Archives: June 28, 2010

ApnaComplex
June 28, 2010

How to Conduct an AGM in your Apartment Complex?

Quick Download:
If you are looking for sample AGM notice template for residential welfare association or apartment owners association, download from here.

Annual General Meeting Basics

The Annual General Meeting (AGM) of a Residential Complex is a yearly event held to discuss the major issues facing the society and to collectively reach a consensus on the best solutions possible. Ideally, the AGM should be held before August 14th of a year (or as mentioned in bylaws of your association). You can extend this date by not more than three months after getting the permission of the Registrar of Societies. In case the Registrar is not convinced about the reasons for the delay in holding the AGM, Registrar may appoint an authorised officer to conduct the AGM at the cost of the society.

Most of the topics discussed during the AGM will be related to policies, finances and the future course of action for the society. While any topic can be discussed in the AGM, certain topics like electing new members, appointment of auditors, any policy change regarding expense amounts, etc. can only be finalized during an AGM.

Checklist for Managing Committee Members

The Managing Committee has its role cut out for this event. All the Committee members should ideally be present for the meeting, with the President, Secretary and Treasurer being the key members. If you’re part of the Managing Committee, you could use the checklist below to make sure your AGM goes off smoothly:

  • Have an internal meeting of the Managing Committee to fix a date for the AGM. Make sure that it doesn’t fall on a holiday or a long-weekend to ensure maximum participation from members.
  • Identify the venue for the meeting. (Take into account the space that will be needed to accommodate maximum participation.)
  • Circulate the notice to all members of the society least 21 days in advance.
  • Get the accounts audited and signed by the President, the Secretary and the Treasurer.
  • Identify the auditors to be appointed and their remuneration for the upcoming year.
  • Prepare of the Annual Report for the AGM. The annual report should contain the work done by the managing committee in the past year and the focus areas for the coming year.
  • Circulate the Annual Report to all members of the society.
  • Get minutes of last year’s AGM and make a list of all the resolutions passed in last year’s resolution.
  • Make a list of all documents that will be presented during the AGM.
  • Keep the book of Accounts ready for inspection by the members
  • Prepare for the questions given by the members.

The committee members also need to take care of administrative aspects such as printing extra copies of the Annual Report for the day of the meeting, ensuring enough chairs for the meeting, make catering arrangement if you plan to provide any refreshments during the meeting etc.

Activities during AGM

A typical AGM will go along the following way:

  • Members sign the roll
  • Quorum gets established (minimum number of members required to have a valid meeting)
  • Meeting is called to order by the President
  • Minutes of last year’s AGM approved and confirmed
  • Financial report for the last financial year  is accepted
  • Transfer of flats mentioned in the annual report is approved
  • Admission of new members into the society is ratified
  • Ways to tackle defaulters in the society are discussed
  • Also ways to tackle non-cooperative members of the society
  • To discuss and approve the appointment of Auditors for the current financial year.
  • Issues related to lifts, gardens, common areas, etc.
  • Discuss salary hikes for the staff that are responsible for the functioning and maintenance of the society
  • Elect new members for the Managing Committee, if applicable
  • Discuss any other matter with the permission of the President
  • Vote of thanks

Post the AGM, it is important that the Secretary of the association circulates the minuites of the meeting to all members so that all members are aware of the decisions taken during the AGM.

Responsibilities of a Member

While the Managing Committee has its responsibilities, the ordinary members too have certain responsibilities. As a member of a Residential Complex, it is your duty to participate in the AGM and contribute to the discussions. Any decision made during this meeting will affect the quality of your life in the society – so don’t leave the responsibility on the others. Before you attend the meeting, familiarize yourself with the Agenda; clear any doubts you may have regarding anything with other members or someone from the Managing Committee before the meeting. Make a list of questions that you plan to ask based on what you’ve noticed about the functioning of the society. Take a copy of the Annual Report with you to the meeting. And finally, be at the meeting slightly before time so that the quorum is reached and the meeting can start off as scheduled.

