi daily and one in an English daily with wide circulation.)

(5) An Indemnity Bond on Rs 500 non-judicial stamp paper attested by two witnesses (no need for notarisation) by all the children of your late parents in a format nearly as given in Appendix-19.

(6) An Affidavit on Rs 100 non-judicial stamp paper by all the children of your late parents, attested by two witnesses (no need for notarisation), in the format almost same as in Appendix-19.

(7) Release Deed, with its Index-2, both

documents in original form.

(8) Nomination form in Appendix-14 by

you, in triplicate.

Take a photocopy of the above documents and put these copies in the same order in another file. Submit the file containing original papers to the Society and take a signature with date and society's seal on the photocopy of the covering letter in your file from the Society's office bearer. Society's office bearer will give you a receipt in your name for your Rs 600 cheque and will give you an acknowledgement on third copy of nomination form.

In 15 days to 45 days, the Society will give you Share Certificate, duly transferred in your name. If you face any difficulties during this process, please contact Moneylife Foundation.

Vacant flat with maintenance dues

Q: In 1994, 15 tenants (of the 16) came together and formed a Society duly registered with the registrar of society. One tenant refused to become a member. Since then he has not paid a single rupee towards maintenance. A few years back, his wife passed away and later, he too died.

The flat now remains vacant and unclaimed. It's been over seven years, no one has come forward with any sort of claim. How do we go about taking possession of the flat, so as to recover the maintenance dues, which are in lakhs?

Although the said flat owner was not a member of your society, his flat's dues can be recovered from that flat's value by selling the flat and taking a recovery order from Deputy Registrar.

In a CHS, all flats are owned by the Society and its occupants are given occupancy right for a particular flat. Make a complaint to Deputy Registrar against the said flat's owner for not becoming a member of the Society and also for defaulting in dues. Provide the details of that flat's dues with fines over the years. In your complaint, say that both owners — the husband and his wife — are deceased and there's no legal heir. Therefore, the Society must be allowed to take possession of the flat and sell it in order to recover the dues of the flat.

You have to be persuasive with your complaint and urge the Deputy Registrar (DR) of Co-operative Societies to take action against the late owner of the flat and request him to give an order to sell that flat by the Society, to recover dues from the sale proceeds of the flat.

If there is delay by DR in taking action against your complaint, then write an RTI letter to Public Information Officer (PIO) of DR, asking PIO to give you the information on action taken by DR on your complaint. Once DR gives the order to sell the flat, then by public auction or in sealed tender as directed by DR, you will sell the flat at a rate not less than the market value of the said flat. After taking an amount as dues with fine for the sold flat, a balance amount over and above the Society's recovery, Society will use as directed by the DR.