Do welfare guilds fare well?

CHENNAI: There was once a time when co-dependence, especially with people outside the immediate family, had been the most natural way of life. Today, such co-dependence even within the family is often a forced necessity; a compromise that, we hope, would make our lives easier. However, as is often the case, it has all the potential to make it more difficult too. Many people in the city are finding that to be true of the one area of dependence they can’t seem to shake off — the residents’ welfare association. 

While this is no news, reports of a city-based journalist facing harassment from members of her apartment’s residents’ association have stirred up the conversation around the excesses of these outfits. In this case, the single woman who lives with her aged parents claimed that she was verbally abused, faced sexual advances and was eventually removed from the residents’ WhatsApp group for questioning the functioning of the association, including its expenses and maintenance. While this particular grievance has garnered the attention of the media, there are hundreds of cases that don’t make it past the authorities.

Troubles aplenty
Such tension, and, in worst-case scenarios, harassment, often stem from the arbitrary rules brought on by the associations. This was certainly the case where Ahalya* lives. It’s natural to rule that there can only be one member per family (technically, per occupant/unit) in the association. At Ahalya’s apartment, there is an unwritten rule that if the father is still around, the son cannot become a member; this is the case even if the father is bedridden or the son is a man of 40 years. So, why the rule? “There was a very active youth association and they conducted a lot of social work and cultural activities. Then, that was dissolved due to some internal politics. After that, the association did not want the same youth members to become members here. Hence, this clause,” explains Ahalya. While it can certainly be considered a benign imposition, families with old parents probably wouldn’t agree. 

The troubles don’t stop there. In the gated community where Ram* lives, there are one too many rules that infringe upon basic individual freedom. For one, the association committee had the gates locked on a Sunday afternoon because the secretary was upset that people were going out and going about their lives instead of attending the meeting he had convened. Ram, who happened to be headed out, found that the security had been instructed not to open the gates. This prompted him to walk into the meeting and give them a piece of his mind. Since then, he has been the target of mild-mannered nuisances on a regular basis. He is pulled up for driving too fast within the compound, not displaying the parking sticker on his bike the way they prefer and more. 

Arbitrary rules like these are far easier to execute in smaller apartments, where it’s just a one-man association. Aruvi* lived in one such apartment, where there were only six units in total. All was well till the family that handled the association work moved out and their replacement gave her a 60-year-old secretary. “The common terrace has a gate next to his house. Until he moved in, it used to be open all the time. It was particularly useful for me and my roommates, who work the night shift. All that came to an end when he started locking the gate at 10 pm. He claimed it was for security reasons. If that were the case, we could have been given keys to the terrace gate and asked to lock up after ourselves. He didn’t want to do that,” she complains. 

Of authority and overreach
Stranger things haunt such apartments — lifts can only be used to go up and not come down, locking the main gate at 9 pm-10 pm and restricting access, a Royal Enfield entering the premises should be turned off outside the gate and then be pushed all the way to the parking space, and more. But the biggest grievance of all is around the subject of pets. It gets worse if you’re just the tenant and not the houseowner. Neelima* and her husband adopted a rescue dog but it wasn’t long before the houseowner found out. His immediate response was that they get rid of the dog. Even though there is no legal ground for such (or any of the above) demand.

When her husband declared that they would move out by the end of the month, the owner relented and let them stay in peace. Marked by this experience, they made sure to check about this condition when it was time for them to move next. The new owner assured them that there was no objection to the pet as long as they handled it well. Two days after they moved in, the owner returned with the same stipulation as to the previous one — get rid of the dog or move out. It turned out, the residents’ association had given a written complaint against the family having a pet. “Within three-four days, when we were still in the middle of unpacking, the owners landed there and asked us to vacate the house because the entire building had petitioned against us. They declared that dogs are not allowed. We asked for a month’s time and then moved out,” she narrates. 

Sairam* too was forced out of his apartment when he brought home a new dog in addition to the one he had already had for four years. Tired of such conflict, he put in all the money he had saved and bought an apartment in an up-and-coming gated community outside city limits. Within a week, he was accosted by complaints from the association members about the dogs. It was his knowledge of legal provisions that helped him stay his ground and overthrow the complaints. And that is the only way to go, suggests advocate Manoj of United Associates Law Firm.  

Recourse and relief
“No residents association has any ground to bring in rules outside of the constitution. We have the Tamil Nadu Apartment Ownership Act, 1994, and Tamil Nadu Apartment Ownership Rules, 1997, to govern residents associations. They are driven by by-laws or covenants, conditions and restrictions set forth in the Deed of Apartment that is registered at the competent authority as specified in the Act. The committee and every apartment owner shall strictly comply with the by-laws. So, all these arbitrary rules can be contested legally. They can even be under criminal law, not just civil law. If the association says they will lock the gates at 8 pm and won’t let you inside, you can even lodge a police complaint against them,” he notes. This applies to associations that are not registered as well, he adds.

The first step in addressing such trouble is to make a written representation to the committee of the association to repeal the arbitrary rules. The next step would be to register a complaint against the committee at the local sub-register office. There are provisions to rule the secretaryship void and allow for fresh elections. In case the offence is of a criminal nature, the complaint should be registered at the local police station, advises Manoj, adding that it is always better to be accompanied by a lawyer and take the advice of one while doing so. 

While every aggrieved party has pointed to the fact that every member has to be consulted regarding any rule for the welfare of residents, Manoj suggests that there is more we can do to make these associations more democratic. And that is by being more aware of the laws around it. “The apartment associations may seek advice from advocates to frame by-laws that are lawful and democratic. It is good for the associations to retain advocates as legal advisors for the betterment of the association and its members,” he says.  Perhaps, you should set this off at the next association meeting in your apartment.

*Names changed