Many small business owners prefer opening their place of business near their residence or even operating from within. While this might be permissible for some categories of business, commercial activities of most kinds are not to be allowed in residential premises without the express permission of the local municipal body.
 
Before the managing committee of a cooperative housing society (CHS/Society) decides whether they can allow an owner to operate his commercial business from their residential flat, certain procedures need to be followed. I will elaborate on this in one of the cases this week. We will also look at other problems where the managing committee fails to perform its duties and a persistent problem of leakage that remained unresolved for years. 
 
Dental Clinic Within Residential Flat
 
Question: In our apartment a dentist has purchased a flat recently and he has expressed interest in starting his dental clinic from the flat. Some of our resident members are opposed to this idea as a residential flat cannot be used for commercial purposes. We have decided to discuss and vote on the matter in the annual meeting, but please advise on the way forward. 
 
Answer: If the concerned flat is on the ground floor or the first floor of your building, then you can allow the dentist to open his clinic after acquiring a no objection certificate (NOC) from the resident members on that floor.
 
If it is on any higher floors, then you should not allow him to open his clinic unless all the members from the concerned wing of the building provide an NOC to the effect. Furthermore, if he opens a clinic on the first or a higher floor, and if the building has a lift, you can charge additional lift charges to the owner for using lift for his patients.
 
It is also important for the dentist to receive permission from the local municipal ward office, before he opens the clinic and after getting the NOC from the Society. The dentist should display the board of his dental clinic at a conspicuous place around the Society's building and outside his clinic within the building so that his patients do not disturb the other residents in the building, asking for the clinic's location.
 
Managing Committee Shirking from Duties
 
Question: Is it okay to have a secretary who is never found on the society premises when certain issues need to be addressed? The committee selection was also self-made and no election was ever conducted.
 
Answer: Under bye-law no. 174(A)(xxii), kindly write a complaint against the managing committee (MC) of your Society to the deputy registrar (DR) of cooperative societies, mentioning all the irregularities of the MC as you have stated in your query.
 
DR will appoint an authorised officer (AO) for your Society by dissolving the present MC. Then the AO will call for an election in your Society.
 
As soon as an AO is appointed, it would help if you wrote a complaint to the DR asking them to debar the present MC members from contesting the election for six years so that a new committee can be formed with other members.
 
NOTE
We will not be answering queries posted in the comments. Only questions sent through the Moneylife Foundation's Legal Helpline will be answered. If you want to seek guidance or ask questions to Mr Shanbhag, kindly send it through Moneylife Foundation's Free Legal Helpline. Here is the link: https://www.moneylife.in/lrc.html#ask-question
 
Persistent Leakage from Neighbouring Flat
 
Question: There are leakages at several places on the ceiling of my flat. This is going on for more than 10 years. The problem is from the flat above which is rented. The flat-owner refuses to do anything. l have written several letters to the managing committee, but nothing is being done. Now water droplets fall from the kitchen ceiling and fine dust keeps falling. All these years, I used to do some touch-up, but now I want a permanent solution to the problem. I am a senior citizen and a widow, and I am mostly alone at home. Please advise.
 
Answer: For this leakage from the flat above you, under the bye-law no. 174(D)(v), kindly write a complaint against the erring flat-owner to the municipal ward office. In your complaint, make the managing committee of your Society a party along with the flat-owner.
 
Against your complaint, the assistant municipal commissioner will call an enquiry and ask the flat-owner above you to do the necessary repairs to the leakage at his cost. They will also ask the Society's office-bearer to ensure the member does the needed repairs through a municipality-recognised structural engineer.
 
Disclaimer: The guidance provided in these columns and on our Legal Helpline is on the sole basis of the facts provided by the reader/questioner and does not amount to formal legal advice in any form whatsoever. 
 
(Shirish Shanbhag has an MSc in Organic Chemistry, a Diploma in Higher Education, and a Diploma in French and has completed his LL.B. in first class in 2021. Before his retirement, he was a junior college teacher at Patkar College from July 1980 to May 2012, teaching theoretical and practical chemistry. Post-retirement in 2012, he started providing guidance and counselling to people on several issues, specifically focusing on cooperative housing society-related matters. He has over 30 years of hands-on experience in all matters about housing societies and can provide out-of-box solutions for any practical issue.)