Chapter II Ownership, Heritability and Transferability of Apartments

1. (1) Every person to whom any apartment is allotted, sold or otherwise transferred by the promoter, on or after the commencement of this Act, shall, subject to the other provisions of this Act, be entitled to the exclusive ownership and possession of the apartment so allotted, sold or otherwise transferred to him.
2. (2) Every person to whom any apartment was allotted, sold or otherwise transferred by the promoter before the commencement of this Act shall, subject to the other provisions of this Act, be entitled, on and from such commencement, to the exclusive ownership and possession of the apartment so allotted, sold or otherwise transferred to him.
3. (3) Every person who becomes entitled to the exclusive ownership and possession of an apartment under sub-section (1) or sub-section (2) shall be entitled to such percentage of undivided interest in the common areas and facilities as may be specified in the Deed of Transfer of Apartment and such percentage shall be computed by taking, as a basis, the built up area of the apartment in relation to the built up areas of all the apartments in the building: Provided that in relation to any common area or facility limited for use by certain owners to the exclusion of other owners, the percentage of undivided interest in such common area or facility shall be computed by taking, as a basis, the built up areas of all such apartments: Provided further that in a case where apartments in a building have been allotted, sold or otherwise transferred for non-residential use, the percentage of non-residential use in relation to such building shall be such as may be prescribed. Explanation.- For the purpose of this sub-section, the actual built up area shall be taken into account for the calculation of the percentage and any different area which may be stated in the agreement between the promoter and the allottee shall be ignored.
4. (4) (a) The percentage of the undivided interest of each apartment owner in the common areas and facilities shall have a permanent character and shall not be altered without the written consent of all the apartment owners.
   • (b) The percentage of the undivided interest in the common areas and facilities shall not be separated from the apartment to which it appertains and shall be deemed to be conveyed or encumbered with the apartment, even though such interest is not expressly mentioned in the conveyance or other instrument.
5. (5) The common areas and facilities shall remain undivided and no apartment owner or any other person shall bring any action for partition or division of any part thereof, and any covenant to the contrary shall be void.
6. (6) Each apartment owner may use the common areas and facilities in accordance with the purposes for which they are intended without hindering or encroaching upon the lawful rights of the other apartment owners.
7. (7) The necessary work relating to maintenance, repairs and replacement of the common areas and facilities and the making of any additions or improvements thereto, shall be carried out only in accordance with the provisions of this Act and the bye-laws.
8. (8) The Association shall have the irrevocable right, to be exercised by its governing body, to have access to each apartment from time to time during reasonable hours for the maintenance, repairs or replacement of any of the common areas or facilities therein, or accessible therefrom, or for making emergency repairs therein necessary to prevent damage to the common areas and facilities or to any other apartment or apartments.

Each apartment, together with the undivided interest in the common areas and facilities appurtenant to such apartment, shall, for all purposes, constitute as a heritable and transferable immovable property within the meaning of any law for the time being in force, and accordingly, an apartment owner may transfer his apartment and the percentage of undivided interest in the common areas and facilities appurtenant to such apartment by way of sale, mortgage, lease, gift, exchange or in any other manner whatsoever in the same manner, to the same extent and subject to the same rights, privileges, obligations, liabilities, investigations, legal proceedings, remedy and to penalty, forfeiture or punishment as any other immovable property or make a bequest of the same under the law applicable to the transfer and succession of immovable property: Provided that where the building is on leasehold land, the transfer shall be subject to the terms and conditions of the lease: Provided further that no apartment shall be transferred without obtaining no-dues certificate from the Association.

Each apartment owner shall comply strictly with the bye-laws and with the covenants, conditions and restrictions set forth in the Deed of Transfer of Apartment, and failure to comply with any of them shall be a ground for action to recover sums due for damages, or for injunctive relief, or both, by the Association, or, in a proper case, by an aggrieved apartment owner.

