Can a person looking to rent a house, be refused tenancy by housing societies? If legal experts are to be believed, housing societies frame their own laws. There are broad guidelines, or bye-laws, that every housing society adopts when it is registered. These rules and regulations govern the day-to-day functioning of the housing society. These are very essential for smooth running of the society.

Ajay Kumar, a 25 year old qualified professional has a harrowing experience whenever he has to look for a rented place. He has no criminal record either yet; he is refused leased accommodation by most housing societies. The reason? He is single. “Being single is a disadvantage because many housing societies prohibit their members from leasing their apartments to bachelors. They refuse to give no-objection certificate (NOC) to flat owners who agree to lease out their property to a group of singles,” Ajay explains.

Although disallowing tenancy to bachelors is the most common reason, it is not the only one, according to real estate experts. Generally, a group of singles is more likely to rough up the place and become annoyance for other members of the society. Moreover, bachelors tend to relocate more frequently and this doesn’t provide stability in rental income as compared to that from families.

Among other reasons for refusal of tenancy is having pets like dogs or cats. It is feared that pets my dirty the society premises or harm children. Further, people with certain meal preferences have also been denied lease. And the starkest is the rejection of tenancy on the basis of religion.
But, can the housing society overrule the flat owner? The by-laws of the society are framed under the Co-operative Societies Act, which provide specific guidelines to be registered with the municipal corporations, its governance structures, common area maintenance rights, dos & don’ts, accounting practices and various other covenants related to leasing/ purchasing a house within the society. In addition, The Act also offers a degree of flexibility to societies to add regulations of their own. For example, if there is a rule for tenants that they cannot park their vehicles in the parking slots allotted to members, then the housing society has every right to enforce it.

Individual societies are legally empowered to deny tenancy based on their by-laws. Although it is the legal right of the owner to lease his property, the housing society also has a say in it.

Can the by-laws be legally challenged? If a tenant feels a housing society has been unfair in any aspect, he can file a police complaint against it, claiming infringement of his rights as a citizen. “Any regulation which infringes on the fundamental rights of an individual can be challenged in the court of law. Every Indian citizen has the right to reside anywhere in the country and discrimination is not permitted on the basis of religion, caste, sex, eating habits or marital status,” proclaims Vinod Sampat, president, Cooperative Societies Residential Users Association, and a real estate lawyer.

If you are having small budget, but still want to own the property, so 1BHK, 2BHK and studio apartments are the best option for you. Now most of the developers in Mumbai are coming-up with the configuration of small apartments as they are in great demand. Larger configurations offers the better amenities within and outside of apartments and it also need less number of buyers, compared to small apartments, but it comes in high price. Before 2005 large apartments was in trend, but between 2004 to 2010 when property prices increased substantially for large configurations, than this trend went beyond the middle man’s reach. Nowadays in metro cities it’s a trend to buy small apartments as residential flats and due to reduction in size, it’s become easy to own the apartments.

1BHK, 2BHK and studio apartments are right choice for low budget and one can easily afford it if they are living in metro cities like; Mumbai, Delhi, Gurgoan, Hyderabad, etc. These small size apartments are best option because of two reasons; first it requires the small investment and second one can easily sell it as it requires the less ticket size, while selling the apartments. All metro cities are situated on the strategic locations and they play a major role to drive the economy and because of that apartment prices in these regions are growing up. According to recent survey, apartments in metro cities are now more affordable because of reduction in dimensions. In past two years, these cities have witness the 15% to 25% reduction in apartment sizes.

Recently, central government also announced the benefits for affordable housing segment and has also increased the tax deduction limit for section 80C, from Rs. 1Lakh to Rs. 1.5Lakh. And in the same process the budget has also increased the deduction limit on interest payment for home loans from Rs. 1.5Lakh to Rs. 2Lakh. Mumbai has recorded the sharpest decline in size and it is about 20%, while other cities have recorded the decline of 5% to 15%. In metro cities growth drives by end-user, so it is essential for developers to meet the price expectations of end-users.