Chapter I Preliminary

1. (1) This Act may be called the Rajasthan Apartment Ownership Act, 2015.
2. (2) It extends to the whole of the State of Rajasthan.
3. (3) It shall come into force at once.

The provisions of this Act shall apply to every apartment in any building constructed or converted into apartments by a promoter before or after the commencement of this Act on a free hold land or on a lease hold land, if the lease for such land is for a period of thirty years or more.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-

1. (a) "allottee", in relation to an apartment, means the person to whom such apartment has been allotted, sold or otherwise transferred by the promoter;
2. (b) "apartment" means a part of any property intended for any type of independent use, including one or more rooms or enclosed spaces located on one or more floors or any part or parts thereof, in a building, intended to be used for residence or office or for the practice of any profession, or for carrying on of any occupation, trade or business or for such other type of independent use, as may be prescribed, 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 use by the owner of such apartment for parking any vehicle or, as the case may be, for the residence of any domestic aide employed in such apartment;
3. (c) "apartment number" means the number, letter, or combination thereof, designating an apartment;
4. (d) "apartment owner" means the person or persons (including a person being a member of a group housing cooperative society) owning an apartment and an undivided interest in the common areas and facilities appurtenant to such apartment in the percentage specified in the Deed of Transfer of Apartment and shall include a promoter in respect of the apartments which have not been allotted, sold or otherwise transferred;
5. (e) "Appellate Authority" means the Appellate Authority appointed under section 26;
6. (f) "Association" means an Association of apartment owners formed, or deemed to have been formed, under section 13, consisting of the apartment owners in the building acting as a group in accordance with the bye-laws;
7. (g) "building" means a building constructed, whether before or after commencement of this Act, on any land, containing four or more apartments, or two or more buildings in any area designated as a block, pocket or otherwise, each containing two or more apartments, with a total of four or more apartments in all such buildings;
8. (h) "bye-laws" means the bye-laws made by the Association under this Act;
   • (i) "common areas and facilities" means-
   • (i) the land on which the building is located and all easements, rights and appurtenances belonging to the land and the building;
   • (ii) the foundations, columns, girders, beams, supports, main walls, roofs, halls, corridors, lobbies, stairs, stairways, fire-escapes and entrances and exits of the building;
   • (iii) the basements, cellars, yards, gardens, parking areas and storage spaces;
   • (iv) the premises for the lodging of janitors or persons employed for the management of the property;
   • (v) installations of central services, such as power, light, gas, hot and cold water, heating, refrigeration, air-conditioning, incinerating and sewerage;
   • (vi) the elevators, tanks, pumps, motors, fans, compressors, ducts and in general all apparatus and installations existing for common use;
   • (vii) such other community and commercial facilities as may be prescribed;
   • (viii) all other parts of the property necessary or convenient to its existence, maintenance and safety or normally in common use;
9. (j) "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 as common expenses by the provisions of this Act or byelaws, or agreed upon by the Association;
10. (k) "common profits" means the balance of all income, rents, profits and revenues from the common areas and facilities remaining after the deduction of the common expenses;
11. (l) "Competent Authority" means the officer or authority who or which may be authorized by the State Government under sub-section (1) of section 24;
12. (m) "Deed of Transfer of Apartment" means the Deed of Transfer of Apartment referred to in section 11;
13. (n) free hold, in relation to a land allotted, sold or otherwise transferred, means tenure in perpetuity with right of inheritance and alienation;
14. (o) "independent areas" means the areas which have been declared but not included as common areas for joint use of apartments and may be sold by the promoter without the interference of other apartment owners;
15. (p) "joint family" means a Hindu undivided family, and in the case of other persons, a group or unit, the members of which are by custom, joint in possession or residence;
16. (q) "limited common areas and facilities" means those common areas and facilities which are designated in writing by the promoter before the allotment, sale or otherwise transfer of any apartment as reserved for use of certain apartment or apartments to the exclusion of the other apartments;
17. (r) "person" includes a company, a firm and a joint family, and also any association of persons, whether incorporated or not;
18. (s) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act;
19. (t) "promoter" means a person, who constructs, or causes to be constructed, the building or converts, or causes to be converted, a building into apartments and where the person who constructs or converts is different from the person who owns the property, the term includes both of them;
20. (u) "property" means the land, building, all improvements and structures thereon, and all easements, rights and appurtenances belonging thereto, and all articles of personal property intended for use in connection therewith; and
    • (v) "Registrar" means the Registrar as defined in sub-clause (i) of sub-section (1) of section 1-A of the Rajasthan Societies Registration Act, 1958 (Act No. 28 of 1958).