We are happy to announce a key new addition to ApnaComplex feature set – ‘Automated Scheduled Reports’ – that is available for every society.
With this feature, any one in your society can now receive various reports by email at a pre-defined and periodic intervals (OneTime, Daily, Weekly, Monthly).
You can schedule reports to be sent to entire community/owners/committee/sub groups or to a selected set of individuals.
Some of the “new” things you can do in your society with this feature:
1. Improve Financial Transparency by auto-publishing Income/Expense statement to all owners every month!
2. Schedule to send List of all expense details for the week to the entire committee!
3. Get End of the day cash/bank balances on a daily basis!
4. Automatically send updated key contact list once a month to entire community!
5. Get Bouncing email ID report once a week!
and much more… All just by configuring for few minutes.
There are around 40+ reports available for scheduling. As always, the list will continue to grow as we move forward.
To start using this feature, go to Reports->Reports List and click the ‘Scheduled Reports’ button.
Please note that the system shall execute and send reports post mid-night every day.
Prepayment Penalty is a nightmare that is suffered by the individual borrowers who take home loans for buying apartments. A prepayment loan generally means that all debts have to be paid before the due date. Prepayment penalty usually ranges between 1% or 5% on the total loan taken depending on the bank.
The NHB (National Housing Bank) sent out a notice to all the HFCs (Housing Finance Company) recently to levy any prepayment charges. This decision has been greatly applauded by the RBI (Reserve Bank of India). The ban is not only levied on the prepayment of the floating rate home loans but also the borrowers of the fixed rate home loan schemes
However, if you have taken a Prepayment Loan you just need to follow a few simple rules. Here’s a look at them
Rule #1 Negotiation With Your Bank
Before transferring your home loan, do let your bank know regarding why you have planned to pay your loan beforehand. If the EMI on your home loan is unaffordable to you or the interest rate is sky high, then the bank might grant you certain options like extension in tenure, partial repayment or a relaxation in the home loan EMI.
Rule #2 Switching to a Floating Rate Scheme From a Fixed rate Loan
Some of the borrowers let you choose a floating scheme of payment if you are finding a difficulty in paying your home loan. The floating loan scheme comes 1 or 2 percent cheaper than the fixed rate loan scheme.
Rule #3 Partial Prepayment
If the pre-play is taking a toll on your budget and the interest rate is too high for you to pay up; talking to the bank is always an option. The bank can allow you to make partial prepayments and lower the principal amount; they can also reduce the outstanding loan amount. Many banks have the option of a partial prepayment of the loan, which does not exceed 25% of the total loan amount.
Rule #4 Prepayment of the Home Loan from Your Source
In case you decide to go for a full loan prepayment or opt for a foreclosure with own funds, no penalty amount will be levied on you. These funds can be a maturity of bonuses from sale of assets and employment or life policies.
Home Loan is a major source of fund when you buy a property. The Home Loan EMI or the interest rate varies from one bank to another. Hence, it is very necessary to plan and choose an interest rate or an EMI or a home loan prepayment.
This article aims at collating and providing information for benefit of ApnaComplex customers and blog 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.
Get your Society on ApnaComplex – Today!
ApnaComplex is India’s most comprehensive web based housing society accounting, management and communication software. It is designed to make the life of residents and owners a lot better by bringing in more transparency and accountability in managing a housing society. Check out the features of ApnaComplex and sign up your society today to get the benefits! We offer a free 30-day trail as well so that you can try before you buy!
We have released an enhancement to Accounting in ApnaComplex. Most societies have a need to ensure that accounts are not “modified” unintentionally (or intentionally) once the accounts are audited and approved by the general body.
To meet this need, your favorite software now supports “freezing” (or closing) of accounts for a given accounting period. Go to Accounting->Accounting Periods and click the “Close Accounting Period” which will lock all transactions of that period. No one (even community admins) will be able to make any changes to the transactions once the accounting period is closed. You have to make a special request to Support team to “unfreeze” an accounting period.
