REGISTER A NEW HOUSING SOCIETY

First general body meeting (before registration)
In this meeting under Society’s Model Bye-law 3(iii), the Chief Promoter (could be the builder) is primarily selected by the promoters, who are members co-signing the registration application before the Registering Authority, under Bye-law 3(xii).
Application for registration

Normally, the name reservation proposal should be accompanied with the society resolutions and signatures of at least 10 Promoters who have attended the meeting. On allotment of name and permission to open a bank account by the Registrar, the Chief Promoter has to collect Share Capital, Entrance Fees from promoters and deposit the same in the branch of the bank permitted by the Registrar. It should be noted that the amount cannot be withdrawn from the Bank till the society is registered or its registration is refused, except with prior written permission of the Registrar. The Chief Promoter should submit registration proposal to the registering authority within a period of 3 months from the date of issue of Letter of Reservation in the name of the proposed society.

Co-operative Societies Commissioner & Registrar’s GR No. SAGRUVO/1094/Pra.Kra 277/14C dated 10 March 1995 says “By exercising the powers in section 7 of the Co-operative Societies Act 1960 the government is pleased to exempt the provision of minimum 10 members for registering co-operative Housing society under sub-clause 1 in Section 6 of the said Act subject to the conditions that the plinth area of each flat in the proposed co-operative Housing Society should not be more than 700 sq. ft and FSI should not be balance for utilization in the proposed societies land/ building.
If builder/ promoter is not co-operating in registering the Co-operative Housing Society, then in that case, the application for registration of society be submitted in Form 6 (Rule 12) before the District Deputy Registrar, who has been given power under section 10(1) of the Maharashtra Ownership Flats Act 1963. While submitting the said proposal, a Notarized Indemnity Bond of the members who applied for the registration of society on the stamp paper of Rs. 200 is required.
Approval by Registrar

It is the duty of the concerned Registrar to register the Co-operative Housing Society, by scrutinizing the proposal submitted after fulfillment of above mentioned documents, and shall make an arrangement of issuing certificate of registration society under Section 9(1) of the Maharashtra Co-operative Society Act 1960, and copy of the registered bye-law, memorandum regarding registration of society to the chief promoter. The order regarding registration of society should have been sent for publishing in government gazette to the Government Printing Press for appropriate action. It is necessary to take decision on the registration of the society within a period of two months from the date of the proposal of the society submitted to the Registrar.

If proposal of society registration is denied or no decision is taken within two months then it is necessary to send that proposal to the Divisional Joint Registrar, Co-operative Societies under Section 152 of the Maharashtra Co. operative societies Act, can be approached.

First General Body Meeting obligatory Agenda (after registration):
• To elect a Chairman for the meeting
• To admit persons to membership who have applied for membership of the society.
• To elect a provisional Managing Committee
• To receive and approve the statement of account as prepared by the Chief Promoter of the society up to 14 days prior to the first general body meeting of the society.
• To authorize the committee to secure conveyance of right title and interest in the property in the name of the society from the promoter builder
• To impose restrictions on raising loan amount from outside
• To appoint internal auditor and to fix his remuneration
• To authorize one of the members of the provisional committee to call the first meeting of the provisional committee
• To take decision about taking membership of District Housing Federation and other institutions
• To give power to one member of provisional management committee to call meeting of the managing committee
• To consider the matters raised by the member except these matters which are necessary for giving advance notice with the permission of chairman and eleventh hour matter and to make resolution in that regard.

*BUILDER’S HANDOVER PROCESS:-
The date of handover from builder to the registered owners association is an important day for new apartment owners and all residents. It has to be taken seriously and detailed due diligence must be done when interacting with the builders during this handover process. Once the formal handover to the Owners Association is completed, the onus is on the association to run the affairs of the society and to ensure its smooth functioning. The association must be prepared for this day for 3+ months leading to this event.

It is recommended that owners collaboratively engage with the builder right from late construction stages that will help them to take-up this responsibility in future. The builders can also reach out to representatives from the owners group to assist in the selection of maintenance agency which prepares them for the handover process.

Based on our experience in interacting with various builders and associations, we have collated a check list that associations can use when in dialogue with the builder on the handover process:

1. Get approved building plan which includes block-wise and floor-wise details
2. Collect the Completion Certificate which ensures adherence of the approved plan
3. No Objection certificates from pollution, fire, water and electricity authorities
4. Hard copy and soft copy (in CD) of all approved engineering drawings; look for approval seal on the drawings
5. Registration and parent documents
6. Drainage, sewage, Fire protection and common area power layout drawings
7. Car parking layout drawings (with numbering)
8. Asset Inventory of all movable and immovable equipment purchased; numbered in order (list needs to be exhaustive)
9. Record of recent service history on key equipment’s like lifts, DG sets, STP and WTP
10.AMC and warranty details; Original bills of equipment purchased (motors, Sewage and Water Treatment Plant, Generators, Gym items like treadmill)
11.Lift license details and next renewal date
12.STP/WTP vendor details, plant layout, operation manual and drawings
13.Receipts of property, electricity and water payments paid
14.Handover of corpus amount to the association
15.Share recent expenses incurred on various maintenance activities and account heads; will assist to budget coming year (staff salaries, purchase of cleaning material, swimming pool maintenance etc)
16.Contract signed with maintenance agency; agreed SLAs
17.Insurance taken for assets and third party lift insurance
18.Audited account statement at the time of handover
19. Arrange for introductory meeting with important suppliers and vendors