We wish you a fruitful AGM for your society!

A sample Notice for an AGM can be downloaded from here.

This article aims at collating and providing information on bye-laws for residential complexes for benefit of ApnaComplex customers and readers. While ApnaComplex has taken every care to ensure the information is accurate, we suggest to please use the information in the article and the template provided only as a guidance for further discussion and action with help of relevant professionals. If you need professional advise on this topic and any other property related matters, please send your request through our contact us form. You may post your questions/inputs in the Comments section below and we will try and get them answered through relevant subject matter experts.

4 Comments on How to Conduct an AGM in your Apartment Complex? InApartment Management Articles Bye Laws Resources
ApnaComplex
June 21, 2010

Reverse Mortagage: Income from home for Senior Citizens


With preference for nuclear families and staying independent increasing, getting old in India is slowly becoming a scary proposition.  Without a regular income, senior citizens are finding it increasingly difficult to manage their daily expenses along with meeting the escalating costs of healthcare and other services. As more and more people are realizing, relying on just one’s savings or investments during old age may not be enough!

So what are the options that a senior citizen has, to live a life of dignity? Are there any avenues open for them to earn a regular income even at their age? Till a few years back, these would have been very difficult questions to answer. But now, there is a ray of light for at least those senior citizens who own a house or apartment in their name. It is called Reverse Mortgage.

Reverse Mortgage Concept

The principle of Reverse Mortgage is quite simply the opposite of a Home Loan EMI. When you take a home loan for your apartment, you are expected to pay a monthly amount for a fixed period of years. In the case of Reverse Mortgage, the bank pays an EMI to the apartment owner for a fixed period of years.  This EMI can be used as a monthly income by the home owners.

The process of getting a loan on your home starts with your application. This is followed by an evaluation of your home by the bank. Depending on the prevailing rate at your complex and the locality in which it is based, the bank will reach a valuation for your apartment. The better the quality of your apartment complex, greater is the chance of getting a high valuation for your property.

Once the valuation is done, you can decide on a tenure for which you’d like to receive the loan. Once the loan is availed of, the senior citizens can stay in their apartment and receive the payments from the bank till the end of the tenure. If the couple or either of them survives the tenure of the loan, they can still continue to live in their apartment till their death. It is important to note here that the bank cannot take possession if the owner expires but the spouse is alive. The possession changes hand only when the couple is no more – irrespective of who the owner was. Once the bank gets the possession, they can sell the apartment at the market rate and deduct the loan amount plus the interest on it. Any remaining amount will be handed over to the heirs of the home owner.

There are certain conditions for availing the Reverse Mortgage, however.

  1. The home owner should be a senior citizen (60 years and above)
  2. The maximum loan is up to 60% of the apartment value subject to a maximum amount of Rs. 50 lakhs
  3. The maximum period for the mortgage is usually 15 years. Some offer 20 years though.
  4. The amount received is considered as a loan and not income. This ensures that the amount is tax-free in the hands of the senior citizen.
  5. Payments can be made in monthly, quarterly, or annual instalments. A lump sum payment could also be considered if the owner so decides.
  6. The banks can charge a fixed or floating rate of interest on the loan being disbursed. This will be adjusted against the sale of property at the end of the tenure or on the demise of the owner and his/her spouse.
  7. One can pre-pay the loan amount at any time during the loan tenure

Reverse Mortgage in India

The concept of reverse mortgage is very popular in the West. But it is yet to find acceptance on a mass scale in India. One of the reasons could be the low awareness of the product. But probably the more important one is about perceptions. Although the advantages of reverse mortgage seem high (steady source of income, possession of house till death, etc.), mortgaging ones property is yet a new concept for Indians to accept. Added to this is the fact that most Indian parents like to bequeath their property to their children, instead of using it up for their own purposes.

