January 2022 | ApnaComplex Blog | Apartment Management Platform

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January 30, 2022

Here is how you can safeguard your society from Omicron!

The increasing COVID-19 cases and the new Omicron variant have undoubtedly gotten people worried. Fever, cold, cough, and runny nose are making the masses edgy. The only way to tackle these recurring waves effectively is to take the necessary precautions and avoid public contacts as much as possible.

To help our societies and residents fight this pandemic effectively, ApnaComplex has developed CORONA SHIELD – a host of features designed exclusively for gated communities to fight this pandemic effectively.

Keep reading to know more about these features that COVID-proof your society!

Temperature and mask check at the gate

ApnaComplex allows the security to record the temperature of every individual visiting your society, ensure that they are wearing masks, and follow the appropriate COVID protocols. As an additional precautionary step, the security can also request them to show their vaccination certificate before allowing entry.

These details can be stored on the ApnaComplex app as well. If visitors fail to meet any of these requirements, the security can deny entry ensuring the safety of the society.

No-contact delivery approval and accounting

Since the onset of COVID, online deliveries, especially food and grocery deliveries have increased substantially. Given this, there are high chances of residents catching COVID from asymptomatic delivery agents further spreading the virus inside the society.

On the bright side, with ApnaComplex, one needn’t have to worry about coming directly in contact with delivery agents. The app’s Visitor and Gate Management feature allows the resident to mark ‘leave package at the gate’ if they are expecting a delivery.

Similarly, ApnaComplex’s Billing & Accounting solution allows the admin to raise maintenance invoices digitally and the dues can be collected via the app itself at zero additional service charges. All these directly contribute towards minimising contacts.

Vaccination and Quarantine Trackers

ApnaComplex’s Vaccination Tracker has helped several societies achieve 100% vaccination. This tracker gives a fair idea about the vaccinated and unvaccinated residents and staff to the management. This data will also enable the management to encourage all the residents and staff to get vaccinated.

Likewise, as the name suggests Quarantine Tracker enables the management, residents, and staff to keep track of quarantined units in real-time. This will help other dwellers of the society avoid those quarantine units and offer assistance as much as possible. Once their quarantine period is over, the residents and staff will be notified.

Online meetings and polls

Conducting face-to-face meetings is highly risky during these uncertain times and therefore, online meetings have been the norm for the past two years.

Using the ApnaComplex app’s Communication tools, management can effectively share the meeting timing and link with other members using the Notice Board, E-mail, and SMS. The app also allows the members to create a close-knit group comprising only participating members. The outcome and the M-O-M (minutes of the meeting) can be digitally stored in the Document Repository and shared with other members too. This communication tool also enables the management to broadcast important messages to the residents.

Likewise, using the ApnaComplex app, the admin can conduct online polls and surveys and get residents’ opinions on important matters.

At-home RTPCR Test

Conducting an RTPCR Test is the only way to determine if a person is COVID positive or not. When someone develops fever, cough, cold, etc, it is only natural that they worry about their and their family’s wellbeing.

Keeping this in mind, ApnaComplex has partnered with MediBuddy to provide at-home COVID RTPCR Swab Test. With just a few clicks, residents can effortlessly book RTPCR tests using the app at just ₹499. At the scheduled time, a lab technician will be at their doorsteps to conduct the tests.

From no-contact delivery collection to Vaccination Tracker, the above-mentioned features are designed and added to assist and help our communities fight this pandemic effectively. To know more about each of these features in detail and how we can streamline and simplify the operations of your society, click here.

Top 5 unique features of ApnaComplex that set us apart

In the last decade alone, there has been a sharp rise in the number of gated societies in the country. To help these societies manage their operations, society management apps have also cropped up and today, there are too many to count.

But then, how many of these apps actually have the support, bandwidth, and experience to cater to all the needs of gated communities?

In this article, we bring you the top five unique features of ApnaComplex that cannot be found in any other society management software. Read on to know more about these features!

Prepaid Meter

The ApnaComplex app allows you to integrate your society’s prepaid meter with the app. Using a prepaid meter, you can automatically get an accurate reading of the usage of the resources which will be reflected on the ApnaComplex app. This will help you optimise the usage of the resources and help conserve them.

N Format Balance Sheet

Form N is a Profit & Loss A/C and Balance Sheet format for Housing and Co-operative Societies under the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act.

ApnaComplex is the only app that offers this format for auditing purposes along with hundreds of other audit-ready reports.

QR Code Asset Tracking

ApnaComplex allows you to track complaints against assets, their maintenance dues, AMCs, and much more by simply scanning the QR-code attached to the asset using the app.

This is a lot more comprehensive, and since every detail is available in a single place, the admin doesn’t have to sift through tens and hundreds of documents to find asset-related documents.

