Definitions

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,- (a) "advertisement" means any board, device, letter, model, notice, placard, sign board, or representation in any manner whatsoever, wholly or in part, intended for being announced or displayed so as to make it generally known; (b) "allottee" in relation to an apartment or plot, means the person to whom such apartment or plot has been allotted, sold or otherwise transferred by the promoter; (c) "apartment" whether called block, chamber, dwelling unit, flat, lot, premises, suite, tenement, unit or by any other name, means a separate and self-contained part of any property, including one or more rooms or enclosed spaces, located on one or more floors, or, any part or parts thereof, in a building, or in a plot of land, used or intended to be used for residence, office, shop, showroom, or godown or for carrying on any business, industry, occupation, profession or trade, or for any other type of independent use ancillary to the purpose specified above and with a direct exit to a public street, road or highway or to a common area leading to such street, road or highway, and includes any garage or room whether or not adjacent to the building in which such apartment is located, provided by the promoter for the use by the allottee for parking any vehicle or, as the case may be, for the residence of any domestic servant employed in such apartment; (cc) "apartment building" means a building constructed on any land, containing five or more apartments or two or more buildings with a total of five or more apartments or any existing building converted into five or more apartments; Explanation. - (1) If a basement, cellar, garage, room, shop or storage space is sold separately from any apartment, it shall be treated as an independent apartment and not as part of any other apartment or of the common areas and facilities; Explanation. - (2) Notwithstanding that provision is made for sanitary, washing, bathing or other conveniences as common to two or more apartments, the apartments shall be deemed to be separate and self-contained; (d) "apartment number" means the number, letter or combination thereof, designating an apartment; (e) "apartment owner" means the person owning an apartment and an undivided interest in the common areas and facilities appurtenant to such apartment in the percentage specified in the conveyance deed of apartment; Explanation. - A member of a co-operative housing society of the tenant co-partnership type, or an allottee under a hire-purchase agreement, will be deemed to be an owner, entitled to membership of the association; (f) "association" means an association consisting of all the apartment owners in a building acting as a group in accordance with the bye-laws made by the association under the Punjab Apartment Ownership Act, 1995 and includes or an association formed under section 17-A of this Act; (g) "building" means any construction or part of a construction which is intended to be used for residential, commercial, industrial or other purposes, whether in actual use or not, and includes any out-house, stable, cattle shed and garage; (h) "building regulations" means the rules or regulations or bye-laws made under any law for the time being in force for the erection or re-erection of buildings or parts thereof and for the purpose of this Act includes Zoning Regulations framed under any law for the time being in force; (i) "colony" means an area of land not less than one thousand square meters divided or proposed to be divided by way of registered sale or through lease or transfer of physical possession of plots or apartment building for residential, commercial or industrial purposes including cyber city/cyber park, construction of flats in the form of group housing or for construction of integrated commercial complexes but does not include any area of abadi deh of a village falling inside its Lal Lakir or phirny or land divided or proposed to be divided - (i) for the purpose of agriculture: Provided that area proposed to be divided is not less than one thousand metres; or (ii) by a company, institution or factory for creation of housing for its employees provided that there is no profit-motive nor ownership of the houses is transferred to the employees and their rights to accommodation are restricted to the period of their employment with company, institution or factory; (j) "common areas and facilities", in relation to a building, means all parts of the building or the land on which it is located and all easements, rights and appurtenances belonging to the land or the building, which are neither in the exclusive possession of an apartment owner in terms of his conveyance deed of apartment, nor are handed over or intended to be handed over to local authority or other public service agency and shall include the limited common areas and facilities; (k) "common expenses" means,- (i) all sums lawfully assessed against the apartment owners by the association for meeting the expenses of administration, maintenance, repair or replacement of the common areas and facilities; (ii) expenses, declared by the provisions of this Act or by the bye-laws made by the association under the Punjab Apartment Ownership Act, 1995, or agreed upon by the association, as common expenses; (iii) the Government and municipal taxes, including ground rent and property tax, which is not assessed separately for each apartment; (l) "competent authority" means any person or authority appointed by the State Government, by notification in the Official Gazette, to exercise and perform all or any of the powers and functions of the competent authority under this Act and the rules made thereunder; (m) "development charges" means the cost of external development works and internal development works; (n) "development works" means internal development works and external development works; (o) "estate agent" means a person who negotiates or acts on behalf of one person in a