What could change these perceptions is the changing reality of modern India. One of the realities is of children staying separately from their parents. Not just in a different house, but many children now settle far away – at times even in a different country altogether. Plus, many children are more often to sell off their home on inheriting it. The gap in geography also takes its toll on the emotional connect; it is not unusual to see the growing disconnect between parents and children of the present generation. All these factors could make Reverse Mortgage a more popular avenue for income generation for senior citizens.

Many banks and a few housing finance companies offer Reverse Mortgage. Here’s a list of some banks at which you could enquire about this option:

  • State Bank of India
  • Punjab National Bank
  • Indian Bank
  • Central Bank of India
  • LlC Housing Finance
  • Andhra Bank
  • Canara Bank
  • National Housing Bank (NHB)
  • Dewan Housing Finance Limited (DHFL)

Today, most young couples put their life’s saving into their dream home. Many may not realize it now, but the apartment in which they are investing so much could well be their savior in their latter years.

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ApnaComplex
June 18, 2010

Formalize action item tracking in your Apartment Complex

At ApnaComplex, today we have released a simple but very useful new feature to help secretaries of Apartment Associations in form of “Action Item Tracker”.

In short, “Action Item Tracker” just does what it means – track action items. With this feature, ApnaComplex enables managing committees of apartment associations to formally track and monitor progress on various activities that are happening in the complex.

One of the core issues that a resident welfare association faces is that things take forever to complete and the remedy is very simple – institutionalize a formal action item tracking mechanism. This makes the progress and bottlenecks to implement visible to every one and also makes all managing committee members more accountable. This exactly is what “Action Item Tracker” is expected to provide.

The tracker is available to all Managing Committee Members.  Action items can be created, updated, reassigned by any of the managing committee members and by  the community administrator.  Also, more often than not, all managing committee members will not be present for all the meetings. The tracker shall prove to be excellent way for committee members to keep every one else informed about the progress on an action item irrespective of  they attending a meeting or not.

Committee Member View of the Action Item Tracker

Committee Member View of the Action Item Tracker

Also, since the action items can be re-assigned to other members if needed – the new assignee can get all updates on a given action item will be at one place – instead of being present in multiple emails – making it seamless to move forward. Secretaries can now start every committee meeting by going through the list of “Open” or “In progress” action items making the meetings very focused and effective.

Most importantly, it makes sharing information on Managing Committee achievements a breeze. All it requries is to filter all closed action items and send a report to entire community.

Happy action item tracking and we sure hope to have made life little better for you!

Want to use ApnaComplex for your association? please submit details of your complex here and we would reach out to you to set up your complex’s portal online.

 

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ApnaComplex
June 15, 2010

Yes, Apartment Owners’ Associations CAN be run professionally

Reference to the article posted on Citizen Matters – Can Apartment Owners’ Associations be run professionally? , the author lists various hurdles in running Apartment Associations professionally and offers some suggestions that can help associations.

True, there are many hurdles to run association in a professional way. But leveraging technology would surely be a way to overcome some of the hurdles, if not all. This is exactly where ApnaComplex comes in. ApnaComplex neatly fits into the apartment management eco-system and provides tool set that just perfect for Apartment Owners Associations to manage their complex in efficient, effective and transparent manner.

Here’s how residents can Live a Perfect Life with ApnaComplex and how Managing Committees can ensure how every one Lived Happily ever after!

Back to Citizen Matters article – we will touch upon three key points metioned in the article and how some of the features of ApnaComplex can help.

“Communication” is the number one problem that most associations have

We could not agree more. That’s the prime reason why ApnaComplex was created. ApnaComplex solves this fundamental issue of communication by providing a platform that brings all owners/residents/managing committee together. Everyone sees and shares all information about the complex at one place. Any member can know the details of entire managing committee at one shot and reach out to them. The member directory provides information about all members in the complex at a central place, Managing Committee can reach out to any member any time. Broadcast Notifications through email can be sent to all members or subset of members (like only residents, only tenants etc.) at click of button – making it easier for managing committees to constantly communicate. In addition, there are SMS notifications too that can help MC send urgent messages.

