The Telangana Apartments (Promotion of Construction and Ownership) Act, 1987

(1) This Act may be called the Telangana Apartments (Promotion of Construction and Ownership) Act, 1987.

(2) It extends to the whole of the State of Telangana.

(3) This section shall come into force at once, and the remaining provisions of this Act shall come into force in such areas and on such dates as the Government may, by notification, appoint, and different dates may be appointed for different areas.

In this Act, unless context otherwise requires,-

(a) "apartment" means a part of the property including one or more rooms or enclosed spaces located on any one of the floors consisting of a unit in a building, intended to be used for residence, Office, practice of any profession or for carrying on any occupation, trade or business or for any other independent use and with a direct exit to a public street, road or highway or to a common area leading to such street, road or highway.

(b) "Association of apartment owners" means all the apartment owners acting as a group in accordance with the provisions made by it in the bye-laws.

(c) "Building" means a building containing five or more apartments, or two or more buildings, each containing two or more apartments, with a total of five or more apartments for all such buildings, and comprising a part of the property.

(d) "Common areas and facilities" unless otherwise provided in the Declaration, means:

(i) the land on which the building is located;

(ii) foundations, columns, girders, beams, supports, main walls, roofs including terraces, halls, corridors, lobbies, stairs, stair-ways, fire-escapes and entrances and exits of the building.

(iii) Basements, cellars, yards, gardens, parking areas Children‘s play ground and storage spaces;

(iv) The premises for the lodging of janitors or care-takers 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 and incinerating;

(vi) elevators, tanks, wells and bore-wells, 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 provided for in the building plan and Declaration;

(viii) all other parts of the property necessary or convenient to its existence, maintenance and safety or normally in common use;

(e) "Common Expenses" means,—

(i) all sums lawfully assessed against the apartment owners by the association of apartment owners;

(ii) expenses of administration, maintenance, repairs or replacement of the common areas and facilities ;

(iii) expenses agreed upon as common expenses by the association of apartment owners;

(iv) expenses declared as common expenses by the provisions of this Act or by the Declaration or the bye-laws;

(v) premium for insurance coverage of the property;

(f) "common profits" means the balance of all income, rents, profits and other income from the common areas and facilities remaining after the deduction of the common expenses;

(g) "competent authority" means any person or authority authorised by the Government by notification, to perform the functions of the competent authority under this Act for such areas as may be specified in the notification;

(h) "declaration" means the instrument by which the property is submitted to the provisions of Chapter III, as provided by section 2 and such declaration as may be lawfully amended; from time to time;

(i) "Government" means the State Government;

(j) "Limited Common areas and facilities" means these common areas and facilities designated in the Declaration as reserved for the use of certain apartment or apartments to the exclusion of the other apartments;

(k) "Notification" means a notification published in the Telangana Gazette and the word "notified" shall be construed accordingly;

(l) "Prescribed" means prescribed by rules made by the Government under this Act;

(m) "Promotor" means a person who has already constructed or constructs a building of apartments for the purpose of selling some or all of them to other persons;

(n) "Property" comprises the land, the building and the common areas and facilities.

(1) Any promoter who intends to sell an apartment, shall on being so required by an intending transferee make a full and true disclosure in writing of—

(a) his title to the land on and the building, in which the apartments are, or are to be, constructed;

(b) all encumbrances, if any, on such land or building and any right, title, interest or claim of any person in or over such land or building;

(c) the plans and specifications approved by the local authority as the case may be or the Urban Development Authority of the entire building of which the apartments forms part;

(d) the nature of fixtures, fittings and amenities which have been or are proposed to be provided;

(e) the particulars in respect of the designs and the materials which have been or are proposed to be used in the construction of the building, together with the details of all agreements entered into by him with the architects Engineers and Contractors;

(f) all outgoings, including ground rent, if any, municipal or other local taxes, taxes on income, water and electricity charges, revenue assessment, interest on any mortgage or other encumbrance, if any, in respect of the land, building and apartments;

(g) such other information and documents as may be prescribed.

(2) Such promoter shall also,-

(a) specify in writing the date by which possession of the apartments is to be handed over to such transferee;

(b) supply in writing a list of all the apartments which have already been taken or agreed to be taken, together with their distinctive numbers, names and address of the transferers, either actual or intended, the prices paid or agreed to be paid therefor and any other particulars as may be prescribed;

(c) transfer the open spaces earmarked for parks, play-grounds, market places and for other common use free of cost to the Government through a registered gift deed.

(3) The promoter shall give on demand by the intending transferee true copies of the documents referred to in this section.

(4) An apartment may be transferred by the promoters to any person only after obtaining the required certificate of completion and the certificate of fitness for occupation from the local authority concerned.

(5) The water works department and the Electricity Board may supply water and electricity respectively on a temporary basis on production of the plan approved by the local authority or the Urban Development Authority concerned as the case may be:

Provided that, if the promoters proceed with the construction of the building contrary to the sanctioned plan, the supply of water and electricity may be cut off on an intimation from the local authority or the Urban Development Authority, as the case may be, to the water works department or to the authorities of the Electricity Board. The promoter and the apartment owners are responsible for the provision and fixation of fire prevention devices ground and over-head water tank hydrants and wetrisers etc., as may be prescribed.

A promoter who intends to transfer any apartment shall before, accepting any sum of money as advance payment or deposit, which shall not exceed twenty percent of the price, enter into a written agreement of sale with the intending transferee and the same shall be registered as a document compulsarily registerable under clause (b) of sub-section (1) of section 17 of the Registration Act, 1908.

