Section 3 in The Bihar Apartment Ownership Act, 2006
3. Definition.
- In this Act unless the context otherwise requires-(a)"Allottee" in relation to an Apartment, means the person to whom such Apartment has been allotted, initially by the promoter but not yet sold or transferred;(b)"Apartment" means a part of the property, provided by the promoter/ developer in a multi-storied building intended for any type of independent use, including one or more rooms or enclosed spaces located on one or more floors or any part or parts thereof, in a multi-storied building to be used for residence or office or for the practice of any profession or for the carrying on of any occupation, trade or for business or such other type of independent use as may be prescribed, and with a direct exit to a public street, road or highway or to a common area leading to such street, road or highway, and includes basement, cellar, any garage or room (whether or not adjacent to the multi storied building in which such Apartment is located) provided by the promoter for use by the owner of such an Apartment for parking any vehicle or as the case may be for the residence of any domestic aide employed in such an Apartment;(c)"Apartment number" means the number, letter or combination thereof, which is the designation of the Apartment in the Deed of Apartment;(d)"Apartment owner" means an allottee to whom an Apartment has been finally transferred or sold by the Promoter and who as a result of which owns the Apartment and has an undivided interest in the common area and facilities appurtenant to such Apartment in the manner/percentage specified in the Deed of Apartment;Explanation-An allottee becomes an Apartment owner only after payment of the entire consideration together with interest thereon, if any due, and the Apartment finally transferred or sold to him by the Promoter subject to provision of Section 11. Besides this, the Apartment Owner should have a Deed of Apartment executed and registered in his favour whereas merely an Allottee is not required to do so;(e)"Approved Bank" means the State Bank of India constituted under Section 3 of the State Bank of India Act, 1955 (23 of 1955), or a subsidiary bank constituted under Section 3 of the State Bank of India (Subsidiary Banks) Act, 1959 (38 of 1959), ora corresponding existing bank constituted under Section-3 of the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1970 (5 of 1970) ora corresponding existing bank constituted under Section 3 of the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1980 (40 of 1980);(f)"Association of Apartment owners" means the association of all the Apartment owners of a multi storied building acting as a group and termed as such in accordance with the bye-laws and Deed of Apartment and competent to contract in its own name;Explanation. - A member of a co-operative housing society or an allottee under a hire purchase agreement will be deemed to be an owner entitled to membership of the association.(g)"Board" means the Board of Manager of an Association of Apartment owners elected by its members under the bye-laws;(h)"Bye-laws" means the bye-laws of an association of Apartment owners made under this Act;(i)"Common areas and facilities" in relation to a building means:-(i)The land on which such building is located and all easements, rights and appurtenances belonging to the land and the building;(ii)The foundation, columns, girders, beams, supports, main wall, roofs, halls, corridors, lobbies, stairs, stair-ways, fire escapes, and entrances and exit of the building;(iii)The basements, cellars, yards, gardens, open areas, shopping centres, schools and storage spaces;(iv)The premises for the lodging of Gatekeeper or the person employed for looking after the property;(v)Installation of central services, such as, power, lights, gas, hot and cold water, heating, refrigeration, air conditioning, incinerating and sewerages;(vi)The elevators, tanks, pumps, motors, fans, compressor ducts and in general, all apparatuses and installations existing for common use;(vii)Such other community and commercial facilities as may be prescribed; and(viii)All other parts of the property necessary or convenient to its existence, maintenance and safety, or normally in common use.(j)"Common expenses" means :-(i)All sums lawfully assessed against the Apartment owners by the Association of Apartment owners;(ii)Expenses of administration, maintenance, repair or replacement of common areas & facilities;(iii)Other expenses agreed upon as common expenses by the Association of Apartment owners;(iv)Expenses declared as common expenses by the provisions of this Act, or by the Deed of Apartment or the Bye-laws.(k)"Common profits" means the balance of all incomes, rent, profits and revenues from the common areas and facilities remaining after the deduction of common expenses;(l)"Competent Authority" means the officer or authority who or which may be vested by the State Government, by notification in the official gazette with executive powers to perform duties and functions of the competent Authority and for implementing the provisions of the Act and the rules made thereunder for such areas as may be specified in the notification under the general guidance, superintendence & control of the State Government:Provided that the State Government may notify more than one officer or Authority as competent authority and distribute the work among them in the manner as it may deem fit.(m)"Deed of Apartment" means the instrument by which the property is submitted to the provisions of this Act as hereinafter provided;(n)"Government or State Government" means the Government of the State of Bihar;(o)"Local Authority" means Municipality, Municipal Corporation or Regional Development Authority or any other area so notified by the Government or constituted under the Bihar Regional Development Authority Act, 1981; The Bihar & Orissa Municipal Act, 1922 and the Patna Municipal Corporation Act, 1951; as amended time to time;(p)"Manager" means the manager of an Association of Apartment Owners appointed under the bye-laws;(q)"Multi Storied Building" means a building constructed containing four or more Apartments, or two or more buildings in any area designated as block, pocket or otherwise, each containing two or more Apartments, with a total of four or more Apartments in all such buildings and includes a building containing two or three Apartments in respect of which a declaration has been made under the proviso to Section 2;(r)"Promoter or Developer" means the person who constructs or causes to be constructed a building consisting of Apartments or converts an existing building or a part thereof into Apartment for the purpose of selling all or some of the Apartments to other persons, and includes his assigns. Where the person who constructs or converts a building and the person who sells are different persons, the terms include both of them. Any development authority and any other public body so notified by Government are deemed to be the Promoters in respect of the allottees in building constructed by them on land owned by them or placed at their disposal by Government:Explanation-Any such person, who acts in the manner described above, will be deemed to be a promoter, in that capacity also if,(i)he designates himself as builder, colonizer, contractor, developer, estate promoter or by any other name, or(ii)he claims to be acting as the holder of a power of attorney of the owner of the land on which the building is constructed.(s)"Proprietor/Owner" means the person who is the actual owner of the land on which the Apartment building is to be constructed and has the right, title and interest over the proposed land and it also includes the successor and legal heirs of the owner of land. If the land owner is State Government/Government of India/public undertaking/co-operative society/trust etc., the concerned authority shall be termed as proprietors/ owners;(t)"Prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act;(u)"Property" means the land, the multi-storied building, all improvement and structure thereon and all easements, right and appurtenances belonging thereto, and all articles of personal property intended for use in connection therewith;(v)"Revenue Authority" means the authority that is competent for collection of rent of land, building etc. from owners of the plot of land/ Apartments;(w)"Reserved or limited Common areas and facilities" means those common areas and facilities which are designated in writing by the Promoter before the allotment, sale or transfer of any other Apartment, and kept as reserved for use of certain Apartment or remain allotted to any Apartment and to the exclusion of other Apartment;(x)"Service charges" means expenses incurred on salary of guard and sweeper, and energy charges for Common area lighting and pumping of water and operation of lift, cost of Diesel/Mobile etc. for running the generator, and Annual Maintenance Charges (AMC) for lift, intercom and generator etc. payable monthly.
