Significance of by-laws in an apartment owners association
What are By-laws in an apartment?
Each apartment association will have an apartment bye law which contain certain details like the name of the association, the address, the date of formation, jurisdiction aspects and so on. The by-laws contain various particulars which relate to the business hours of the association along with the objectives and activities of the association.
An apartment by-laws includes;
- The aims and objectives of a society.
- The names of persons or officers who can sue or be sued on behalf of the association.
- Particulars of the person or officer who can give directions with regard to the business of the association.
- It is mandatory that the bye laws should have details about the enrollment of members, qualification for membership, restrictions and other conditions along with the entrance and fee.
- The deadline date for the payments and the fee.
- A list of delayed payments and penalties.
- Rules about eviction of members and the circumstances under which members can be evicted along with the particulars of rights, obligations and privileges of the members.
- The by-laws should have the particulars relating to the manner in which the business of the association has to be carried out.
- A list of qualifications of members to hold office, the term and other conditions for appointment/reappointment should be mentioned.
The importance of by-laws:
By-laws are required by the managing committee of an Apartment Owners Association (or Residents Welfare Association) to ensure proper maintenance of the apartment complex and to resolve all the issues that the residents face in a timely and effective manner. Solving the issues is not an easy task and it is quite a difficult task to convince the society to agree to the chosen rules and regulations. All of the related issues are solved through a set of rules known as by-laws. Every apartment complex adopts the by-laws from the moment it is registered. The by-laws govern the day-to-day functioning of the apartment complex and it is considered as the constitution of an apartment complex.
Registration of the by-laws:
The co-operative societies manage their affairs through the co-operative societies act. In most cases various apartment communities do not rely on this act and create their own co-operative societies act. A co-operative society’s act specifies the rules and regulations of a residential Apartment Complex association and the bye laws which can be changed in times of need. This act offers a certain amount of flexibility to the association members of a society.
Amending the by-laws:
After the registration of the by-laws, the society has to function on the set of the bye-law rules. As mentioned earlier the by-laws can be amended by the government or the society members if needed. Changes like the tenure period and other set of rules can be made in the by-laws. The set of rules from the by-laws will come into action from the date of registration.
Instructions on amending bye-laws:
- An apartment association can hold a general meeting as preferred and should sanction the changes amidst a two third majority of the members present in the meeting. The two third of the members should not be less than one third of the total members in the society.
- Once the entire community is gathered, the managing committee will submit the form stating the new law to be brought into force.
- The committee will submit four copies of the existing by-laws with the resolutions passed by the Annual General Meeting.
The forms should be signed and should have the following points;
- 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.
- Henceforth the by-laws will be amended by the registrar once it is clarified that the changed rules or conditions are not breaking the norms.
