Steep maintenance with no audited accounts, run by a captive facility-management company, and hiked without consultation? Residents are entitled to transparent maintenance and, ultimately, to control it themselves.
In plain words: residents are entitled to maintenance that is transparent, properly accounted for, and ultimately in their own hands. Arbitrary hikes and opaque billing by a builder or a facility-management company can be challenged.
The problem
The monthly maintenance is steep and keeps rising, with no audited accounts and no explanation of how the figure is arrived at. A facility-management company handpicked by the builder runs the show, and residents have no say over the budget or the vendors.
What the law says
- Maintenance must be transparent. Residents are entitled to know what they are being charged for and to see audited accounts of how their money is spent.
- Arbitrary hikes and unfair billing can be challenged. The Haryana Real Estate Regulatory Authority (HRERA) deals with a builder's maintenance obligations, and the Consumer Protection Act provides a remedy for deficiency in service and unfair billing.
- Residents can take over. Once the society is handed over to a residents' association, the residents control the budget and can appoint their own, cost-effective maintenance agency — they are not locked into the builder's company forever.
What you can do, step by step
- Demand, in writing, the maintenance accounts and the basis of every charge.
- Organise residents collectively — a single, documented demand carries far more weight than scattered complaints.
- Take arbitrary hikes and opaque billing to HRERA or the consumer forum.
- Press for handover so the residents' association controls the budget and the choice of agency.
How Vakil Help Desk helps
We review the maintenance accounts, challenge arbitrary charges before HRERA and the consumer forum, and help residents move to a transparent, self-managed model after handover. If your maintenance bills are high and unexplained, contact Vakil Help Desk.
General information, not legal advice.