Housing societies big or small needs a set of rules and regulations to run smoothly. However, to get it registered they need the by-laws in place. By-laws are nothing but guidelines which are to be followed by the members of the society so as to ensure proper working of the community is ensured. Also, with the help of the by-laws, issues can be addressed in a timely and effective fashion. These are local/private laws and are put in place just after the housing complex is registered. These laws are mandatory and extremely useful as the day-to-day functioning of the complex is monitored and issues sorted in no time with its help.
The by-laws also cover all the monetary transactions made and received by the housing committee and during audits the housing committee members need to show all monetary details. It is here that it gets difficult especially for the treasurers to put details of the irrecoverable dues. Well irrecoverable dues include loans and funds spent to recover any due or losses that has been incurred by the housing society due to unavoidable circumstances. By-laws are a little different for different society as it also depends on the committee members on which laws they wish to include for the smooth functioning of their society. However, below are the two main by-laws which we think must be added to any housing society’s by-laws for the committee to be able to write off its irrecoverable dues smoothly.
Society By – Law No. 148
Under this law, charges incurred by the society as per the irrecoverable dues can be written off and the members need to pay these expenses. As mentioned before these irrecoverable dues can be spent for recovering some money stuck dsue to loans or other such accumulated losses. However, do check on which are classified as irrecoverable dues as stated by the Statutory Auditor appointed under section 81 of the Act.
Society By – Law No. 149
- By-Laws can be written off only if the General Body of the society gives sanction for the same.
- If the society is indebted to a financial agency then the approval/sanction of the agency is of utmost importance for such amounts to be written off
- Thirdly the approval of the registering authority is also required. However, if the society is classified as A or B in its last audit then permission of the Bank (if it’s associated to one) or any such financial agency or registering authority is not required.
By-Laws are thus important for each housing society, not only for their proper functioning but also for registration and other legal processes. However, if you wish to get in-depth knowledge of these do click here.