This provides an inherent safety net ensuring no changes to the accounts once they are approved in AGM by the general body.
ApnaComplex now provides a view into the audit logs that are maintained in the software automatically. Administrators can now see the list of expenses and non-member income entries that were deleted along with the time stamp of deletion and details of the user who deleted them. Makes it easy to investigate any “missing” transactions. Go to Expense Statements and Non-Member Income Statements to see this in action.
Never face an issue of “I remember entering that expense last time, wonder who deleted it now” – which happens in most desktop based accounting software.
Time for another cool feature in your favorite software! Apna Treasurers can now automate the invoice posting to members. Treasurers can now setup charges to be raised on members at a frequency once and provide a date range. The system will automatically raise the invoice based on the frequency. No need for treasurers to remember and raise invoices manually. Just set up the Recurring Invoices and let the system take over. Saves even more time for treasurers. Go to Income->Member Income->Setup Recurring Invoices and get peace of mind!
Who ever said treasurers are overloaded? Refer them ApnaComplex!
We just released an enhancement in ApnaComplex that would allow Administrators to edit a payment before approving. In case members made a mistake while entering the payments, till now administrators can only reject the payment and go to Enter Payment again to input the payment details with correct values. To re-enter the payment, administrator would have to remember all details of the payment, which was too cumbersome.
Now, we have streamlined the process. Administrators now have an option to “Reject and Re-enter Payment” at the time of rejecting a payment. Once clicked, the rejection of payment will be recorded and the admin will be taken to a Enter Payment screen where the payment details that were rejected would be pre-populated. Admins need to just edit the same and submit.
A seemingly simple but complex issue in every apartment association is on how to arrive at the maintenance charges to be levied on the members. The issue is complex enough that it is impossible to please all the members with a single way of calculating the maintenance charges.
As discussed in the “Popular methods of calculating Maintenance charges” – societies have option of charging Per Square Feet (PSF) or Per Flat (PF) basis. While the regulations in most states is not very clear (or not enforced with necessary rigor), the model bye-laws of Maharashtra state provide a relatively clear answer to this debate. The answer at a high level is simple – follow a combination of per sft and per flat for various heads.
The same can be adopted by societies of all states (as most model bye-laws are derived works of the model bye-laws from Maharashtra State).
Types of Charges
There are quite a few types of charges that can be levied on members. The periodicity of levying these charges can be decided by the General Body of the Association. Usually charges like ‘Sinking Fund’ will be levied once in an year – and Maintenance Dues will be charged once in a month. Brief explanation of various charges is given below.
Service Charges (a.k.a Maintenance Charges in most societies)
This charge needs to be levied on per flat basis. This charge needs to be levied based on the expenses incurred by the society towards procurement of services. This includes all Staff Salaries (including society office staff, maintenance staff, security staff, housekeeping staff, technical staff etc.), Administration Expenses (internet, telephone, printing, stationary etc.), Auditor Expenses, Common Area Electricity Bill (excluding bill for Lift operations), Conveyance / Travel Expenses, Legal Expenses, Membership to local federations / bodies etc.
Expenses on repairs and maintenance of building of Society
These charges may be decided by General Body subject to minimum 0.75 percent (0.75%) of the cost of construction of flat/shop per annum. For example, if the construction cost is Rs. 1200/- per sft, this charge will be Rs. 9,000/- per annum for a 1000 sft flat. This is calculated on per sft basis and can be levied once in a year. This excludes Lift related repair & maintenance.
Expenses for lift repair, maintenance and for running the lift
This charge should be based on expenses incurred for Lift Repair, Lift Maintenance and Running of Lift, including Electricity Charges for Lift oeprations. This needs to be charged equally on all Members of the building where in lift is provided.
