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Gupta   17 November 2015

Apartment owner co-operation

Hi,

I bought a apartment in chennai 5 years ago which was built on a 1 plot of size 2400 sq ft and has a total of 5 apartments out of which 4 of the apartment owners are cooperative and having trouble with one apartment owner. The problem is he never assessed his apartment with local municipality for property tax estimation and not trying to initiate one. But he rents his apartment and earns rent from the same apartment for the past 5 yrs. Since he never assessed nor paid the property tax we couldn't get the municipal water connections, drainage connection etc for our apartment since the authorities says unless all apartments pays their latest property tax and DEPOSIT MONEY the connections could not be given.

The person is so adamant and we face constant issues with him all the times and he never cooperates and indeed he is well educated and in Good Position. He is hesitant to pay the minimum maintenance when the apartment is vacant.

Could you please give a guidance/Advise to get a solution to this problem.

Thanks



 1 Replies

Dr. MPS RAMANI Ph.D.[Tech.] (Scientist/Engineer)     21 November 2015

In order to compel the 5th member to do things, you must have a registered organisation with byelaws, constitution or articlea of association.. As you are only 5 you cannot form a co-operative society or any other form of registered association. But you can register as a limited company under the Companies Act, 2013. You first call a meeting of all the members including the one who is not co-operating. You mention in the notice calling the meeting the purpose as  "to consider solution to the problems mentioned by you". You must mention clearly and completely the purpose of the meeting in the notice calling for the meeting. Do not mention in the notice that the particular member is not co-operating. I presume that you and the other three co-operating members will attend the meeting. The fifth member may or may not attend the meeting. You must ensure that the notice is delivered to all members and acknowledgement obtained. If the fifth member or any other members refuses to receive the letter, you send the notice by registered AD. At the meeting you decide either unanimously or by 4 to 1 majority to form a Company under Companies Law. A Company will have shares and share capital. You can decide on the authorised capital, issued capital and paid up capital. If all the flats are of equal size all members will hold equal number of shares. If the flats are of different sizes the number of shares will be proportionate to the sizes of the flats. The company will have articles of association. You draft the articles of association in such a way that it will bind the recalcitrant member hand and foot. In case the recalcitrant member refuses to join with such an article of association you have two alternatives. (1) you draft the articles of associatin in such a way that the fifth member also will agree. You register the Company with all the five shareholders together. There will be provision for amending the articles of association with, say  a 2/3 majority or 4/5 majority. You amend the articles the way you want after the initial registration. (2) You register the Company with 4 members only with the 5th membership in suspense. Later you can legally compel the 5th member. This will be a long drawn process. But I do not see any alternative.


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