(1) This Act may be called the West Bengal Apartment Ownership Act, 1972.
(2) It extends to the whole of West Bengal.
(3) This section shall come into force at once; and the remaining provisions of this Act shall come into force in such areas, and on such dates as. the State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint; and different dates may be appointed for different areas.
2. This Act applies only to property, the sole owner or all the owners of which submit the same to the provisions of this Act by duly executing and registering a Declaration setting out the particulars referred to in section 10 :
Provided that no property shall be submitted to the provisions of this Act, unless it is actually used or is proposed to be used, for residential purposes.
3. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,— Defmitions.
(a) "apartment" means part of a property having a direct exit to a road, street or highway or to a common area leading to such road, street or highway which together with its undivided interest in the common areas and facilities forms an independent residential unit;
Short title, extent and commencement.
Application of the Act 113 The West Bengal Apartment Ownership Act, 1972.
[West Ben. Act (Section 3.)
(b) "Association of Apartment Owners" means the association formed in accordance with the provisions made in the byelaws;
(c) "building" means a building containing four or more apartments;
(d) "common areas and facilities" includes—
(1) the land on which the building is located and all easements, rights and appurtenances belonging to the land and the building,
(2) the foundations, columns, girders, beams, supports, main walls, roofs, halls, corridors, lobbies, stairs, stair-ways, fire-escapes and entrances and exits of the building,
(3) the basements, cellars, yards, gardens, parking areas and storage spaces,
(4) the premises for the lodging ofjanitors or persons employed for the management of the property,
(5) installations of common services, such as power, light, gas, hot and cold water, heating, refrigeration, air conditioning, sewerage, etc.,
(6) the elevators, tanks, pumps, motors, compressors, pipes and ducts and in general all apparatus and installations existing for common use,
(7) such other common facilities, as may be specially provided for in the Declaration,
(8) all other parts of the property necessary or convenient to its existence, maintenance and safety, or normally in common use;
(e) "common expenses" means expenses of administration, maintenance, repair or replacement of the common areas and facilities and all other sums assessed against the apartment owners by the Association of Apartment Owners;
(f) "common profits" means the balance of all income, rents, profits and revenues from the common areas and facilities remaining after the deduction of the common expenses;
(g) "Competent authority" means the Estate Manager under the Housing Directorate of the Government of West Bengal;
(It) "Declaration" means the instrument by which the property is submitted to the provisions of this Act, as hereinafter provided;
114 The West Bengal Apartment Ownership Act, 1972.
XVI of 1972.]
(Sections 4, 5.)
(i) "limited common areas and facilities" means those common areas and facilities which may be designated in the Declaration as reserved for use of certain apartment or apartments to the exclusion of the other apartments;
(j) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act;
(k) "property" comprises the land, the building and the common areas and facilities.