Use formal action item register

Bang on! ApnaComplex provides Complaint Box which enables members to record all action items/issues/suggestions/complaints in a central place, assign them to owners and all relevant people including the managing committee can visibly see the progress of action items or complaints. This not only increases transparency but also the turn-around time to resolve complaints. ApnaComplex even allows residents to provide feedback on how effectively an issue is resolved and also on the vendors used in the complex there by establishing two way communication between residents and MCs.

Use a “Balanced Score Card” approach to show Managing Committee results

Another great suggestion. ApnaComplex offers reports that can sliced and diced in many ways . Reports of complaints resolved in each category, expenses of a given month, number of defaulters etc are available at the click of a button which enables MC to shwocase thier work and also provides visibility to rest of the association members on MC’s work.

While the above offer direct benefits for associations using ApnaComplex, the indirect benefits include reduced work load on the managing committee there by giving them more time to implement newer initiatives for betterment of the complex and even make more owners join the managing committee 🙂

Bottom line, YES! Apartment Owner’s Associations using ApnaComplex can be run professionally.

Want to use ApnaComplex for your association? Please submit details of your complex here and we would reach out to you to set up your complex’s portal online.

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ApnaComplex
June 14, 2010

We all love to complain, don’t we? – We upgraded Complaint Box for you!


We have released an upgraded version of the “Complaint Box” module of ApnaComplex along with host of other enhancements.

Starting today our customers can experience the benfit of the new features.  The key features of of this upgraded Complaint box are:

Category-wise Administration:

1. Administrators can now configure “complaint box administrators” for each category type of complaints. This will make it easier to assign owners for different aspects of managing the complex.

Screenshot of Category Admins for various categories

Screenshot of Category Admins for various categories - ApnaComplex

2. The “category owners” shall only see complaints related to the categories they own – the electrical guy no more need to even see the issues related to swimming pool. Of course, community adminsitrators can see all the complaints.

3. The category owners shall have the ability to reassign the complaint to a different category and/or to a different owner.

Complaint Re-opening and Rating

1. Closed complaints can now be re-opened by the originator or the administrator till specifed period of days after the complaint is closed. This has been the most requested feature till date and we are happy to satisfy the need now.

2. Residents can now provide feedback on the quality of the service provided on all closed complaints. Similar to the ratings of vendors in ApnaComplex’s Vendor Management module – the ratings will be on a scale of 1 (worst) to 7 (Best). Makes it very easy for managing committees to judge the real quaility of work. The ratings can be updated/changed till specified period of days after the complaint is closed.

Complaint Details View

Complaint Details View

3. The number of days a complaint can be re-opened or rated after its closure is configurable by the communtiy administrator.

Notification Enhancements:

1. Administrators can now configure if mails related to community complaints shall be sent to entire community or only to the administrators. This is again based on the need for some of our customers.

2. Formatting changes to bring in more readability to all the automated mails that get sent as a part of complaint tracking.

Searching & Sorting Enhancements:

A complaint box has never been so easy (and actually fun) to search and sort. Users and Administrators can practically search on every possible data element and sort on every element to easily find and manage the complaints and it is blazing fast.

Administrator's View of Complaint Box in ApnaComplex

Administrator's View of Complaint Box in ApnaComplex

Now that you have a fully loaded complaint box, is your facilities manager geared up to close all the complaints?

Want to use ApnaComplex for your association? please submit details of your complex here and we would reach out to you to set up your complex’s portal online.

 

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ApnaComplex
June 10, 2010

ApnaComplex ties up with Magic e-mart

Today, we announced our tie-up with Magic e-mart , a unit of Magic Online Business, to provide our Bangalore customers special discounts when buying groceries and other retail goods online.  As a part of the tie up ApnaComplex customers will be provided discounts on top of all the listed prices by Magic e-mart. 