transaction of transfer of his property, whether by way of sale, lease, licence, mortgage or otherwise, with another person, and receives remuneration for his services in the form of commission, and includes also a person who introduces to each other for negotiation such persons or their agents; Explanation. - The person who acts as described in clause (o) shall be deemed to be an estate agent, even if he styles himself as a land or housing agent, property or real estate consultant, property dealer, realtor, or by any other name; (p) "external development works" includes roads and road systems, water supply, sewerage and drainage systems, electric supply or any other work which may have to be executed in the periphery of, or outside, a colony for its benefit; (q) "Government" or "State Government" means the Government of the State of Punjab; (r) "internal development works" means roads, parks, footpaths, water supply, sewers, drains, tree planting, street lighting, provision for community buildings and for treatment and disposal of sewage and sullage water, storm water drainage, rain water harvesting, domestic solid waste collection centre, electric line upto individual plots or any other work in a colony necessary for its proper development, as may be specified by the competent authority; and (s) "joint family" means a Hindu undivided family and in the case of other person, a group the members of which are by custom joint in possession or residence; (t) "land" means a portion of the surface of the earth, comprising the ground or soil and every thing under it or over it, and things which are attached to the earth, such as buildings, structures and trees, things which are permanently fastened to the earth or to things attached to the earth, easements, rights and appurtenances belonging to them and benefits arising out of them and includes the sites of villages, towns and cities; (u) "limited common areas and facilities" means those common areas and facilities which are designated in writing by the promoter before the allotment, sale or transfer of any apartment, as reserved for use of certain apartments to the exclusion of the other apartments; (v) "local authority" means a corporation constituted under section 4 of the Punjab Municipal Corporation Act, 1976 (Punjab Act No. 42 of 1976) or a committee constituted under section 12 of the Punjab Municipal Act, 1911 (Punjab Act No. 3 of 1911) or any other authority notified by the State Government for the purposes of this Act; (w) "person" includes a company, firm, co-operative society, joint family and an incorporated body of persons; (x) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act; (y) "promoter" means the person, – (a) who is the owner of land, on which a colony is developed; (b) builder, who constructs or causes to be constructed an apartment building consisting of apartments, or converts an existing building or a part thereof into apartments, for the purpose of selling all or some of the apartments to other persons, and includes his assigns; (c) colonizer, who develops land into a colony, whether or not he also constructs structures on any of the plots, for the purpose of selling to other persons, all or some of the plots, whether open or with structures thereon; (d) property dealer or estate agent, who offered or sells apartments or plots on behalf of the land owner or builder or colonizer or any other person, by whatever name he may be called; (e) who claims to be acting as the holder of a power of attorney from the owner of the land on which the building is constructed or a colony is developed; and (f) who styles himself as a developer, or by any other name. (q) "Government" or "State Government" means the Government of the State of Punjab; (r) "internal development works" means roads, parks, footpaths, water supply, sewers, drains, tree planting, street lighting, provision for community buildings and for treatment and disposal of sewage and sullage water, storm water drainage, rain water harvesting, domestic solid waste collection centre, electric line upto individual plots or any other work in a colony necessary for its proper development, as may be specified by the competent authority; and (s) "joint family" means a Hindu undivided family and in the case of other person, a group the members of which are by custom joint in possession or residence; (t) "land" means a portion of the surface of the earth, comprising the ground or soil and every thing under it or over it, and things which are attached to the earth, such as buildings, structures and trees, things which are permanently fastened to the earth or to things attached to the earth, easements, rights and appurtenances belonging to them and benefits arising out of them and includes the sites of villages, towns and cities; (u) "limited common areas and facilities" means those common areas and facilities which are designated in writing by the promoter before the allotment, sale or transfer of any apartment, as reserved for use of certain apartments to the exclusion of the other apartments; (v) "local authority" means a corporation constituted under section 4 of the Punjab Municipal Corporation Act, 1976 (Punjab Act No. 42 of 1976) or a committee constituted under section 12 of the Punjab Municipal Act, 1911 (Punjab Act No. 3 of 1911) or any other authority notified by the State Government for the purposes of this Act; (w) "person" includes a company, firm, co-operative society, joint family and an incorporated body of persons; (x) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act; (y) "promoter" means the person, – (a) who is the owner of land, on which a colony is developed; (b) builder, who constructs or causes to be constructed an apartment building consisting of apartments, or converts an existing building or a part thereof into apartments, for the purpose of selling all or some of the apartments to other persons, and includes his assigns; (c) colonizer, who develops land into a colony, whether