the Maharashtra Apartment Ownership Act, 1970, which provides for the formation of a Condominium. The buyers of premises in a Condominium are called Apartment owners who form an association known as an 'Association of Apartment Owners' in case of both i.e. residential as well as non-residential premises.
Apartment ownership, the legal title of the flat as an object, along with a proportionate share in the common areas of the building and also proportionate share in the land on which the building stands, vests in the Apartment owner. That means, the building belongs to jointly but each Apartment owner has an independent right to his Apartment to the exclusion of others
In case of conveyance of the Apartments, all transfers of Apartments by the sole owner or all the owners of the property (being an owner or owners who have or have executed and registered a declaration in form “A”) to an Apartment owner and subsequent transfers from an Apartment owner to his Transferee.
With regard to the parties of the Deeds of Apartments, in the case of the first Deed of Apartment the party of the first part shall be either the sole owner or all the owners of the property who has or have executed and registered the Declaration in form “A” and the party of the second part shall be the Apartment owner. In the case of subsequent Deeds of Apartment, the party of the first part shall be the Apartment owner and the party of the second part shall be his Transferee.
There are a few important points to keep in mind while forming an Apartment Owners Association. These points are as follows:
• A minimum of seven members are required to form an association. Out of these 7 members, you need to appoint office bearers and others to ensure that the Association is managed properly. The office bearers are accountable to the rest of the Association and to the members of the Apartment as a whole (something we shall touch upon soon)
• A memorandum has to be created. The memorandum will state the name of the society, the objectives and the names, addresses and occupations of each and every member of the Association. This is for creating transparency in the operation of the organisation.
• The bye-laws or the rules regulating the conduct of the affairs of the society will be made. These bye-laws are crucial in the management of the society. The memorandum and the bye-laws have to be printed or typewritten and have to be signed by the members.
• The memorandum and the bye-laws will be filled with the registrar of the societies concerned by a member of the committee of the society. Regular filings help to prevent any questions being raised as to the correctness of the operations of the society.
The memorandum and bye-laws of an apartment association are crucial to the operation of the Association. Please ensure that you create these documents with due care and caution.