When it comes to society maintenance charges in Maharashtra, you should follow some basic methods towards calculating the same.
Are you a homeowner who is wondering about society maintenance charges in a Maharashtra? You are not alone; Maintenance or service charges are imposed by most cooperative housing societies to meet their expenses. This often works as a major source of confusion for residents, particularly regarding calculating these costs. The basis on which charges are shared for every unit will be worked out by the Cooperative Housing Society.
Based on the model byelaws for the Maharashtra Ownership of Flats Act or MOFA, every society should have a mixture of per flat and per sq. ft. models for finally working out charges under multiple heads.
What makes up society maintenance costs?
There are various components of society maintenance charges and these include the following:
- Service/Maintenance Fees- These fees are also called basic maintenance fees and are levied by cooperative housing societies for procuring multiple services. These are usually imposed on the per flat basis and individuals who own more than a single apartment in a society will have to pay these charges likewise. The amount collected under this head will be used for payment of salaries of personnel in the society office, administrative and technical staff members, etc. Other administrative expenditure covering auditing, stationary, phone and electricity bills for common areas will be paid through realization of these charges.
- Building Repairs- Expenditure for repairs of buildings are mostly chargeable on a per sq. ft. basis for members. Calculations are made by the associations but should be 0.75% of construction costs of apartment units. These charges will cover expenses for maintenance and repairing of lifts as well.
- Life Repair- Maintenance and repair of lifts is a vital component of society maintenance charges. These may be divided by the total number of apartments in some cases as well.
- Corpus/Sinking Fund- This is the contribution by every member for specific goals including reconstruction/renovation of the building in the future, additions, heavy repair jobs or alterations. Based on guidelines issued by MOFA, the fund should be at least 0.25% of cost of construction of an apartment annually.
- Parking- These charges will be imposed on the per flat basis and the amount will be decided by the society’s general body.
- Water- Charges are imposed based on the water inlet counts for each unit based on water meter readings.
- Property Taxes- Cooperative housing societies can collect property taxes on the Government’s behalf on the per sq. ft. basis.
- Insurance- Costs for insuring infrastructure/buildings may be shared amongst members based on built-up areas of their apartment units.
- Added Charges- Any additional charges may be decided by the society’s general body and included for sharing across every society resident.
Society maintenance charges- Calculation and vital aspects worth noting
Based on MOFA byelaws, society charges on individuals are conditional towards him/her obtaining membership of the cooperative housing society. Hence, the society can charge members even if they own vacant flats in that residential scheme. If an apartment is rented out to any tenant, there are extra charges to a maximum of 10% of the overall charges for society maintenance. These are called NOC or non-occupancy charges and cannot be imposed if the tenant is a family member of the flat owner.
You can always calculate society maintenance charges with a flat wise approach. This charge works out the overall maintenance cost/amount incurred by the society with equal divisions amongst all owners of apartments, irrespective of the size of the units. The area wise method can also be used where the overall costs are charged based on the total area (in sq. ft.) that is owned by every member. Common areas are equally divided through the fixed rate. Cooperative housing societies cannot impose charges based on flat area as per MOFA guidelines.
