The applicable laws, GoMah GR, and judgments by Bombay HC confirm that the service charges must be levied "per member" and not "per flat" or "per area". Despite this, the society has passed a resolution by simple majority to charge all components of the maintenance "by area".
Answers:
I agree with you that maintenance is to be charged "per Member", not per flat. Only Major Repairs and property taxes are charged by "area". However, you as a Member of the Society would also agree that the maintenance charge is for common expenditure incurred on lighting, security, lifts, sweeper etc. which are to be shared by all and it is only just that this should be per flat. I am also owning 2 flats in a CHS but pay common Maintenance charges per flat. I am sure you have 10 shares in the Society instead of 5. Resolutions which are bad in law are not binding and invalid at the outset. If you wanted to, you could send a notice to your Society demanding that they revoke the said Resolution, if there is no response or negative response, you could thereafter file a complaint with the Dy. Registrar, CHS, of your ward, asking him to direct the Society to abide by the Act, Rules and regd. Bye Laws i.e. to levy the Maintenance charges per Member and you would probably win. But is it fair? On the other hand it is also one Member one vote and you are certainly not entitled to more than one vote even though you own 10 shares as opposed to 5, so by that logic, it is fair to demand that the Maintenance charges be levied in accordance with law i.e. per Member. By the way, usually the Dy. Registrar does not bother to respond to simple complaints so what you should do precisely 15 days after you lodge your complaint is to file a RTI application at his office. Then see how things move !
If you have purchased the 2 flats from the builder/society where in it is mentioned that they were 2 different flats, then you have to pay maintainance etc for both of them individually.
Making 2 flats one by keeping one single door doesnt mean that they legally become one flat. What is on paper is the final one. So check your flat agreement papers etc %26 then react.
You are owner of 1 home and 2 houses.
There is an Allahabad High Court judgement in your favour, but that is in Incometax context! For "per area" services, anyway, your floor area counts! For "per member" services, you can be charged only for one home!
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