or not he also constructs structures on any of the plots, for the purpose of selling to other persons, all or some of the plots, whether open or with structures thereon; (d) property dealer or estate agent, who offered or sells apartments or plots on behalf of the land owner or builder or colonizer or any other person, by whatever name he may be called; (e) who claims to be acting as the holder of a power of attorney from the owner of the land on which the building is constructed or a colony is developed; and (f) who styles himself as a developer, or by any other name. Explanation. - Any development authority and any other public body so notified by the State Government are deemed to be promoter in respect of allottees of, - (i) building constructed by them on land owned by them or placed at their disposal by the State Government; or (ii) plots owned by them or placed at their disposal by the State Government; (z) "property" means the land, the building, all improvements and structures thereon, and all easements, rights and appurtenances belonging thereto, and includes every type of right and interest in land which a person can have to the exclusion of other persons, such as possession, use and enjoyment free from interference, right of disposition, franchises and hereditaments; (za) "section" means a section of this Act; and (zb) "unauthorized colony" means a colony which has been developed in contravention with the provisions of the Act and the rules made thereunder. In the Punjab Apartment and Property Regulation Act, 1995 (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act), in section 2.- (i) for clause (a), the following clause shall be substituted, namely:- "(a) 'advertisement" means any document described or issued as advertisement through any medium and includes any notice, circular or other documents or publicity in any form, informing persons about a colony, or offering for sale of a plot, building or apartment or inviting persons to purchase in any manner such plot, building or apartment, or to make advances or deposits for such purposes;"; (ii) in clause (cc), for the words "five or more apartments", wherever occurring, the words "eight or more apartments" shall be substituted; (iii) in clause (i),- (a) for the words "one thousand square meters", wherever occurring, the words "five hundred square meters" shall be substituted; and (b) in sub-clause (ii), for the sign ";" at the end, the sign and word"; or" shall be substituted and after sub-clause (ii), the following sub-clause shall be added, namely:- "(iii) as a result of family partition, inheritance, succession or partition of joint holdings not with the motive of earning profit;"; (iv) for clause (j), the following clause shall be substituted, namely:- 'ij) "common areas" means,- (i) the entire land of the project, or where the project is developed in phases, the entire land of that phase; (ii) the staircases, lifts, staircase and lift lobbies, fire escapes, and common entrances and exits of buildings; (iii) the common basements, terraces, parks, play areas, open parking areas and common storage spaces; (iv) the premises for the lodging of persons employed for the management of the property including accommodation for watch and ward stalls or for the lodging of community service personnel; (v) installations of central services such as electricity, gas, water and sanitition, air-conditioning and incinerating, system for water conservation and renewable energy; (vi) the water tanks, sumps, motors, fans, compressors, ducts and all apparatus connected with installations for common use; (vii) all community and commercial facilities as provided in the project: and (viii) all other portions of the project necessary or convenient for its maintenance, safety, etc., and in common use;"; (v) after clause (l), the following clauses shall be inserted, namely:- "(Ia) "completion certificate of building" means a certificate issued by the competent authority on written request of the applicant or promoter after completion of building works including finishing of all common services and utilities as provided in the approved Building Plans and Service Plans; (Ib) "completion certificate of project" means the completion certificate, or such other certificate, by whatever name called, issued by the competent authority certifying that the real estate project has been developed according to the sanctioned plan, layout plan and specifications, as approved by the competent authority under the local laws;"; (vi) for clause (o), the following clause shall be substituted, namely:- "(o) 'estate agent means any person, who negotiates or acts on behalf of one person in a transaction of transfer of his plot, apartment or building, as the case may be, by way of sale, with another person or transfer of plot, apartment or building, as the case may be, of any other person to him and receives remuneration or fees or any other charges for his services, whether as commission or otherwise, and includes a person who introduces, through any medium, prospective buyers and sellers to each other for negotiation for sale or purchase of plot, apartment or building, as the case may be, and includes property dealers, brokers, middlemen, by whatever name called;"; (vii) after clause (v), the following clauses shall be inserted, namely:- "(va) "occupation certificate of building" means a certificate issued by the competent authority to occupy a building or part of the building or any portion whatsoever; (vb) "partial completion certificate" means a certificate issued by the authority, competent to issue the same, for a part of project area on completion of development works in that part or part of a building block in case of built up projects, as the case may be:"; and (viii) for clause (w), the following clause shall be substituted, namely:- "(w) "person" includes,- (i) an individual: (ii) a Hindu Undivided Family; (iii) a company; (iv) a firm under the Indian Partnership Act, 1932.