Rights & Duties of Associate Members.

A Primary Member can appoint an Associate Member in a Co-operative Housing Society under the MCS Act and the Society’s Registered Bye-laws, subject to the following conditions:

A. Written Consent: The Primary Member must provide written consent to appoint an Associate Member.

B. No Shareholding: The Associate Member does not hold any ownership or share in the property.

C. Limited Rights: The Associate Member can attend meetings but cannot vote or contest elections unless specifically authorized in writing by the Primary Member for a particular meeting.

D. Authorization for Voting: The Associate Member can vote in a General Body Meeting only with written authorization from the Primary Member for that specific meeting.

E. Termination: The Primary Member can revoke the Associate Member’s appointment at any time with written notice to the society.

F. Automatic Termination: Upon death of the Primary Member Associate Membership automatically ceases.

G. Criteria for Associate Member: Mother, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, nephew, niece of Primary member cab be duly admitted to Associate Membership of a Co-operative Housing Society.

H. In summary The Associate Member's role is mainly supportive, with limited powers.

Difference Between Release Deed Among Legal Heirs and Owners:

A Release Deed Among Legal Heirs:

1). Purpose: Transfers heirship rights, claims, or shares of the Releaser in the deceased's property to the Releasee.

2). Nature: Deals with renounce of  inheritance rights or claim by Releaser and not ownership transfer.

B. Release Deed Among Owners:

1). Purpose: Transfers ownership rights of the Releaser to the Releasee.

2). Nature: Directly pertains to ownership transfer between co-owners.

Summary

A. Legal Heirs are not Co Owners of the Deceased Member's property. They are merely Legal Heirs for the Deceased Member's property.

B. Consequently Legal heirs cannot release ownership rights in a deceased member's property because they do not hold ownership rights. They have only heirship rights or claim in the Deceased Member's property to release.

C. Therefore  A Release Deed does not always signify ownership transfer; it depends on whether the transaction is between Legal Heirs to release Heirship Rights or Transaction is between Owners to release Ownership Rights.

Lesson: A Releasee receiving heirship rights for the schedule property under Registered Release Deed from other legal heirs should not misconstrue it as a transfer of ownership for schedule property by those heirs.

Such Releasee can remove their doubt by seeking Title Certificate  for the schedule property from their Trusted Experts.

Always remember one can only give or sell or transfer or Release to other what he legally possess.

Transfer of Deceased Member's Property's  Ownership Rights.

To seek ownership rights in the property of a deceased member, the legal heirs or family members must comply with specific statutory provisions under various laws.

Here’s a detailed explanation of the steps involved:

Step 1. Applicable Provisions of Succession Laws : If a valid Will is available, the beneficiary must obtain a Probate of the Will from a competent court. If no Will exists, legal heirs can apply for a Letter of Administration and subsequently shall also require to apply for Transfer Deed.

Step 2. Transfer of Property Act: The legal heirs must ensure that ownership is transferred in their name through a Registered Transfer Deed. This deed establishes their legal Ownership over the deceased member's property.

Step 3. Indian Registration Act: The Transfer Deed or any other legal document transferring the property must be registered with the Sub-Registrar of Assurances, as required under the Indian Registration Act. Registration provides legal validity to the transfer.

Step 4. Stamp Duty Act: The transfer of property also requires the payment of applicable stamp duty under the Stamp Duty Act. The amount depends on the property's value and the state's stamp duty rules.

Step 5. Metro Cessed Tax: Benifitiaries also require the payment of applicable Metro Cessed Taxes if the schedule property is under jurisdiction of MMRDA like in Mumbai, Thane etc.

In Summary: To secure ownership of a deceased member's property, beneficiaries must obtain a Registered Transfer Deed. Documents like a Nomination, Release Deed, Family Settlement Deed, or Succession Certificate alone do not legally transfer ownership rights.

Definition of Legal Heirs, Legal Heirship Certificate and Nominee:

A. A legal heir in India is a person or group of people who are legally entitled to inherit (become heir to) the assets and liabilities of a Deceased person. 

B. The legal heir is determined by the deceased person's will, family relationships, or legal declarations. 

C. The applicable succession laws, such as the Hindu Succession Act or the Indian Succession Act, define the legal heir's rights. 

D. The legal heirs of a deceased person are typically: spouse, children, grandchildren, and parents. 

E. If the deceased does not have any of these immediate legal heirs, then the siblings of the deceased are considered the legal heirs. 

G. A legal heir certificate is an important document that establishes the relationship between the deceased person and their legal heirs. 

H. A Nominee is a different entity from a legal heir, even though a nominee can also be a legal heir. 

I. A Nominee is appointed by the Asset owner to act as a caretaker or agent for the asset. 

J. The Nominee is not the actual owner of the property, but they are legally obligated to transfer it to the legal heirs. 

Importance of Legal Heirship Certificate, Release Deed, Succession Certificate, Will, Probated Will, Letter of Administration and Transfer Deed.

Legal Heirship Certificate: A Legal Heirship Certificate proves legal heirship of the Applicants to claim deceased member's property but does not confer ownership rights.

Release Deed:  Therefore any Release Deed among legal heirs, based on a Legal Heirship Certificate, is not legally enforceable for transferring ownership rights to the release.

Succession Certificate: This certificate is a document issued by a competent court (civil) certifying a rightful person to be the successor of a deceased person. This certificate authorizes successor(s) to realize movable properties of Deceased Person like debts and securities of the deceased person.

