Society Maintenance Charges

As you plan to move into your new flat, you may encounter unexpected costs, the most unavoidable being society maintenance charges. To avoid having to pay for things you don’t know about, it’s best to know what your society could charge you for.

Members or residents of a housing society are the only ones who have to pay maintenance charges or service charges. These charges cover the costs of running and maintaining amenities that everyone uses, like elevators, terraces, parking, water and electricity costs in common areas, non-occupancy charges, and other charges that vary from society to society.

Here are additional details about some of these charges:

1. Repair and maintenance funds: The general body of the society or the Resident Welfare Associations (RWA) decides how much each resident will have to pay into the repair and maintenance fund. As a rule, these charges include a minimum of 0.75 percent of the cost of building each apartment per year, as certified by the architect. Maintenance charges may be changed from time to time to account for inflation.

2. Water charges: Many older housing societies have one or two shared water meters, so everyone pays the same amount. There are some suggested ways for societies to figure out how much to charge each member for water use since different people use water at different rates.

All members of the society pay the same amount for water used for gardening, washing cars, keeping the lobby clean, swimming pools, and fire hydrants.

Using the plumbing layout diagram, it is possible to figure out how many pipes go into each apartment. This helps make sure that charges are fair. The number of inlets is used as a “divisor” to figure out the actual water charges.

3. Common electricity charges: When figuring out the common electricity charges, all of the electric costs are taken into account. This includes the costs of lighting the compound, using the bore well, lighting the passages, and running the elevator. Most societies don’t accept requests for exemptions because the facilities aren’t used enough.

4. The sinking fund: Bye-Law No. 13 (C) has been added to the Model Bye-Laws of Cooperative Housing Societies so that a “sinking fund” can be collected. This fund is equal to 0.25 percent of the annual cost of building a house in society. It is charged every month as part of the maintenance charges. This provision has been made so that a building can be rebuilt if its structure is damaged to the point where it is no longer safe to live in. When a society isn’t able to come up with enough money for reconstruction quickly, these funds become very important. Sinking funds are paid for by all of the current and future people who live in the housing society.

5. Non-occupancy charges: These charges are charged for units whose owners have rented them out. Bye-Law 66 of the MCHSC says that if you rent out the flat but don’t live there yourself, you must pay a fixed 10% of the consolidated service charges. Non-occupancy charges are not charged when any of the following are true:

• The new owner of the apartment lives in the unit.
• The apartment is always locked or empty.
• Family members live in the flat, such as the society member’s husband, wife, father, mother, sister, brother, son, daughter, son-in-law, brother-in-law, daughter-in-law, grandson, or granddaughter.

Types of maintenance charges and when they apply

• Costs to repair and maintain the building range from Rs 2 to Rs 25 per square foot of the flat.
• Service charges for (housekeeping, security, electricity for common areas, etc.) – Split evenly between all flats
• Sinking fund At least 0.25 percent of the cost of building each flat per year.
• Non-occupancy charges are 10 percent of the service charges for flats that are rented out.
• Parking charges are based on how many parking spots each member has (If the slots are not purchased)
• Water charges are based on how much water each apartment used or the number of water outlets.

Societies usually have rules about how much they charge and what kind of charges they can collect. These rules vary from State to State. 

Disclaimer: The opinions shown above are mainly for informational reasons and are based on market research. Deal Acres is not responsible for any actions made as a result of relying on the provided material and makes no representations as to its accuracy, completeness, or reliability.