Mumbai | 15 Jan, 2018 (5 years, 4 months ago)

General Advice

Shop in Cooperative housing society

Hi, After redevelopment of our old building,I have received possession of my new shop from the builder in 2017. Maharashtra. The shop is duly registered under the Shop and Establishment Act. The society now is asking for the below, 1.I have let out my shop on rent with nature of business being a Hair Saloon. The society now objects to this nature of business. Is the society allowed to object to a legitimate business. 2 I am being asked to submit water meter permission issued to me by BMC and fire safety compliance report. Am I responsible for this or should the builder handover these documents to the Society when he transferred management to the Society in 2017? Is the society allowed to force me to get a new water meter connection from BMC when the society is charging me maintenance charges for my shop 50% more than the Flat owners in the society? Thank you in advance.
Answers
26 Mar, 2018 | 14:31

Hi. It would have been better had you written to the society informing it about your intent to let your shop on leave and license basis for purpose of the hair salon business. It is always better to notify the society about any letting by society members of their respective premises. So in your case since you had not notified the society about the proposed letting, the society can create issues for you. Since its a commercial premises the society cannot object to legitimate businesses. The society can only object when the premises are being used for certain commercial activities which are objectionable to the residential nature of the society like a video parlour, hookah parlour, gaming station, cafe, etc. or any activity which is immoral and illegal as per law. Running of a hair salon from your premises does not fall in either of these categories. Coming to the demand of the society to procure a separate water meter connection to your premises, in my view, the said demand is reasonable, since a hair salon's water requirement will be much more than other commercial activities. So its better you procure a separate water connection and the expenses for the same can be distributed between you and your licensee or as mutually agreed between you both. This will silence the society's concern forever in respect of increased water consumption. As to the fire safety compliance report, the demand for the same is also reasonable. Its for the safety of your premises only. So I suggest you have such a report made by concerned person from BMC. It will not be difficult to obtain such a report since the BMC grants OC to a building only if its fire compliant. So an additional fire compliance for your premises is all the more good for you only with the only exception that it will entail some costs to you. You can try to convince the society to not insist for fire safety report since the building itself is fire compliant. The role of the builder ends when possession of the building is handed to the society with OC. In any which ways the builder must have complied with all the pre-conditions for grant of OC. So my advise to you would be to have a co-operative approach with your society. Yes if the society harasses you on the ground that you cannot operate hair salon business from your premises, then you can definitely approach the District Deputy Registrar of Co-operative Societies by filing a proper complaint against society. Thanks.


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