Please visit the ApnaComplex Advantage page to know details on utilizing this offer.

Shopping online for your routine needs should definitely help you to avoid traffic, parking problems, and the long billing queues – not to mention the total time spent. By utilizing this offer, we do believe our customers can not only save money, but save time and effort. We hope this will be of very good value and offer great convenience for our customers.

With this tie-up, we sure hope to have made life little better for you!

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ApnaComplex
June 7, 2010

Bye Laws: The Constitution of your Apartment Association

Quick Download:

If you are looking for sample template of bylaws for residential welfare association or apartment owners association, download from here.

Need for Bye Laws

The primary responsibility of the Managing Committee of an Apartment Owners Association (or Residents Welfare Association) is to ensure proper maintenance of the Apartment Complex and to resolve any issues that residents face in a timely and effective manner. These are not easy tasks to handle when you consider the sheer variety of challenges that confront the committee. Convincing members to act in the interest of the society is no less a challenge either as almost every resident is aware of their rights but few accept their responsibilities. So how does a Managing Committee go about its day-to-day tasks, taking clear, unbiased actions that work in the best interest of the society? What are the powers of the Managing Committee that enables it to enforce its decisions? And what makes the members of an Apartment Complex accept these decisions?

The answer to all this lies in the rules and regulations that every Apartment Complex adopts from the moment it is registered. Called bye-laws of the society, these rules and regulations govern the day-to-day functioning of the Apartment Complex. So crucial is the role of bye-laws in the smooth functioning of a society that many consider them to be the constitution of an Apartment Complex.

Registering Your Bye Laws

The Co-operative Society Act is a Central Act that helps co-operative societies to manage their affairs. However, most States in India (Maharashtra in 1960, Gujarat in 1961, Karnataka 1960 and so on) have repealed this act and have created their own Co-operative Societies Act. These Acts specify the rules and regulations that are part of a model set and usually any residential Apartment Complex association is free to adopt these bye-laws in total or modify them as per their requirement and accept them. The Act thus offers a certain degree of flexibility to societies.

What is inflexible, however, is the need to get the bye-laws adopted. The bye laws are considered so critical for the efficient working of a society that it is mandatory for an Apartment Complex Association to approve and submit them to the Registrar of Societies during the formation of the association itself. The bye-laws adopted by an Apartment Complex should have the following details:

  • the aims and objectives of the society,
  • the details of the rules and regulations that apply to members,
  • the specifics of selecting a member and office-bearers of the society,
  • details of how the association aims to help the residents of the society
  • details of how it will go about getting the co-operation of all members. 
  • information on how the society will manage its income and expenses.
  • the list the office-bearers who will be authorized to issue cheques and monetary transactions on behalf of the association. (Bye-laws usually recommend rights to three-office bearers for signing any document or monetary transaction with any two of them required to sign at one particular time.)
  • details about transfer charges, maintenance costs, penalties, etc

The bye-laws should also mention when and how the AGM of the society will be held. Usually the first AGM should be held within six months from the close of the financial year. From the second year onwards, it should be held every year after March 31 and before August 14 as per bye-law no. 95or within an extended period as per Section 75(i) of the act. An AGM can be held by giving at least 21 days prior notice to members.

Amending your Bye Laws

Once the bye-laws are adopted, the society can function forever with that particular set of rules. However, the bye-laws can also be amended by the government or the residents themselves if the need arises. For example, if the bye-law says that the tenure of the Managing Committee should be 5 years, the association can change it to 3 years or 7 years by getting it approved by the General Body and then the Registrar. The new set of amended bye-laws will become functional for the association from the date of approval by the Registrar.