Budget Variance Report

Using ApnaComplex, the management can effortlessly draw a budget for their society and keep track of it. The Budget Variance Report helps you keep an eye on your expenditures. If you have overspent or are close to overspending the report will indicate the same. This will help you to spend your society’s budget judiciously.

Water Tanker Monitor

Water shortage is one of the biggest concerns in Societies in major cities. Therefore, judicious usage of water is a necessity. The Water Tanker monitor allows the management to efficiently track the water consumption and charge residents according to their usage. This also plays a vital role in preserving the water.

Apart from the above five features, ApnaComplex offers comprehensive solutions for gated communities including Billing & Accounting, Facility Management, Helpdesk, Security and more.

These features are tailor-made for managing gated communities and have undergone constant modifications after taking feedback from several Management Committee Members. This makes ApnaComplex the perfect solution for gated communities.

To know how to streamline your society’s operations, visit www.apnacomplex.com!

Leave a comment InApartment Accounting Software Apartment Management

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January 21, 2022

How to resolve parking issues in gated communities?

Though most of the societies have designated and sufficient parking spaces, many societies do not or have poorly designed parking spaces causing confusion and inconvenience. Some of the common parking woes include lack of visitor parking space, unauthorised parking, parking in the wrong spot, etc.

The best way to resolve parking issues is to streamline the parking process and have appropriate rules and regulations in place. Keep reading to know how to handle parking woes rationally and what the management committee can do to provide a fair parking allotment.

Some common parking issues in societies

– Residents parking their vehicles in undesignated or other residents’ parking spots.

– Visitors parking their vehicles haphazardly, in ‘No Parking Zone’, and/or in some other residents’ designated parking area.

– A resident owning more than one two-wheeler or four-wheeler can be problematic too since this leads to an added number of vehicles than designated parking spaces within the society. To park their other vehicles, residents who own multiple vehicles use the allotted parking spots of other residents causing inconvenience to the latter.

All the above issues can be effortlessly addressed and resolved with the help of effective and clear communication, workable parking rules and regulations. Streamlining community parking will benefit all the parties immensely eventually.

Tips to solve parking issues

Better Communication and Management

Parking in the wrong spot deliberately or unknowingly can cause problems shortly and one cannot blame the other resident for wanting their covered parking spot.

To avoid this hassle, a simple check with the security or the resident of that particular spot will help you determine if you can park in that spot or not.

If you are part of the management, then it is important to communicate your society’s parking rules to other residents and visitors. Paste those rules on the Notice Board. If you use ApnaComplex, digitally store these rules on the app using Document Repository and share them with residents. The rules can also be shared via the ApnaComplex ‘Notice Board’.

Using these smart tools, you can efficiently manage vehicle parking.

Fine wrongful and unauthorised parking

Imposing fines can be annoying to the one who pays but for the management, it can solve a lot of issues. Identify and fine residents who park their vehicles randomly and park in spots designated to other residents.

Monetary penalties can have a stronger impact than verbal or written censures. While eliminating the troubles of wrongful parking, this penalty will also bring additional income to the society that can be used for the welfare of the society and residents.

These penalties collected can be digitally recorded using the ApnaComplex Billing and Collection Module and invoices can be raised automatically too.

Hold the resident responsible

Ensure that all the parking rules of your society are communicated to the entire residents. When a guest or visitor parks in a random parking spot, they aren’t aware of the rules, and penalising them is unjust.

It is the responsibility of the resident that the visitor parks the vehicle in the right spot. If they fail to do so, it is only fair to penalise them. This will drive home the point that your society is quite serious about the parking laws.

Rent space for multiple vehicles

If you have space left in your society, rent it to residents for parking their additional vehicles or request them to park the additional vehicle outside the society. This will allow other residents to park their vehicles freely without any inconvenience.

A little planning, smarter management, and clear communication can help you manage parking issues better in your society. These efforts exerted in the present will pay off in the long run.

We hope the aforementioned tips help you manage parking in your society better. To know how we can help you with parking management and streamlining society operations, visit www.apnacomplex.com.

Leave a comment InApartment Apartment Management Management Committee

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January 17, 2022

How to handle ‘smoking troubles’ in Societies?

Smoking and gated communities in India have never gone hand in hand, and according to STATISTA , there are around 14.8% smokers in the country.

From this 14.8%, there can be no denial that a substantial number of smokers are living in gated communities and the management can not ban them from smoking in their own house – which is their private space. And in the eyes of the smokers, banning it would be an utter sin and we really needn’t have to do that.

On the other hand, the management cannot give smokers free rein to smoke anywhere, anytime. After all, children, the elderly, and immunocompromised people also live in gated communities, and passive smoking can damage their health too which they never asked for.

So, in this case, what should the management do? In this article, we share some steps that the association can implement to meet the needs of all the residents keeping in mind the welfare of the others.

