Problems & Solutions

Possession Document

Q: What are the documents I should get from a builder on possession? Is there any difference between residential and commercial property documents? If builder has not provided all documents what should I do?

A:When you buy a flat, whether it is residential premises or a commercial premises, a ‘sale deed’ has to be executed. In this sale deed, builder will mention, amount paid by you for the flat, description of the area, location of your flat, a Municipality Approved plan of your flat, all such documents and descriptions will be included in the sale deed. On this sale deed, 5 per cent of the sale value, stamp duty and other applicable taxes like GST, LBT as applicable will be paid. Then sale deed is registered with sub-registrar of assurances, where you will pay 1 per cent of the sale value, maximum Rs 30,000 registration charges will be paid. With this, you will get registered sale deed along with its Index-2 from Sub-Registrar's Office. This completes your legal documentation work of registration of residential or commercial premises and then you can safely take the possession of your premises, when builder gets occupation certificate of your building from A: concerned Municipality.

Joint Nomination Q: In our housing society, a member is holding a flat jointly with his mother (second name). He has now given two nomination forms, one for himself nominating his wife for his share and another nomination form signed by his mother (second name in the share certificate i.e. joint holder) nominating him (i.e. her son) as nominee for her share. Is it correct as per law? Please guide in the matter.? A: When a flat is owned jointly by two or more owners, each joint owner has to make a nomination for his part in the joint ownership of the flat. The way mother and son have done the nomination for their part in the flat is correct. Redevelopment Issue Q: Our CHS has six-storied single building with 12 residents and nine shops on the ground floor. During previous year’s annual general meeting (AGM) it was decided to go for redevelopment with a builder introduced by one shopkeeper. This is at a stage of signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and a draft is prepared with clauses prepared having 10 per cent and 15 per cent additional space for shops and residents respectively and a total Rs 25 lakh as corpus fund to be shared by all 21 members equally. There is notification issued by Maharashtra Government that offers many amenities for redevelopment of societies, which are over 30 years old.

Few of our members now want to avail these facilities, including additional space and relaxed conveyances. However the builder want to stick with what he had offered and mentioned in the ‘draft’. About seven members want to avail the benefits but the builder and management wants to go ahead with the deal using a power of attorney taken from six members. What should be the opposing seven members do now?

Your Co-operative Housing Society (CHS) before it goes for redevelopment, has to do following ground works.

(1) Society has to adopt bye-laws of year 2014. In this Bye-laws book, Bye-law No. 175 empowers your CHS to go for redevelopment of CHS's building.

(2) If Conveyance Deed of the building is not entered with CHS by the builder for CHS's building and by landowner for CHS's land in favour of the society, under Byelaw No. 154, CHS's Committee has to do its efforts for Conveyance of the CHS.

With CHS's Conveyance Deed, if CHS has not transferred its Property Card in its name from concerned City Survey Office, then your CHS cannot go for redevelopment of its building.

(3) After you do the Deemed Conveyance and get the Property Card of the CHS in this name, under Bye-law No. 76, CHS has to do a structural audit of its building from a BMC approved Structural Engineer. Structural Engineer finds that your CHS building is beyond repairs, then CHS has to start the procedure for redevelopment of its building, under Bye-law No.175(a), by following steps given in GR No. CHS 2007/M.No.554/145, dated 3 January 2009.

This eight page GR gives step by step detailed guidelines as, how to proceed with redevelopment of a CHS building. Byelaw Nos. 157 and 158 gives how to follow with tender process of redevelopment work of a CHS. Therefore, if someone brings a person as a builder, then for redevelopment work of the CHS’s building, after Managing Committee of the CHS receives Structural Audit report of the Building, it has to call a General Body Meeting (GBM) of the CHS for its redevelopment.

In this GBM, 75 per cent of the CHS members has to attend it. Those who attend, its 75 per cent members has to approve redevelopment of the CHS's building. For example, you have 21 members in your CHS (including Shops), so for the GBM for redevelopment, its 75 per cent means 16 persons has to attend and 75 per cent of 16 means, 12 members have to approve the redevelopment of your society's building. In your CHS nothing of such sort has happened. Therefore, there is every chance that you may be cheated by the developer. In case of irregularities in redevelopment process, under Bye-law No. 174(B) (vii), you may make your complaint against your CHS to Cooperative Court, for irregularities in appointment of the developer for the redevelopment of the CHS's Building.

For your complaint to Co-operative Court, you need not hire the services of an advocate, since matter is not complicated. To make your own complaint to Co-operative Court, you may buy a book on Coop. Sty's Act from Arti Law Book Depot near Flora Fountain, (Tel. 022-2204 7397 / 6639 0772), in which how to make an appeal to Co-operative Court is given.

Answers Provided by Experts of Moneylife Foundation