An Apartment Complex Association can amend its bye-laws in the following manner:

  1. A General Meeting (annual/special) should endorse the change with a two third majority of the members present in the meeting. This two third of members should not be less than one third of the total members in the society. (The Registrar may still accept the amendment under such a condition if the reason for the low turnout is explained in writing).
  2. The Managing Committee should submit the form mentioning the new law to be brought into force.
  3. The Committee should also submit four copies of the existing bye-laws along with the resolutions passed by the Annual General Meeting.
  4. Along with the signatures of the Managing Committee, the form should have the following details:
    • The date of the meeting at which the amendment was passed.
    • The number of members in the association.
    • Number of members of the present in the meeting.
    • Number of members who voted in favour of the amendment.

 The Registrar will register the amendment upon satisfaction that the amendment does not contravene any Act or rules that guide the functioning of a co-operative society. On approval, the Registrar will issue a certificate of registration along with the certified copy of the amendment. This is proof of the amendment being successfully registered. The Registrar of Societies can, however, refuse to register an amendment of the bye-laws. The Registrar will provide the reason for the decision in writing to the association.  

The bye-laws are thus binding as well as flexible enough for the Managing Committee to manage the affairs of the association as best as possible.

You can download a sample template of bye-laws from here.

This article aims at collating and providing information on bye-laws for residential complexes for benefit of ApnaComplex customers and readers. While ApnaComplex has taken every care to ensure the information is accurate, we suggest to please use the information in the article and the template provided only as a guidance for further discussion and action with help of relevant professionals. If you need professional advise on this topic and any other property related matters, please send your request through our contact us form. You may post your questions/inputs in the Comments section below and we will try and get them answered through relevant subject matter experts.

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ApnaComplex
June 7, 2010

Document repository for Apartment Associations

We released new feature of “Document Repository” in ApnaComplex today.

Starting today, Administrators and members of a complex can upload documents of relevance in ApnaComplex secure repository.  This shall enable the community members to easily locate association documents – such as bye laws, meeting minutes, welcome kits, photos, vendor quotations, contract copies, building plans, regulatory certificates and just about anything relevant. 

We believe that this shall help both the members and the managing committees as this greatly improves accessibility of data to everyone at any time.

Efficient way of managing documents of an association

Efficient way of managing documents by an owners association

Any member can upload a document (up to 2 MB in size) along with a short description and select a relevant category. Members can search and sort for the documents based on the name, description, size or category making it easier to locate. No more issues of digging through emails or your personal desktops to find a particular document.

Any member can view or download a document and Administrators will have the ability to delete documents to ensure a clean repository.

With this feature, we sure hope to have made life little better for you!

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ApnaComplex
June 1, 2010

Service Tax on Residential Complexes: Past, Present, Future


Budget 2010 revived what many thought was a closed chapter for millions of home buyers in India. Ever since it was introduced, there had been uncertainty about the government’s service tax on residential constructions and the manner in which it had to be collected. Following a circular in 2009, the issued seemed to have been laid to rest – though there was a lot of confusion on how the refunds were to be claimed. Now, Budget 2010 has brought the issue back into the limelight. Let’s take a look at the whole issue in detail. 

Service Tax for Residential Complexes: The Beginning

During the heady years of the construction boom which started around 2004, the government came up with a unique idea to augment its finances. It decided to levy a service tax on builders for offering their services to anyone who’s buying a residential or commercial property from them. The proposal came into effect from June 16, 2005 and a 10.2% tax (10% service tax and 2% education cess) was levied on 1/3 of the cost of sale price.

The builders promptly passed on the burden to the buyers. Many of them started including this as part of their scheduled payment structure. Meanwhile, the builders association and various taxation experts called for the removal of this tax. According to them, land was a state subject and the Central government couldn’t levy any charges on it. They also argued that the nature of the transaction between the buyer and a seller is not of a service but of a sale. The builders also argued that it was hampering sales and creating unnecessary confusion in the minds of the buyer.

Cancellation of Service Tax on Residential Complexes

The government responded with clarification that the taxation was not on “buying and selling” of the flats, but on the services rendered. If the construction activities were undertaken entirely by the builder or in cases where no service provider was involved, there would be no service tax involved. Plus, to protect the interest of small builders, no service tax was applicable for projects that had less than 12 units in it.