Sinking Fund (a.k.a Corpus Fund)
The exact amount may be decided by General Body subject to minimum of 0.25% of the cost of construction of flat per annum. This is calculated on per sft basis and can be levied once in a year. This is to be collected if the builder has not collected this amount at the time of selling the flats and handed over the corpus to the association.
Parking Charges
This charge is to be levied based on number of parking lots in a flat. The fee per parking lot may be as decided by General Body of the Society.
Property Tax
This is applicable only in states where societies are authorized to collect property tax on behalf of Govt. The tax to be collected is determined by the state.
Water charges
This charge is to be levied based on number of water inlets into a flat. The fee per water inlet may be as decided by General Body of the Society. In modern apartments / layouts, this charge can be calculated based on the reading from the water meters that measure consumption of the water by a flat.
Interest on defaulted Charges
This is the late payment penalty. The penalty scheme / amount is as decided by General Body. Most common practice is to levy simple interest not exceeding 21% p.a. But General body can decide a different way of calculating late payment fees that works best for them.
Non Occupancy Charges (NOC)
This is an additional charge on flats that are rented out. As per the law, this charge cannot exceed 10% of the Maintenance / Service Charges levied. You can refer to this article to get more details. The NOC cannot be charged if the licensee(tenant) is family member(Family Members includes husband, wife, father, mother, brother, sister, son, daughter, son in law, daughter in law, sister in law, brother in law, grandson and granddaughter).
Insurance Charges
The expenses spent on insurance of the building and equipment can be levied on the members in proportion to built up area of their flats. Extra premium charged by insurance on account of storage of specified goods in flat/shop should be collected from those flats/ shops whose storage of specific goods was the reason for extra premium.
Lease Rent
This is levied based on per sft for the builtup area of the flat/shop.
Any other charges
As decided by General Body from time to time.
Following is a table indicating a comprehensive list of charges that can be levied by the Society / Apartment Association on the members. All charges levied must be derived from the expenses of the society. The table also indicates the correct way of arriving at these charges from the expenses and if they need to levied on per sft basis or per flat basis – as recommended by Model Bye Laws.
Conclusion
The article provides a framework for arriving at dues to be levied that is fair to all its members. A Housing Society that is ‘well managed’ needs to avoid taking the easy way out – by charging per flat or per sft basis. This is especially true for societies where there is no uniformity in size of the flats. Though at a first glance, it looks like there is much work and many heads for the amounts to be charged to adopt this, it is not really so. Once you get started you realize that its not as difficult as it appears. If you are new society, you can put this in practice right from day one. if you are an old society, but not following this model – its never too late for you to adopt this.
Get your Society on ApnaComplex.com – Today! ApnaComplex is India’s most comprehensive web based housing society accounting, management and communication software. It is designed to make the life of residents and owners a lot better by bringing in more transparency and accountability in managing a housing society. Check out the features of ApnaComplex and sign up your society today to get the benefits! We offer a free 30-day trial as well so that you can try before you buy!
The managing committee in every housing society is responsible for maintaining and managing the infrastructure. There is a steady stream of revenue that the management committee gets every month, as and when all residents in the apartment complex pay their maintenance dues.
There are other ways through which a managing committee can earn some steady revenue, so that it can build new structures and improve the existing infrastructure without cutting a hole through the pockets of all residents.
Penalties Can Help In Establishing Order
Interestingly, an apartment association can mimic a government’s functioning and use penalties as a form of revenue, to ensure that its internal processes are carried out in an unaffected manner.
Why Use Penalties As A Source Of Revenue?
Using penalties as a source of revenue can aid an association in two ways.
Creating Order: It will help in tightening up the existing system and making the residents more responsible and punctual when it comes to paying their dues. A system where no action is taken on defaulters will only invite more lethargy and bring in complacence. A managing committee can create a set process in this way, bringing in more control and transparency to its administration.