1. (1) Where any land is given on lease or ground rent by a person includes firm, company, any local body, Trust, Corporation, Development Authority etc. (hereafter in this section referred to as the lessor) to another person (hereafter in this section referred to as the lessee, which term shall include a person in whose favour a sub-lease of such land has been granted), and any building that has been constructed on such leasehold land by the lessee or by any other person authorised by him or claiming through him, such lessee shall grant in respect of the land as many sub-leases as there are apartments in such building and shall execute separate deeds of sub-lease in respect of such land in favour of each apartment owner before handing over the possession of apartment in such building to him. The lessor shall be duty bound to supply the plans and other legal documents to the lessee.
   • (a) in the case of a building constructed before the commencement of this Act, within three months from such commencement; or
   • (b) in the case of a building constructed after the commencement of this Act, within three months from the date on which the possession of any apartment is such building is delivered to him: Provided that the sub-lessee shall have the same rights and liabilities as the lease to the extent of the area given under sub-lease. That is the lessee has transferred all his right to the sub-lessee including the right of transfer for the remaining period of sub-lease and so forth: Provided further that no sub-lease in respect of any land shall be granted except on the same terms and conditions on which the lease in respect of the land has been granted by the lessor and no additional terms and conditions shall be imposed by the lessee except with the previous approval of the lessor.
2. (2) Where the lessee has any reason to suspect that there has been any breach of the terms and conditions of the sub-lease referred to in sub-section (1), he may himself inspect the land on which the building containing the concerned apartment has been constructed, or may authorize one or more persons to inspect such land and make a report as to whether there had been any breach of the terms and conditions of any sub-lease in respect of such land and, if so, the nature and extent of such breach, and for this purpose, it shall be lawful for the lessee or any person authorised by him to enter in to, and to be in, the lane in relation to which such breach has been or is suspected to have been committed.
3. (3) Where the lessee or any person authorized by him makes an inspection of the land referred to in sub-section (1), he shall record in writing his findings on such inspection a true copy of which shall be furnished to the apartment owner by whom such breach of the terms and conditions of sub-lease in respect of the land appurtenant to the apartment owned by him has been committed (hereinafter referred to as the defaulting apartment owner) and where such findings indicate that there had been any breach of the terms and conditions of the sublease in respect of such land, the lessee may, by a notice in writing, require the defaulting apartment owner to refrain from committing any breach of the terms and conditions of the sub-lease in respect of such land, or to pay in lieu thereof such composition fees as may be specified in the notice in accordance with such scales of compositions fees as may be prescribed.
4. (4) The defaulting apartment owner who is aggrieved by any notice served on him by the lessee under sub-section (3) may within thirty days from the date of service of such notice, prefer an appeal to the competent authority either challenging the finding of the lessee or any person authorized by him or disputing the amount of composition fees as specified in the notice, and the competent authority may, after giving the parties a reasonable opportunity of being heard, confirm, alter or reverse those finding or may confirm, reduce or increase the amount of composition fees or set aside the notice.
5. (5) Where, on the breach of any terms and conditions of any sub-lease in respect of any land, any composition fees become payable, the defaulting apartment owners shall be deemed to have been guilty of such breach and in default of payment thereof it shall be lawful for the lessee to recover the amount of the composition fees from the defaulting apartment owner as an arrear of land revenue.
6. (6) Where any composition fees are paid whether in pursuance of the notice served under sub-section (3) or in accordance with the decision of the competent authority or Appellate Authority on appeal, no further action shall be taken by the lessee for the breach of the terms and conditions of the sub-lease in respect of the land in relation to which payment of such composition fees has been made.
7. (7) Where any lessee omits or fails to take any action either in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (2) or sub-section (3) the lessor may, in the first instance, require the lessee by a notice in writing to take action against the defaulting apartment owner under sub-section (2) or, as the case may be, under sub-section (3) within a period of ninety days from the date of service of such notice, and in the event of the omission or failure of the lessee to do so within such period, the lessor may himself take action as contained in subsection (2) or sub-section (3) and the provisions of sub-section (4) to sub-section (6) shall, as far as may be, apply to any action taken by him as if such action has been taken by the lessee.
8. (8) For the removal of doubts, it is hereby declared that no work in any apartment by the owner thereof shall be deemed to be a breach of the terms of the sub-lease in respect of the land on which the building containing such apartment has been constructed unless the work is prohibited by section 8.

No apartment owner shall do any work which would be prejudicial to the soundness or safety of the property or reduce the value thereof or impair any easement or hereditament nor shall any apartment owner add any material structure or excavate any additional basement or cellar without first obtaining the consent of all the other apartment owners. Association of apartment owners formed as per the provisions of the Act Explanation.- In this section, reference to apartment owners shall be construed, in relation to a multi-storeyed building in any block, pocket or other designated area, the apartment owners of the concerned multi-storeyed building in such block, pocket or other designated area.

1. (1) The owner of each apartment may create any encumbrance, only against the apartment owned by him and the percentage of the undivided interest in the common areas and facilities appurtenant to such apartment in the same manner and to the same extent as may be created in relation to any other separate parcel of property subject to individual ownership: Provided that where any such encumbrance is created, the apartment in relation to which such encumbrance has been created shall not be partitioned or sub-divided.
2. (2) No labour performed or material furnished with the consent, or at the request, of an apartment owner or his agent or his contractor or sub-contractor, shall be the basis for a charge or any encumbrance under the provisions of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882 (Central Act No. 4 of 1882), against the apartment or property of any other apartment owner not expressly consenting to, or requesting, the same, except that such express consent shall be deemed to be given by the other apartment owner in case of emergency repairs thereto.
3. (3) The labour performed and material furnished for the common areas and facilities, if duly authorized by the Association in accordance with the provisions of this Act, or the bye-laws, shall be deemed to be performed or furnished with the express consent of each apartment owner and shall be the basis for a charge or encumbrance under the Act aforesaid against each of the apartments and shall be subject to the provisions of sub-section (4).
4. (4) In the event of a charge or any encumbrance against two or more apartments becoming effective, the apartment owners of the separate apartments may remove their apartments and the percentage of undivided interest in the common areas and facilities appurtenant to such apartments from the charge or encumbrance on payment of the fractional or proportional amounts attributable to each of the apartments affected and on such payment, the apartment and the percentage of undivided interest in the common areas and facilities appurtenant thereto shall be free of the charge or encumbrance so removed: Provided that such partial payment shall not prevent the person having a charge or any of the encumbrances from proceeding to enforce the rights, in relation to the amount not so paid, against any other apartment and the percentage of undivided interest in the common areas and facilities appurtenant to such apartment.
5. (5) On any such payment, discharge or other satisfaction, referred to in sub-section (4), the apartment and the percentage of undivided interest in the common areas and facilities appurtenant thereto shall be free and clear of the charge or encumbrances, so paid, satisfied or discharged.