Implementing Smoking Regulations

The more we try to ban smoking, the more stubborn people will want to continue doing it. Therefore, regulating smoking in gated communities is a prudent thing to do.

Below, we bring a handful of steps the management can take to regulate smoking that will encourage coexistence amongst smokers and other residents.

– Prohibit smoking in common areas (anyway this is an offence according to the law). If you catch someone smoking, fine them heavily.

– Provide smokers with a designated area and see how their faces lit up! Build a ‘smoking room/area’ probably on the terrace or top floor of the building as smoke wafting down the building is negligible.

– Even though ventilation and air sealing in apartments can minimise the smoke, they are not of much help when smoke wafts via windows and doors. To deal with this, request residents who smoke to install smoke filters that have proper smoke ratings. These filters will prevent the smoke from wafting or recirculating other areas.

– Support can be the strongest bridge between smokers and non-smokers. Every community will have a handful of smokers who are attempting to quit smoking for good. Encourage them by having a reward system. Offer gifts to people who have gone without smoking for at least a week as an appreciation. You can even conduct programmes related to the ill-effects of smoking to create awareness and encourage the ‘quit-smoking movement’.

– Residents complaining of smoke entering their flat is a very common scenario in gated communities. As a first step, request them politely to close the windows, use air fresheners and install smoke filters. If they ignore your requests, go to the association and make a formal complaint and let the management deal with it. Even then if the problem isn’t resolved, consider legal action.

– Importantly, speak to children about the ill effects of smoking and why they shouldn’t smoke when they become older . Smoking isn’t hard to miss especially by the curious eyes. Educate them about the health hazards of active and passive smoking. This will encourage them to stay away from the smoking zone.

Studies have shown that passive smoking can cause respiratory and cardiovascular disease, and can even develop cancer. When expecting mums are exposed to tobacco smoke, the infants are likely to develop birth defects including respiratory illness, congenital abnormalities, may weigh less during birth, and in worse cases, there is an increased chance of stillbirth too.

Convey the health hazards of passive smoking to smokers and how they are putting others in danger too. Additionally, communicate about the severity of COVID 19 complications amongst smokers. This will propel them to at least consider quitting smoking.

The best approach towards smoking in gated communities is regulation, education, empathy, and awareness. With the right tools in hand, you can certainly make ‘smoking problems’ in your community a thing of the past.

Leave a comment InCommunity Living Housing Society Smoking Society Wellness

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January 10, 2022

Help your Society go ZERO-waste with these tips!

Reports suggest that 33% of waste isn’t managed and processed in an environmentally safer way. On average, a single person generates from 0.74 to 4.45 kgs of waste in a single day. These numbers are an indication that effective waste management and gated communities’ contributing to a zero-waste lifestyle are the need of the hour.

In this article, we bring out a few tips that will help your society adopt a zero-waste lifestyle.

Waste segregation is the key

To manage your Society’s waste better, it must be segregated better. Every human should know the materials present in the waste and isolate them properly.

This segregation enables the waste pickers to differentiate between degradable and non-degradable waste and send them to appropriate recycling units. Likewise, poor waste management and untreated waste can release harmful chemicals and toxins into the environment causing air, water, and soil pollution.

Follow the 3 R’s diligently

Another key move to embrace a no-waste lifestyle is to respect and follow the 3R’s – recycle, reuse, and reduce. As consumers, we must consider our choices and purchase products that cause minimum waste and harm.

For a better environment, unnecessary consumption has to be addressed and we must reuse products that we already have as much as possible.

Avoid single-use plastic

Single-use plastics are the biggest waste contributors that are also harmful to the environment. Avoid products like single-use plastic straws, cutlery, bags, water bottles, etc. These products take hundreds of years to decompose and also hamper the zero-waste lifestyle.

Welcome second-hand products

Don’t shy away from second-hand products. If you want to buy a laptop or two-wheeler, see if anyone is selling theirs for a fair price. If the product meets all your requirements, then don’t hesitate to buy. You not only save ample money but also there will be one less two-wheeler or laptop in use.

Similarly, put up periodic garage sales in your society for residents to buy and sell used goods. This will majorly contribute towards the zero-waste lifestyle.

Indulge in composting

Organic waste materials such as vegetable peels, eggshells, leftovers, discarded coffee grounds, etc can be added to the composter daily. However, avoid coconut shells since it will take a longer time to decompose and also fry waste.

Some of the perfect spots for having a composter are a terrace, garden area or balcony.

Today, there are several kinds of composters available and you can pick one according to your needs, and your family’s size. Composting options for Societies are also available and can be done in a single spot such as the terrace, beside the driveway, sidewalk, STP area, etc.

When done right, composting is not only simple but also smell-free. Composting is also one of the huge contributors to zero waste.

