Section 12 in The Punjab Apartment Ownership Act, 1995
12. Sub-lease and its Breach.
(1)Where any land is given on lease by a person (hereinafter in this section referred to as the lessor) to another person (hereafter in this section referred to as the lessee, which term shall include a person in whose favour a sub-lease of such land has been granted and any building has been constructed on such lease-hold land by the lessee or by any other person authorised by him or claiming through him) such lessee shall grant in respect of the land as many sub-leases as there are apartments in such building and shall execute a separate conveyance deed of sub-lease in respect of such land in favour of each apartment owner within three months from the date of which possession of any apartment is given to him and execute a document transferring the management of the common areas and facilities to the association within three months of its being formed, and file certified copies of the instruments in the office of the competent authority and in the case of a building constructed before the commencement of this Act, such conveyance deeds of sub-lease and such documents of transfer shall be executed within three months of the commencement of the Act and thereafter the powers and functions of the lessee shall be exercised by the association in respect of apartment owners who are the sub-leases:Provided that no sub-lease in respect of any land shall be granted except on the same terms and conditions on which the lease in respect of the land has been granted by the lessor and no additional terms and conditions shall be imposed by the lessee except with the previous approval of the lessor:Provided further that the lessee shall not withhold consent to, or collect any amount for acquiescing to the apartment owner executing a transfer of the sub-lease and endorsement on the deed of apartment in favour of a transferee but where the lessor is the Government, it may levy such transfer fee as may be prescribed.(2)Where the lessee has any reason to suspect that there has been any breach by the apartment owner (hereinafter referred to as the defaulting apartment owner) of the terms and conditions of the sub-lease, in respect of the land appurtenant to the apartment, he may himself inspect such land and make a report as to whether there has been any breach of the terms and conditions of any sub-lease in respect of such land and if so, the nature and extent of such breach and for this purpose, it shall be lawful for the person authorised by him to enter into, and to be in the land in relation to which such breach has been or is suspected to have been committed.(3)Where the lessee or any person authorised by him makes an inspection of the land referred to in sub-section (2) he shall record, in writing, his findings on such inspection and a true copy thereof shall be furnished to the defaulting apartment owner and, where such findings indicate that there has been any breach of the terms and conditions of the sub-lease in respect of such land, the lessee may, by a notice, in writing, require the defaulting apartment owner to refrain from such breach, or to pay in lieu thereof such composition fee as may be specified in the notice in accordance with such scales of composition fee as may be prescribed.(4)The defaulting apartment owner who is aggrieved by any notice served on him by the lessee under sub-section (3) may, within thirty days from the date of service of such notice, prefer an appeal to the competent authority, either challenging the findings of the lessee or any person authorised by him, or disputing the amount of composition fee as specified in the notice and the competent authority may, after giving the parties a reasonable opportunity of being heard, confirm, alter or reverse those findings, or may confirm or reduce the amount of composition fee, or set aside the notice.(5)Where there is default in the payment of any composition fee, it shall be lawful for the lessee to recover the amount of composition fee from the defaulting apartment owner.(6)Where any composition fee is paid, whether in pursuance of the notice served under sub-section (3) or in accordance with the decision of the competent authority, no further action shall be taken by the lessee for the breach in relation to which payment of such composition fee has been made.(7)Where any lessee omits or fails to take any action under sub-section (2) or sub-section (3), the lessor may, by a notice, in writing, require the lessee to take action against the defaulting apartment owner under sub-section (2) or (3) within a period of ninety days from the date of service of such notice and, in the event of the omission or failure of the lessee to do so within such period, the lessor may himself take action under sub-sections (2) or (3) and the provisions of sub-sections (4), (5) and (6) shall, as far as may be, apply to any action taken by him, as if such action had been taken by the lessee.(8)For the removal of doubts, it is hereby declared that no work in any apartment by the owner thereof, unless the work is prohibited by section 11, shall be deemed to be a breach of the terms and conditions of the sub-lease in respect of the land on which the building containing such apartment has been constructed.(9)Where the building is not constructed on leasehold land, the promoter will not be required to grant a sub-lease to any apartment owner or execute a document transferring the management and maintenance of the common areas and facilities to the association but, on the execution of a conveyance deed of apartment, the title to the apartment and the percentage of undivided interest in the common areas and facilities appurtenant to such apartment shall be deemed to be transferred to the concerned apartment owner and the right of management of the common areas and facilities to the association and the provisions of the other sub-sections of this section shall apply, as if the words "sub-lease", "lessee" and "sub-lessee" refer to the "deed of apartment", "association" and "apartment owner" respectively.
