The Tamil Nadu Apartment Ownership Act, 2022

What the law covers

The Tamil Nadu Apartment Ownership Act, 2022 applies to buildings containing four or more apartments. An apartment may be residential or commercial and includes a flat, office, showroom, shop, suite or other separate, self-contained part of a property.

An apartment owner includes a person who owns an apartment and a person who holds one on a lease of at least thirty years. The law also addresses promoters, subsequent owners, tenants, associations and federations.

Ownership and transfer

The Tamil Nadu Apartment Ownership Act, 2022 gives each apartment owner exclusive ownership and possession of the apartment. The apartment and its undivided interest in common areas form heritable and transferable immovable property.

Key ownership rules include:

• The apartment and its undivided interest in common areas cannot be partitioned or subdivided.
• The share in common areas is proportionate to the apartment’s carpet area compared with the project’s total carpet area.
• The common-area interest cannot be separated from the apartment and passes or is encumbered with it.
• Owners must not hinder or encroach on the lawful use of common areas by other owners.

Declarations and associations

The Tamil Nadu Apartment Ownership Act, 2022 requires the promoter or a majority of apartment owners to submit a declaration to the competent authority. For a newly completed building, the deadline is ninety days from issue of the completion certificate. For a building already existing when the law commences, the deadline is one hundred and eighty days from commencement.

The competent authority may examine whether the property is covered and whether the declaration is in order. A defective declaration may be returned for correction and resubmission within thirty days.

After acceptance of the declaration, the majority of owners must prepare bye-laws and submit them for registration. Once registered, apartment owners must form an association for the building. An existing single association for a building is treated as its association under the law.

Administration and common facilities

The Tamil Nadu Apartment Ownership Act, 2022 requires bye-laws to cover:

• Election, powers and duties of the board of managers.
• Meetings, quorum and election of a president.
• Maintenance, repair and replacement of common facilities.
• Collection of common expenses from owners.
• Formation of a federation where necessary.

Common areas include stairs, lifts, entrances, basements, terraces, parks, play areas, open parking, shared service installations, water systems and other portions needed for maintenance, safety or common use. Owners must comply with the registered bye-laws, and non-compliance may support recovery, damages or injunctive relief.