Will: A Will is a legal declaration of a person's (Testator) intent to transfer their property to another person after their death.

Beneficiaries under Will: After death of the Testator, Will itself does not transfer ownership rights to the beneficiary. Therefore after the testator's death, the testator's intentions in the Will do not automatically transfer ownership; beneficiaries must comply with applicable legal provisions to obtain ownership.

Probation of Will:  A probated Will (as and where necessary) confirms its authenticity but does not transfer ownership of the deceased member's property to the beneficiary.

Beneficiary of Probated Will: Therefore beneficiary should not consider a probated Will as a proof for transfer of ownership of the deceased member's property in their favor.

Letter of Administration: A Letter of Administration by the Honorable Court authorizes the beneficiary to manage the deceased member's owned property and requires them to present a list of the deceased's creditors to the court within a specified period.

Rights of Administrator under LOA: Therefore A Letter of Administration is itself not proof of ownership of the deceased member's property by the beneficiary or administrator.

Transfer Deed: Once the Honorable Deputy issues an order for the execution of a Transfer Deed, and the deed is executed between the administrator and beneficiary with the payment of applicable Registration Fees, Stamp Duty and Metro Cessed Taxes (as and where applicable), the beneficiary becomes the owner of the deceased member's property.

Title Search & Title Certificate.

A. A title in property law is the legal concept of ownership rights to a property. It gives the owner the right to use, sell, lease, and control the property. 

B. The government or land registry office maintains a public record of titles. 

C. A title deed is a legal document that proves ownership of a property. 

D. It's also known as a sale deed or conveyance deed. A title deed includes details about the property, such as its location, size, and ownership history. 

E. It also outlines the rights and obligations associated with the property.

F. Here are some other documents that can be used to prove property ownership:

• Agreement for Sale / Sale deed: Used to prove the purchase of a property.

• Gift deed: Used when someone transfers ownership of a property as a gift.

• Transfer Deed: Used when Legal Heirs execute the Transfer Deed with the permission of the Honourable Court.

G. A title search is a thorough investigation by the Advocates that can be used to obtain a clear title Certificate to a property. 

H. A clear Title Certificate protects the owner's investment and helps avoid legal complications. 

Summary: Release Deed executed between Legal Heirs and or Family Settlement Deed between Legal Heirs are not Title Document or Title Certificate which can transfer Ownership Rights of Deceased Member's Property to the Legal Heirs.

Opinion:

A. A Registered Release Deed and or Registered or Unregistered Family Settlement Deed between legal heirs does not serve as a Title Document or Title Certificate to transfer ownership rights of a deceased member's property to the legal heirs.

B. Therefore Buyers should avoid to purchase property from such types of Legal Heirs.

C. Further None of the provision under MCS Act, can do Transfer of Ownership of the Property to the Provisional Members.

D. Therefore Buyers should also avoid to purchase property from Provisional Members, even if whose name have been wrongly mention on Share Certificate.

Recommendations:

A. NOC issued by the Managing Committee of any Co Operative Society is not enough.

B. Therefore Buyers must obtain Title Certificate and Encumbrance certificate from their own trusted Advocate for the subject property before making complete payment to purchase said Property in a Co Operative Society.

Unrealistic Buy-Back Policy in Redevelopment Projects.

To grab Redevelopment projects at any cost, Financially Weak Developers sometimes use Buy-Back Offers to tempt Members by promising to purchase their flats at unrealistic prices.

While this may seem appealing, it involves serious risks.

A. Unrealistic Offers: Developers use inflated or unrealistic buy-back offers to suppress dissenting voices and sway assenting members to select them for redevelopment projects.

B. Partial Payment : However, they usually pay only a small upfront amount (e.g., 10%), leaving Members vulnerable.

C. Collusion with the Managing Committee: If the Managing Committee is working with the Developer, might illegally remove the such Member's name from the society's membership register (I & J Register). Subsequently Members looses to attend any General Body Meeting.

D. Non-Payment of Balance Amount: The Developer might later refuse to pay the remaining amount, citing excuses.

E. This leaves the member struggling to recover the balance amount.

F. Loss of Benefits: If the Developer defaults, the Member may lose other entitlements also like rent payments, corpus funds, or even the Rehab flats in proposed Redevelopment Project.

Key Advice:

A. Members should be extremely cautious and think carefully before accepting any unrealistic buy-back offer from a financially weak Developer.

B. Unrealistic promises by the Financially Weak Developer supported by a colluding Managing Committee and PMC can cause financial and legal issues for all members regardless to the Members accept Buy-Back offers.

Application of the Limitation Act on Prolonged Arrears and Dues of Defaulter Members in Cooperative Housing Societies.

A. Limitation Act does Not bar Recovery of more than 3 year old Arrears and Dues in a “Cooperative Housing Societies”.

B. Defaulter members often mistakenly believe that their Co-operative Housing society cannot recover maintenance and service charges older than three years due to the Limitation Act.

C. However, Limitation Act does not apply to prolonged arrears, as paying these charges is a contractual obligation.

D. In cases of continuing breaches of contract, a new limitation period starts with each moment the breach persists.

E. Thus, managing committees are within their rights to demand payment of all dues, and Deputy Registrars will not dismiss recovery requests for more than 3 year older Arrears and Dues.

Warning: Defaulter members should promptly clear arrears to avoid 21% simple interest on overdue payments and also the risk of losing their Society's membership for persistent Default.