Tapping Into A Revenue Source: It will act as a source of money, and in this way new structures that are essential for every housing society like Rain Water Harvesting structures (including pits, dug wells, hand pumps, trenches, and recharge wells) can be constructed straight from the apartment association’s funds without collecting money from the residents. As long as this system is made transparent, there will be no issues whatsoever. Members of the managing committee should maintain records for all penalties collected and how and where the money has been put to use.
Wondering how to easily keep track of the penalties and payments against them?
More often that not, the reason for not imposing penalties in a housing society is the administration hassle associated with imposing them and ensuring a collection of the same. Its a nightmare to keep track of these without help of proper tools.
ApnaComplex’s powerful accounting features come in handy here. Treasurers can easily post the penalty charges to a member’s account and the member clearly would be aware of the penalty charge s/he has to pay. Treasurers can easily track the payment against the penalty. Most importantly, this brings about a transparent way of dealing with situations leading to penalty. What’s more – ApnaComplex being a complete accounting solution – the penalties collected can be categorized under any number of different heads of your choice – such late payment penalties, or common area penalties etc. and all of them would get reflected in your balance sheet and income/expense statement that every member can clearly understand. Absolutely, more transparency.
Yet another instance where using ApnaComplex not only saves effort, but also improves orderliness and even generates revenue for your society. Sign up your society today and get the benefits.
Where Can Penalties Be Charged?
Every housing society has its own set of bye laws, and these bye laws will provide information about the many penalties that can be levied on defaulters. The members of the managing committee can charge some penalties for the following acts:
Violation of Bye-Laws – Most association bye-laws has rules on how balconies must be kept clutter free not spoiling the facade of the apartment complex, how to manage garbage, how to maintain sound levels etc. Still, there could be Residents/Owners who violate terms by having messy balconies, cause inconvenience to neighbors with loud music or wood work during nights etc. and association can consider imposing penalty charges for the same.
Damage To Common Areas – The managing committee in a housing society can fine people for damaging important structures in the apartment’s common areas. A person who causes any form of damage to elevators, benches, roads, staircases, or swimming pools in the housing society can be fined. Penalties can also be charged for damages caused to gym equipments or library assets.
Raising Pets – Though, not exactly a penalty, this is one major source of revenue that an association can tap into. Not all housing societies have bye laws that allow people to raise pets; so members of the managing committee can charge people who have pets in their household (if pets aren’t allowed). A pet deposit can be taken or pet rent can also be levied every month to create a steady source of revenue.
Late Payment Of Dues – This is the most obvious and frequently used – Residents in the housing society who don’t pay their maintenance charges within the stipulated time can be penalized, and for this, a deadline should first be set and made public. This will help in making the collection process more effective.
But remember, before imposing any penalties, all the associated rules and the penalty amounts must be proposed, discussed, and voted in an AGM. Association cannot impose penalties with out first getting them approved in an AGM and recording those minutes.
ApnaComplex is a complete Apartment Accounting Software. Period.
When we talk about Accounting for Apartment Associations or Housing Societies, its not just about ability to create maintenance charges, automate few manual steps such as penalty generation and defaulters notifications, issue receipts or even about entering bills and expenses – there’s more to become a “complete” end-to-end solution for Accounting.
If you are a treasurer, ask these questions yourself when considering an accounting software for your society:
– Should I still download data in excel or some other form to share it with my auditor when I use this software to track my maintenance charges and expenses?
– Should I/auditor upload/re-enter data into another accounting software (such as Tally) to be able to generate Balance Sheets and Profit/Loss Statements?
If the answer to either of the above questions is “Yes”, you deserve better software as you are just duplicating efforts (and money) and not using better options that are available at lesser cost.
ApnaComplex - The right choice for Apartment Accounting
If the answer is “No”, ask few more questions – this time from an auditor perspective
– Can the auditor define as many ledger accounts as deemed necessary under Assets, Liabilities, Revenues and Expenses (also referred as ability to define Chart of Accounts)?
– Can the auditor change the transactions already posted? For example, can a Purchase that was captured under Expenses be moved to Assets with out re-entering all data?
