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wack (FM)     03 September 2012

Repair of leakage

There appears to be some leakage through sewer drain pipes leading out of my flat into the flat on the floor below. There is no leakage whatsoever in my flat, neither inside bathrooms nor in the dry balcony from where the pipe goes downwards through the slab.

 

While both the flat owners have no objection to sharing that expense, the maintenance people have indicated that in case they are not able to find the source of leakage, they may have to remove commodes from both of my bathrooms to investigate further and access the pipeline. They have also said there could be breakage of commodes and tiles. The society is also insisting on both flat holders to bear resultant expense, when none of them is responsible for this leakage and this is additional burden. 

 

None of the affected parties (me and the downstairs flat owner) were made a part of any meetings together nor the society management meetings on this matter. So are not aware of  the deliberations that took place or the basis for arriving at such unilateral decision.

 

No quotations were given to either of the affected parties prior to conveying the decision and volume of expense.

 

No minutes of the meeting held on this matter (if any) were made available for us to look at.

 

They have also not specified the breakdown of plan of repairs and expense at every stage.

 

The plan in case none of the intended steps is successful is also not worked out or conveyed.

 

The questions are:

 

1. Are such unilateral decisions made by society management without the involvement of affected parties, binding on the society members?

2. Should I (and the other flat) be made to share additional expense when the society needs acccess to the pipeline through my bathroom commodes line, when both commodes are intact and there is no visible leakage inside/outside my flat.

3. Can the society not pay out of its own funds and if it feels, take the matter to the builder for the recovery of such expense, without burdening the members?

 

Advise on this matter will be greatly appreciated.

 

Regards,



Learning

 4 Replies

Manish (Proprietor)     03 September 2012

If u have got the work done by the builder,and the same is in to the period of defect and maintenance liability ,then u can approach the builder to rectify the same,otherwise u should cooperat the society,after all it is in the intersest of the entire building.Be cooperative instead of making issues.

Rama chary Rachakonda (Secunderabad/Telangana state Highcourt practice watsapp no.9989324294 )     03 September 2012

If your co-operative society is old it may continue to follow old byelaws. But when a new co-operative society approaches the regisrar new byelaws are applicable.  Byelaws are the rules that govern a co-operative society and its members and these undergo changes from time to time through amendments whenever the government feels the need for changes.

Maintenance: Under the old byelaws the maintenance charged varied among members. For instance, let us say the monthly maintenance amount payable was Rs 500. Now if the flat was given on leave and licence, the maintenance charge would be hiked to Rs 1,000.

But as per the new byelaws, maintenance is 10% of service charges. Service charges include salary of the office staff, liftmen, watchman, the property taxes, electricity charges, water charges, etc. in case the society has an independent office.

That apart it also includes entrance fees for affiliation to the housing federation and any other co-operative institution, audit fees for internal, statutory and re-audit if any besides expenses incurred at meetings of the general body, the committee and the sub-committee retainer fees, legal charges, statutory enquiry fees among others.

wack (FM)     03 September 2012

Thanks for the comments. Maybe I was not able to explain the situation clearly, hence the perception of me making an issue.  

 

I wrote seeking advise, not with the intention of making an issue. If both my bathrooms are likely to be damaged in process and I was asked to pay for not just replacement of its fixtures but also for replacement of all the tiles within it, I don't think raising a question about it with the managing committee can be called an issue.

 

Having said that, the repairs to the bathroom floor (re-cementing) had already been carried out as part of trial and error to find the source of leakage. It did stop for a while but started again. These expenses were accepted by me in full, not even shared. The leakage hasn't stopped. It is in the dry balcony area of the flat below and its not incessant. It is dry for several days and then leaks for a day or two.

 

This cementing work was carried out by the maintenance team of the builder but since this was beyond the maintenance period, I had accepted to foot the bill for that as mentioned above. I do not have any problems with the repairs at all and the expenses for the repairs part are acceptable to me/us. But I/we have concerns about the additional burden put on me/us through no fault of either. Also the other flat owner has not agreed to it also. So I am not stalling anything if that is the perception.

Regards,

piyush sharma (Lawyer)     03 September 2012

How you arrived at the conclusion that the leakage is from your house. If you are paying maintenance charges then it must be done from maintenance charges collected from all members.


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