Of tall promises and broken pacts
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Living in an apartment complex in a city like Kochi is fine, but there could be problems when it comes to collectively ensuring that it is properly maintained and its facilities are shared equitably. In some cases the promised facilities are simply not available, writes SHYAMA RAJAGOPAL.
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Living in a multi-storied apartment complex in a busy city like Kochi can have its advantages. That is why more and more people are opting to live in flats. But, the situation that it gives rise to - of having to share the common space and the facilities available and take collective responsibility for its upkeep can give rise to problems.
Take maintenance for, instance. "This is very important," says K. Govindan, working with a tea company. "Last year I had to go without the lifts working for two months all the while going up five floors with children many times a day. We suffered because there was no one to take up any responsibility. There were frequent problems of water and electricity and I had to personally go and collect money from the people living here and deposit it with the Electricity office and Water Authority to get back the connection."
Common grouse
There is no association in this apartment complex bang in the centre of Kochi. Mr. Govindan says that the people are hardly bothered if there are no lights in the common area or there is no maintenance. Most of the occupants are tenants and the attitude of not taking up any responsibility has made things worse, he says. "The tenants are supposed to pay for the maintenance of the flats but when there is no association of flat owners, what do the tenants do," The owners are least bothered too.
An initiative has been launched recently for forming an association in this apartment complex and hopefully a system will be in place soon, says Mr. Govindan.
And there can be many who suffer because of a builder's lack of interest in ensuring a set-up for taking care of the project once it is completed.
"These kinds of troubles had come to my notice when I was the president of the Ernakulam District Residents Association's Apex Council and this happens generally when the builder fails to get together an independent association of the owners started," says S. Balakrishnan.
If an apartment is serviced by a single electricity and water connection and if some people living there fail to pay up, these basic facilities are cut-off for all, he said. One of the main drawbacks of some of the flats is the grossly inadequate drainage and sewerage system. Within six months of habitation, the tanks start overflowing and all the untreated water flows in the open, said Mr. Balakrishnan.
Lack of rules
The building rules are inadequate too when it comes to high-rise buildings, he says. While it mentions that a frontage of at least five metres should be provided at the entry point, there is no mention about the width of the approach road to the gate of the flat. The builders, therefore, may fail to provide details about the approach road anywhere in their brochure, and the road may be just three meters wide.
When builders boast about the luxury facilities available in a flat, they should also be able to mention the kind of drainage system they are providing, Mr. Balakrishnan says. The sanctioning authorities have only of late started reacting to the lack of compliance by a section of the builders in providing fire safety measures. As is the case of on apartment building in Kadavanthara. The builder is said to have violated many norms in the building rules in the flat constructed in a prime place. The association of the flat owners here have approached the courts to seek redressal of their grievances one of which is the lack of fire safety measures.
False promises
According to one of the office-bearers of the association, the builder had promised car parking in the basement and children's play area on the ground floor and recreation and commercial area on the first floor.
The structure of the apartment building is different from the plan that was submitted to the Corporation's Town Planning section, says the office-bearer. Finally, the flat owners find that there is no parking area allotted to them. They have problems in parking cars. And there is no children's play area too.
The builder has also occupied the rooftop, which should have been a common area, says the office-bearer. The construction is defective and the toilets are leaking, he says. The bylaws of the Association are ambiguous. In places like Bangalore and Mumbai, the bylaws are tighter. But, Kochi is yet to have a system in place to ensure effective bylaws, he says.
Coordination
The most important aspect is coordination among the members living in an apartment complex.
Since tenants are a majority in most apartment complexes in Kochi, they generally do not take interest in the smooth functioning of an association, says Rangadasa Prabhu, president of the District's Resident Association's Apex Council. Since there are many legal issues involved in most of the cases that come to its notice, the council only can act as an advisor and cannot be involved fully in them. If the members of the association are unable to function smoothly, a caretaker for the building needs to be appointed.
There should be regular meetings of the associations and bylaws should be framed at the beginning of the formation of the association so that members know what are the dos and don'ts in a particular apartment. Says a resident of a flat at Karikkamuri, "we have managed to tide over the worst till now and hopefully continue without much problems in future."
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