– Can the Auditor View Trial Balance of all ledgers and individual Statements of all Ledger Accounts?
– Can the Auditor print the entire set of ledgers along with detailed transaction statements?
– Can the Auditor Generate unadjusted Balance Sheets, do Adjustments and then generate a final balance sheet and print it?
There can be many more such questions to be asked – but you get the idea. If the answers to any of these questions is “No”, drop that software as these are critical aspects to be able to provide a “complete” accounting.
Needless to say, with ApnaComplex you can do all the above and much more. You can create an account for your auditor, give access to the auditor only to the necessary financial data (speaks volumes about our Role Based Access Capability and the seriousness we take data protection aspects, doesn’t it?) and entire accounting can be done including generation and printing of all financial statements right from ApnaComplex. Auditor can create ledger accounts or accounting heads, re-group transactions, do adjustments, update opening balances, view trial balances, print individual ledger account statements and lastly generate Balance Sheet and Income/Expenditure Statements.
Oh, by the way, we also support exporting of data just in case you still want to use other accounting software for your needs. More options in your hands.
Now, get rid of the need to exporting and importing all the data, and most importantly – switch to ApnaComplex, Save Money and have Peace of Mind.
ApnaComplex is a web based housing society accounting, management and communication software. It is designed to make the life of residents and owners a lot better by bringing in more transparency and accountability in managing a housing society. Check out the features of ApnaComplex and sign up your society today to get the benefits!
It can be quite irritating if things don’t go the way you want them to, when you finally work towards buying an apartment. The sessions spent trying to decide on the perfect location for your apartment, the countless options that you filtered through and the many sleepless nights can all come crashing down when your application for a home loan gets rejected.
The Latest Banking Scene
All leading banks have now starting rejecting home loan applications, mainly because the situation has recently changed. Earlier, the competition among banks was high and in a spree to dish out the maximum number of loans, all banks used to sell teaser loans in an aggressive manner. But the guidelines have been made stricter and the screws have tightened in the process, and if your application doesn’t satisfy all the necessary criteria, it may get rejected.
Keep Your Credit Cards In Check!
The Reason Behind Loan Rejection
To make sure that your application doesn’t get rejected, you should know all the norms involved in the process that can stop the scales from tilting in your favor. There are three phases of approval involved when it comes to home loans, and these are:
Personal Profile Verification – You should take care when you fill up your personal profile, because any incorrect information entered in this section can bring down your chances of getting a bank loan for buying your apartment in Hyderabad. Banks will generally verify every detail mentioned, so ensure that you fill in the correct details when it comes to your age, the total number of dependents and your financial stability. You may have to show around five or six of your pay slips to get approved and clear this particular section.
Credit History Verification – Your credit history will also be verified when you apply for a home loan for buying an apartment in Hyderabad. Ensure that you pay all your bills in a correct manner, without lagging behind in any payments. A credit card balance that is huge doesn’t help either. Make sure that you don’t have other outstanding debts like vehicle loans or other personal loans, as these may be cited as reasons for your application’s rejection.
Property Verification – Choose the right builder so that you don’t face any problems when it comes to verifying your property. The builder should have all the necessary documents and the required number of approvals for this phase to clear smoothly. If the documents are not in order or if there’s a problem with the title or layout, your home loan application will be rejected.
When you apply for a home loan for buying an apartment in Hyderabad, ensure that your salary meets the minimum requirements. Clear all your other loans on time without any delay, and do not have any records of outstanding debts when you submit your application. You can also take some time off and step in and out of many banks to get an idea on the many types of loans provided, and you can go with the bank that best fulfills your essential preferences.
ApnaComplex is a web based apartment management software. It is designed to make the life of residents and owners a lot better by brining in more transaparency and accountability in manging the complex. Sign up your complex today and get the benefits!
This article aims at collating and providing information for benefit of ApnaComplex customers and blog 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.
