**This post may not actually pertain to this forum, but along with real estate concerns, I am more concerned about the relationship I share with my FIL as well**
Hello,
My husband and I live and work in the US, and early this year we decided to buy a flat in India, at our hometown with the help of my father-in-law. This is our first ever investment and we are quite inexperienced. We go by what my father-in-law says, with a little bit of online research.
The registration was completed in April this year and as with most builders we paid for the maintenance fee for the first year, in full, when we bought the flat. The apartment also collected a fee of Rs. 35,000/- as part of the corpus fund, right when we paid up during registration.
Now, starting September, we have a tenant who is willing to occupy the flat. The flat has been locked up from April - Aug due to finishing of construction, interiors etc. This is my problem:
Since we already paid for the maintenance fee for the first year, I think we should get the maintenance fee for the period from Sep-Mar 2015, from the tenant. Because, in effect, we have paid for that maintenance amount on the behalf of the tenant, the tenant owes us the amount until Mar '15, until when we have paid for the maintenance fee.
But my father-in-law poses two arguments:
1) When we first asked him this question, he told us that it is the general rule that tenant pays the maintenance fee for the remaining months in the first year, towards our corpus fund. It did not make any sense to us, as we had already paid for the corpus fund in full, and all flat owners in the block are supposed to have the same level of contribution in the corpus fund, as the interest from the fund is used towards common expenses.
When we pointed this out to him, a couple of days later, he came back with another explanation:
2) Our flat does not have an association until Dec. We may collect the maintenance fee from the tenant, until association is formed. But once association is formed in Dec, tenant has to pay the maintenance to the association. And he says it is the rule of thumb everywhere that, no matter if you have already paid up for 1 year's maintenance, the day the association is formed, every flat owner who is also an occupant and every tenant, has to pay the maintenance fee to the association.
This also does not make sense to me. An association is an unpaid body, who takes the initiative to manage the common expenses and issues in the flat, right? How does it make it any fair to pay up maintenance twice for the flat, just because an association is formed??
My husband and I are hesitant to question my FIL too much, because, he takes to such things very sensitively and thinks we are questioning his integrity in the matter. But neither do his explanations make ANY sense to me.
Can flat owners in India or people in the US who have had experience buying flats in India, shed some light???
Hello,
My husband and I live and work in the US, and early this year we decided to buy a flat in India, at our hometown with the help of my father-in-law. This is our first ever investment and we are quite inexperienced. We go by what my father-in-law says, with a little bit of online research.
The registration was completed in April this year and as with most builders we paid for the maintenance fee for the first year, in full, when we bought the flat. The apartment also collected a fee of Rs. 35,000/- as part of the corpus fund, right when we paid up during registration.
Now, starting September, we have a tenant who is willing to occupy the flat. The flat has been locked up from April - Aug due to finishing of construction, interiors etc. This is my problem:
Since we already paid for the maintenance fee for the first year, I think we should get the maintenance fee for the period from Sep-Mar 2015, from the tenant. Because, in effect, we have paid for that maintenance amount on the behalf of the tenant, the tenant owes us the amount until Mar '15, until when we have paid for the maintenance fee.
But my father-in-law poses two arguments:
1) When we first asked him this question, he told us that it is the general rule that tenant pays the maintenance fee for the remaining months in the first year, towards our corpus fund. It did not make any sense to us, as we had already paid for the corpus fund in full, and all flat owners in the block are supposed to have the same level of contribution in the corpus fund, as the interest from the fund is used towards common expenses.
When we pointed this out to him, a couple of days later, he came back with another explanation:
2) Our flat does not have an association until Dec. We may collect the maintenance fee from the tenant, until association is formed. But once association is formed in Dec, tenant has to pay the maintenance to the association. And he says it is the rule of thumb everywhere that, no matter if you have already paid up for 1 year's maintenance, the day the association is formed, every flat owner who is also an occupant and every tenant, has to pay the maintenance fee to the association.
This also does not make sense to me. An association is an unpaid body, who takes the initiative to manage the common expenses and issues in the flat, right? How does it make it any fair to pay up maintenance twice for the flat, just because an association is formed??
My husband and I are hesitant to question my FIL too much, because, he takes to such things very sensitively and thinks we are questioning his integrity in the matter. But neither do his explanations make ANY sense to me.
Can flat owners in India or people in the US who have had experience buying flats in India, shed some light???