Category : uncategorized

Smart Residential Living uncategorized

Service tax on Maintenance exempted for housing societies in Maharashtra

TAX

TAXGood news Maharashtra residents! Get ready for a sigh of relief! From today on, you won’t have to pay service tax (currently 12.36%) on your monthly apartment maintenance charges. This decision came from the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) after a case involving Tahnee Heights, a residential society in Nariman Point emerged.

Under this new rule, if you are a flat-owner or owner of a commercial space within a housing society registered under the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, you’re exempted from paying service tax against the society maintenance amount charged every month.

In a housing society, maintenance amount is typically collected by society RWAs (Resident Welfare Association) to pay for the community’s administrative needs such as water, lift repair, security, electricity for common areas and maintenance of gym, swimming pool.

We’re keeping our fingers crossed and hoping that this ruling soon extends to other parts of India. For now, if you want to know how much service tax you need to pay, you can read all about it here.

For more information on this update, please read the news article here.

 

Read More
Smart Residential Living uncategorized

Make it a Safe Sankranti for You & Everyone Else

Sankranti_CF GroupsThis day marks the onset of a new harvest season and is celebrated in northern India as Sankranti, in Tamil Nadu as Pongal and so on. Makara Sankranti will bring you fond childhood memories of flying kites and “til ka laddoos” made at home, but the massive number of injuries caused by our “manja” kites every year tends to go unnoticed. This number includes kite-flyers, passersby, commuters and birds.

The following basic safety tips will ensure that your joyful celebration does not become a hazard to the lives of others.

1)  Avoid flying kites before 9am or after 5pm: This is when birds are out searching for food or are on their way back to their nests. This is also the time people commute to their workplace or travel back home.

2)  Do NOT use Kites with a glass-coating: Glass “manja” is a bird’s worst enemy. It can cause fractures, wing cuts and nerve injuries to birds and is capable of severely wounding people, in some cases even taking lives. A kite-flyer must only use threads without a “manja” coating.

3)  Keep a local animal welfare association’s number handy: In case you spot an injured bird, call a local animal welfare association for help IMMEDIATELY. Till they arrive, place the bird in a dry, warm cardboard box with a few tiny holes for ventilation.

4)  Kite Fliers, your safety comes first!: Have fun this Sankranti, but with a little caution! Take care of your eyes, skin, hands while flying a kite. Cover up your body and avoid standing in narrow lanes or near terrace edges.

5)  Drive slow & wear a helmet/neck protector: Go slow while driving a bike on the city roads. This might also give you enough time to slow down your vehicle if you find a kite-flyer rushing across a busy street to catch a kite. Make sure to wear a helmet, muffler or neck protector to avoid injuries from kite threads.

Have a safe & wonderful Sankranti!

 

Read More
Smart Residential Living uncategorized

4 Things You Must Check About a Prospective Tenant

Tenant Approved_P1

Tenant Approved_P1We did a little bit of checking around, and what we heard from most landlords is that finding a good tenant is like ‘winning a lottery’.

Now, you must be wondering just how difficult can it get to find a tenant in a metro city?

Well, besides the common fear of offering a safe hiding-spot to a delinquent or an imposter, there are a host of other possibilities like not getting the rent on time, tenant absconding without paying due rent or just having to deal with a lousy, troublemaker. Hence, finding a “good tenant” can get tricky.

If you’re searching for a tenant right now, you surely hope to be 100% sure before letting him/her in.

A thorough tenant screening, which includes a background verification by the state police, can help eliminate about 90% of your tenant related problems and fears.

Make sure to conduct the following checks before letting out your property to anyone:

i)  Verify his/her background: This check will help you confirm if your potential tenant has a history of skipping payments of rent or is likely to cause small-time damages to your property.

ii)  Conduct a Credit Check: You can conduct a credit check through credit references or get an agency to do it for you.

iii)  Police Verification is a MUST: It is mandatory to conduct a police verification of your prospective tenant before letting out your property to him/her. This process requires you to visit the nearest police station and fill in a form with all necessary details (about the tenant). Police will verify the authenticity of all details, helping you ensure that your aspiring tenant does not have a criminal past.

iv)  Talk to the Last Landlord: We recommended that you ask the prospective tenant for the last landlord’s contact details. This will give you a better understanding of the concerned person’s behaviour/habits or if the person is likely to take good care of your property.

There are several agencies which offer tenant verification services (some or all the above) at a reasonable fee. We recommend that you do your own bit of research before zeroing in on one.

Have you had a bad experience with a previous tenant? Share your story to help other landlords be more cautious while renting out a house.

 

 

Read More
Product Updates uncategorized

CommonFloor Groups Mobile App is upgraded!

