The Maharashtra State Co-operative Appellate Court has ruled that co-operative housing societies cannot be held liable for leakage or seepage caused by defects within privately owned flats, clarifying that such disputes are primarily between the affected property owner and the owner of the flat where the leakage originates.
The ruling came while dismissing an appeal filed by two shop owners against Raj Exotica Co-operative Housing Society in Mira Road. The appellate court upheld an earlier decision of the Co-operative Court in Thane, which had refused to grant interim relief.
In its July 4 order, President S.S. Sapatnekar observed that housing societies are responsible only for the maintenance of common areas and shared infrastructure, and not for internal plumbing, bathrooms or other defects inside individual flats.
The dispute involved shop owners Saroj Kumar B. Gupta and Vinod Kumar Gupta, who alleged that seepage from Flat No. 103, owned by Pratima S. Srivastav, had been damaging their ground-floor shop since March 2022. They claimed repeated requests to repair the washroom in the flat above had gone unanswered, resulting in financial losses.
The shop owners sought Rs 5 lakh towards repair costs, Rs 1 lakh as compensation, and interim directions requiring either immediate repairs or the deposit of Rs 1 lakh to cover restoration expenses. The housing society maintained that although it had informed the flat owner about the complaint, repairs within a privately owned apartment were beyond its responsibility.
The court noted that an infrared thermographic survey had confirmed severe seepage and indicated that the moisture appeared to originate from Flat No. 103, with repairs to the washroom being recommended.
However, the bench held that granting repair costs at the interim stage would effectively amount to providing final relief before the trial concluded. It also observed that the applicants had not sought an interim order directing the flat owner to carry out repairs and therefore failed to establish a prima facie case for a mandatory interim injunction.
Source: Mid-day