The clarifications created more confusion and led to a situation where multiple circulars/trade notices were issued by various departments of the government. Finally, realizing that the industry needed to recover following the economic depression, Circular No. 108/02/2009 – ST (http://www.servicetax.gov.in/circular/st-circular09/st-circ-108-2k9.htm) tried to bring the entire episode to a closure. It contained two major clauses:

a) since the sale was happening only after completion of the project, the construction service provided by the builder is considered as “self-service” which is not liable to tax and

b) In case of under-construction projects, since the buyer gets ownership only after its completion, it came under the exclusion provided in the definition of “residential complex”. There would be thus no service tax applicable on residential complexes. 

Claiming refund

Following this circular, the amount collected as service tax was refunded under the provision Section 11B of the Central Excise Act. The refund was to be collected by individual buyers directly from the government or the builder could repay the buyers and then claim a refund by keeping evidence of the repayment.

Refund can be claimed in the following manner:

  • Fill application Form R and submit it to the jurisdictional ACCE or DCCE before the expiry of one year from the relevant year. Affix a revenue stamp after signing it.
  • The application in Form R shall have valid grounds for refund.
  • The applicant should seek a personal  hearing
  • Proof should be submitted that refund would not result in unjust enrichment. Invitation for authorities to verify the accounts maybe attached. A Charted Accountant (CA) certificate that the Service Tax has not been passed on may also be obtained and submitted where the CA clearly specifies the books, records, payments received verified.

Budget 2010 and its implications

When everyone expected the dust to have settled on this issue – Budget 2010-11 seems to have reversed the decision of the earlier circular by raising a claim for service tax on under construction residential complexes or completed buildings that have not received their occupation certificates. The budget had initially proposed a tax of 10% on 33% of the sale price. This was later reduced to 25% of sale price.  So, if the apartment you’re buying costs Rs. 40 lakhs, then as per the Budget proposal, the applicable service tax would have been Rs. 137,333 (at the rate of 10% service tax and 3% cess on 33% of the property value). However, with the amendment, the service tax gets reduced to 103,000, resulting into savings of Rs. 34,333. The amendment also benefits those who are buying a low cost flat. For example, if you were buying a low cost flat worth Rs. 15 lakhs, then as per the Budget proposal, applicable service tax would have been Rs. 51,500. This has now becomes nil, as per the amendment announced. This tax will not be applicable if full payment is made after completion of the construction. Service tax is also not applicable where the builder is engaging his own contractors, designers and other service providers. In some states like Maharashtra, the buyer has to pay an additional 1% VAT on the cost of the flat.  

Builders have already started collecting the amounts from buyers and it’s causing a lot of resentment and distrust between them. With home buyers caught by surprise and the construction industry unhappy about it, experts believe it’s only a matter of time before the tax gets challenged again. Also, it’s not clear at what stage the service tax will be levied. Will it be at the time of registering the sale, during the documentation process itself or during the handover of the flat? There are too many unanswered questions for which both builders and buyers are trying to find answers. The ball clearly is in the government’s court on this one!

This article is vetted by Mr. Deshpande R P, Director of Institute of Home Finance, the first of its kind institute dedicated to mortgage banking studies. Mr. Deshpande is a Mortgage Banking Professional with Civil Engineering background and has more than 25 years experience in Mortgage Banking sector.

This article aims at collating and providing information on service tax for residential complexes at one place for benefit of ApnaComplex customers and readers. While ApnaComplex has taken every care to ensure the information is accurate, we suggest to please use it only as a guidance for further discussion and action with help of relevant professionals. If you need professional advise on this topic and any other property related matters, please send your request through our contact us form. You may post your questions/inputs in the Comments section below and we will try and get them answered through relevant subject matter experts.

4 Comments on Service Tax on Residential Complexes: Past, Present, Future InApartment Management Articles Legal