CommonFloor Groups App

Your very own CommonFloor Groups Mobile App has been upgraded on both Android and iOS platforms (available from 15th Jan). And this is just the beginning…

In our continuous endeavour to provide you with a seamless experience of connecting with your community on the move, we have made the mobile app faster, smarter and easier to use. Apart from an enhanced visual experience, we have been relentlessly fixing bugs, reducing the number of steps required to accomplish something and ironing out performance issues (which means, you can now communicate quickly even in low internet speeds). So update the app now from the app-store and enjoy the improved experience!

We thank each one of you for giving us your valuable feedback and for waiting patiently for updates like this one. Kudos to you!

We need your continued feedback and generosity to keep going. Please feel free to drop a line on groups-product@commonfloor.com and tell us about some of the features you would like, the issues you are facing or just to say Hi!; and we will get back to you right away.

Happy Community Living!

If you haven’t downloaded the app yet, download now.

Read More
Smart Residential Living uncategorized

5 DIY Decor Ideas for your Jazzy New Year’s Eve Party

5

We’re just days away from ringing in a bright and fresh New Year, an occasion that calls for some party fun. Here are a few simple DIY ideas to help you add a festive touch to your party cleverly and inexpensively. (For simple DIYs to keep your home warm this winter, read here)

1) Accordion Paper Clock

Things You Need: 2 rolls of matching craft paper, cardboard circle (diameter = 8cm), glue, clock mechanism, number stickers (3,6,9,12), retractable knife.

Steps:

i)   Cut matching craft paper into two (horizontally).

ii)  Fold all four pieces of paper at 1cm intervals.

iii)  Glue all these pieces to each other (end on end) into a tube.

iv)  Push the top of the tube downwards (to flatten it) and create the centre.

v)  Pierce a 1cm hole at the centre of the card piece and attach it to the back of the accordion shape to keep it in place.

vi)  Place number stickers. (3,6,9 & 12)

vii)  Finally, fix your clock mechanism at the centre.

For Colourful Countdown Numbers, use Word Art on Microsoft Word to print reverse outlines of numbers (1 to 10) on cards (of different colours). Cut out each number using a retractable knife, punch stars on them randomly (with a star hand punch) and insert into slits on wine corks.

1

2) Party Glitter Ball

Things You Need: Sphericalpaper lantern, glue, glitter, wiping cloth (to place where you will work)

Steps:

i)  Apply glue on the lantern’s surface in patches and immediately cover the area with sufficient amount of glitter.

ii)  Repeat the above step until the lantern’s surface is entirely covered with glitter.

iii)  When the first layer dries up, apply two more glitter layers so that no spot looks sparse.

2(1)

3) Shimmering Hanging Streamers

Things You Need: Card Stock, glue, wrapping paper, hole punch, monofilament, thumbtack, jump rings, circle cutter

Steps:

i)  Apply glue on both sides of card stock pieces and cover each with wrapping paper.

ii)  Cut out circular card pieces of varying sizes (ranging from 2” to 6” in diameter).

iii)  Punch a hole at top & bottom of each circle (in the smallest, punch a hole at the top only).

iv)  Make a chain of these circles using jump rings (large to small).

v)  Use monofilament & thumbtack to fix each streamer to the ceiling/door entrances.3 4) Origami Paper Cube Lights

Things You Need: String of 20 LED lights, 20 pieces of (8.5”x8.5”) paper

Steps:

i)  Fold 20 pieces of paper in this fashion:

6

ii)  Insert each LED light into a paper cube.

iii)  Hang it from the ceiling or above windows.

5

5) Sequin Backdrop Photo Booth

Things You Need: 600 sequins (60mm), 600 sequin pins, tape, gold wrapping paper (6 rolls), card stock, ruler, 6 pieces of foam-board

Steps:

i) Lay the foam boards on the floor and use tape to attach them.

ii)  Attach gold wrapping paper on the foam-boards using tape and cut off/fold backwards excess paper.

iii)  Stand it up against the wall where you want your photo booth to be.

iv) Start from the top. Place pins 2.5” apart.

v)  Measure how far the second row should be and place pins (2.5” apart) such that each sequin in the row sits snugly between two sequins above.

vi)  Make a guide using a poster board, with its width being equal to space between the two rows of pins. Mark placement of pins on the guide with a marker.

vii) Use the guide to fix following rows of pins.

viii)  Once pins are in place, hang sequins on the board (with pins being their support).

ix)  And your funky photo booth is ready for some party clicks!

4

Did you find these pretty, festive Do-It-Yourself ideas useful for this New Year Eve’s party decoration? Or did you recently stumble upon some more quick and quirky decor ideas?

Tell us in the comments.

Here’s wishing you a beautiful New Year!!

 

Read More
1 7 8 9 10 11 13