Conduct workshops and seminars

As a community, be vocal about sustainability and waste management. Conduct workshops about waste management and zero-waste lifestyle to create awareness among your residents. This will make them conscious about the products they buy and use and will have a positive impact overall.

Going zero waste cannot happen overnight but with small and consistent changes it is achievable. These changes will have a positive impact on your Society, residents, and the environment.

Take these little steps today and see your environment and lifestyle change!

To know about how to reduce pollution in your Society, read here!

Leave a comment InApartment Management Eco Living Waste Management Waste Management in Apartments

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January 7, 2022

A guide to successfully conduct AGMs online

With COVID variants threatening the country to go under another lockdown, online AGMs have become the standard way to review a Society’s performance across several verticals.

In this article, let’s explore more about the requirements and purpose of AGMs, how to effectively conduct online meetings, and how ApnaComplex can assist you.

Mandatory reports

Before commencing the AGM, a report of the previous fiscal year’s income-expense statements, audited balance sheet, performance report of the Management Committee, and the previous AGM’s MOM (minutes of the meeting) needs to be prepared.

For easy access, the MOM can be digitally recorded and uploaded to the ApnaComplex repository and be shared with people who will be taking part in the meeting.

Sending AGM invites in advance

The AGM invite has to be sent at least 15 days before the meeting to the respective members. The invite can effortlessly be broadcasted to attending members using ApnaComplex via e-mails, SMS, App Notifications, and Notice/Discussion boards. The invite should have the link to the meeting, also the date and time of the meeting.

Appointment of Auditor

The appointment of the Internal and Statutory Auditors is done during the AGM only.

Successfully conducting AGMs online

– The first step towards conducting a successful online AGM is picking the right platform that enables you to send unique meeting links along with the ID and password.

– The platform should also enable you to share your screen, allowing virtual presentations.

– Pick a very user-friendly platform that has a user interface that is easy to navigate. Even non-tech-savvy residents should be able to use it with minimum effort.

– Before commencing the meeting, ensure that your internet is stable and request other attendees to also have a stable internet. Similarly, insist that the participants turn their video cameras on to prevent imposters and proxies.

– Use a platform like ApnaComplex to have spot voting for decision-making. The ApnaComplex app comes with polling options including one vote per member, one vote per household, and 2 votes per household (owner and tenant). This feature enables you to create a separate voting list consisting of AGM attendees only. Here, they can cast their vote through the app.

Apart from online polling and document repository, ApnaComplex comes with a host of other modules including Accounting, Facility and Asset Management, Gate Management, etc. To know more about our features, visit our website apnacomplex.com.

Moving-in and moving-out – here are the do’s and don’ts to know!

Moving-in and moving-out are common scenarios in every gated society. If you are new to living in a gated community or if you are a part of a newly formed association, then it is vital to know and have standard procedures in place.

Having a criterion helps the management know about the new residents who are moving in and enables them to onboard the new residents into the Society’s system. Likewise, it also helps them keep a record of residents who are moving out.

The Association of GM-Infinite, Phase 1, Bengaluru, shares the basic procedures they follow with ApnaComplex which you can implement for your society as well. Keep reading to know about the do’s and don’ts of the move-in/out process!

The Do’s

– Before the tenants move in/out, the owners must inform the association and furnish full details at least a week in advance via email including the date of the move-in/out, new tenants’ details, etc.

– A small move-in charge can be levied on the new residents while they are moving in. For instance, GM Infinite levies a one-time payment of Rs.1000 via online or card payment.

– Have a rule that move-in/out can happen only during particular hours. GM Infinite allows move-in/out only between 8 am and 7 pm.

– The new tenants must furnish ID proofs, rental agreement, and/or owner’s Email to initiate their registration with ApnaComplex.

– They must furnish their vehicle’s RFID (if there is one), RC Book photocopy, ID proof, parking allotment copy, etc.

– The residents who are moving out must clear all their maintenance and other dues before initiating the move-out procedure.

– They have to return the RFID sticker (if applicable).

– The management must delete the moving out tenants’ records in the ApnaComplex app.

– The NOC from the Maintenance department must be submitted at the security gate before moving out.

Don’ts

The don’ts listed below are primarily applicable to the tenants and are pertinent to their stay inside the Society.

– Tenants must never take the Society or the association for granted. They must never violate Society rules that are stipulated.

– They must never fail to pay the maintenance dues.

– They must never indulge in any sort of commercial activities inside the residential premises. If the residents are found to be non-compliant, the association has all the right to take necessary action against the said tenants.

The above rules are applicable to most of the Societies and these do’s and don’ts can be altered depending on how each Society functions.

Having a guideline in place makes things easier for all the parties and streamlines the whole process. We hope you find the above guidelines useful. To know how you can efficiently streamline and automate your Society’s everyday operations, please visit our website – apnacomplex.com.

Leave a comment InApartment Apartment Management Apartment Owners Association Bye Laws Community Living

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