A promoter shall, on payment or tender of the amount due in respect of the price, execute a proper conveyance of the apartment in accordance with the agreement executed under section 5 and give possession of the apartment to the transferee after discharging all encumbrances unless the apartment is sold subject to encumbrances.

(1) Each apartment owner shall be entitled to the exclusive ownership and possession of his apartment. (2) Each apartment, together with its undivided interest in the common areas and facilities, shall for all purposes constitute heritable and transferable immovable property: Provided that the percentage of undivided interest in the common areas and facilities appurtenant to the apartment shall not be partitioned or subdivided for any purpose whatsoever unless the property is withdrawn from the provisions of this Chapter.

Each apartment owner shall comply with the covenants, conditions and restrictions set forth in the Declaration and the bye-laws. Failure to comply with any of the same shall be a ground for action to recover sums due, for damages or other relief, at the instance of the Manager or board of mangers on behalf of the association of apartment owners or in a proper case, by an aggrieved apartment owner.

No apartment owner shall add any material structure or excavate any additional basement or cellar or do any other work which would be prejudicial to the soundness or safety of the property or would reduce the value thereof or impair any easement or hereditament.

During the period the property remains subject to this chapter an encumbrance may be created against any apartment and the percentage of undivided interest in the common areas and facilities appurtenant thereto but not against the property as such.

The common profits of the property shall be distributed among and the common expenses shall be charged to, the apartment owners according to their percentage of undivided interest in the common areas and facilities.

(1) All the apartment owners acting together may withdraw a property from the provisions of this Chapter by an instrument to that effect duly executed. Provided that the holders of all charges and other encumbrances, affecting any of the apartments, consent thereto and agree, by instruments duly executed, that their charges or encumbrances be transfered to the percentage of undivided interest of the apartment owner in the property as hereinafter provided. (2) Upon withdrawal of the property from the provisions of this chapter, the property shall be deemed to be owned in common by the apartment owners and the undivided interest in the property owned in common which shall appurtain to each apartment owner shall be the percentage of undivided interest previously owned by such owner in the common areas and facilities.

The withdrawal provided for in section 15 shall in no way bar the subsequent submission of the property to the provisions of this chapter.

All instruments relating to the Declaration or any amendment thereto referred to in section 14 or the withdrawal of a property from the provisions of this chapter referred to in section 15 shall be deemed to be instruments compulsorily registerable within the meaning of clause (b) of sub-section (1) of Section 17 of the Registration Act, 1908.

Each apartment and its percentage of undivided interest in the common areas and facilities shall be deemed to be a separate property for the purpose of assessment of tax on lands and buildings under any law for the time being inforce.

All sums assessed by the association of apartment owners for the share of the common expenses chargeable to any apartment shall constitute a charge on such apartment with precedence over other charges, except charges, if any, for payment of Government and Municipal Taxes and all sums remaining unpaid on a first mortgage of the apartment;

Explanation:— For the purposes of this section

‘Government‘ shall include the Central Government.

The manager or board of managers of an association of apartment owners may, after due notice of not less than seven days, for just and sufficient cause, cut off, with-hold, or in any manner curtail or reduce, any essential supply or service enjoyed by an apartment owner.

Explanation:— In this section, essential supply or service includes the supply of water, electricity, lights in passages and on stair cases, and lifts, and conservancy or sanitary service.

Upon the sale of any apartment, the purchaser of the apartment shall be jointly and severally liable with the vendor for all unpaid assessments against the later for his share of the common expenses upto the time of the sale without prejudice to the purchaser‘s right to recover from the vendor the amount paid by him.

The manager or board of managers of an association of apartment owners if required by the Declaration or the bye-laws or by a majority of the apartment owners, shall have authority to, and shall obtain insurance coverage for the property against loss or damage by fire and such other hazards under such terms and for such amounts as shall be required. Such insurance shall be in the name of the Manager or the board of managers of the association of the apartment owners as trustee for each of the apartment owners in the percentage established in the declaration.

The promoters or the owners of apartments shall not sell or lease out or misuse any common areas and facilities.

Every owner of an apartment in a building consisting of a ground floor, together with three or more floors on it shall be required to provide all the fire preventive devices in consultation with the Director General of Fire Services in the manner prescribed.

Every owner of an apartment shall be entitled to have electricity, water and drainage connection on a permanent basis only on payment of such fee as may be prescribed and on the production of a certificate from the competent authority to the effect that the apartment has been constructed in accordance with the sanctioned plan.

Every owner of the apartment shall provide an over head tank in the manner prescribed.

Any promoter or owner of the apartment who without reasonable execuse fails to comply with or contravenes any provisions of section 4, section 5, section 6, section 7, section 24, section 25 or section 27 shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year or with fine which may extend to fifty thousand rupees, or with both.

No suit, prosecution or other legal proceeding shall lie against the Government or any officer or other employee of the Government in respect of anything which is in good faith done or intended to be done by or under this act.

The provisions of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882, shall in so far as they are not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act apply to every apartment together with its undivided interest in the common areas and facilities appurtenant to such apartment as those provisions apply in relation to any immovable property, and the provisions of this Act shall have effect notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in any other law.

If any difficulty arises in giving effect to the provisions of this Act, the Government may, by general or special order, published in the Telangana Gazette, make such provisions not inconsistant with the provisions of this Act as appear to them to be necessary or expedient for the removal of the difficulty;

Provided that no such order shall be made after the expiration of two years from the commencement of this Act.

Nothing in this Act shall apply to the Telangana Housing Board constituted under the [Telangana Housing Board Act, 1956].