The maintenance bill, decomposed
Every maintenance argument in every society is the same argument: why is my bill this number? The answer is a method, heads that split equally, heads that scale with area, funds with prescribed minimums, and a tax line, and once the method is published, the argument mostly dissolves. This guide decomposes the bill.
Operator guide, written August 2026. Security practice varies with premises and state rules; treat this as method, and your society's bye-laws and local police guidance as the authority.
Equal split versus per square foot
The bill is not one charge but a stack of heads, and the fair basis differs by head. Services every unit consumes alike, housekeeping, security, common electricity, office costs, are commonly split equally per unit. Costs that scale with what you own, the repair fund, the sinking fund, water where unmetered by use, commonly go by area or per the bye-laws' formula. Maharashtra's model bye-laws, the most-copied template in the country, prescribe exactly this hybrid: service charges equally, repair and sinking funds as percentages of construction cost per square foot. Your own state's model and your registered bye-laws are the binding version; the principle that travels is that the basis per head is written, not improvised.
The funds inside the bill
Two lines in the bill are savings, not spending. The repair fund accumulates for the painting-and-waterproofing cycle; model bye-laws commonly set a minimum as a small annual percentage of construction cost. The sinking fund accumulates for the distant, expensive day, structural repairs, lifts, and Maharashtra's model prescribes a minimum around a quarter percent of construction cost per year as the floor, with the general body free to vote more. Societies that bill these honestly and park them in separate deposits meet their repainting year with a balance; societies that quietly spent the funds on running costs meet it with a special levy and a very long AGM. Whatever your state's figures, the discipline is identical: prescribed minimums billed, separately parked, separately reported.
Publishing the method ends the argument
The bill that survives scrutiny shows its working: each head, its basis, equal or per square foot, its amount, the fund lines, the tax line, the arrears position. Publish the method once, an annexure to the AGM budget resolution works, and print the heads on every bill. Members stop disputing numbers they can recompute; the office stops re-explaining the same decomposition at the counter; and when a new committee arrives, the method survives the transition because it lives in a resolution and a system, not in the treasurer's head.
Water, parking and the metered exceptions
Two heads resist both equal and per-square-foot logic. Water billed by the tanker or by society borewell is fairest by consumption where meters exist and by occupancy-based formula where they do not; whichever the society uses, the formula belongs in the published method, because water is the head members argue about most concretely. Parking follows the bye-laws and the allotment register: stilt and open slots allotted by the society commonly carry charges the general body fixes, while ownership-linked parking follows the sale documents. The recurring mistake is charging by unwritten custom — the member with two cars since 2019 paying nothing while the new member pays for one — and custom is indefensible the day anyone asks for the resolution behind it. Every exception head earns its line in the method annexure, with its basis and its register.
Special levies, done properly
Big-ticket work, repainting beyond the fund, lift replacement, structural repair, eventually needs a special levy, and levies fail when they arrive as surprises. The clean sequence: the estimate to the general body with alternatives, a resolution fixing the amount and basis, the same equal-versus-area logic as the regular bill, a collection schedule with instalments for large sums, and the levy tracked as its own ledger head so members can see collection against the work's cost. Societies that ran their regular billing transparently get their levies approved in one meeting; the levy vote is where years of billing credibility get cashed.
How EstateDeck applies this
EstateDeck bills the method: heads with their own bases, fund lines accumulated and reported separately, GST where applicable, arrears aged with bye-law interest, and every member able to see their bill's decomposition.
Go deeper: Billing & collections · Society accounting
Written by Databus Technology Solutions, the makers of EstateDeck. These guides describe how housing societies and property operations run in practice; they are not legal advice. Cooperative and apartment law varies by state and changes on its own schedule, so verify specifics against your state's act and your society's bye-laws before acting.
Frequently asked questions
Is GST charged on maintenance?
When the society is GST-registered and a member's monthly maintenance crosses the exemption limit per unit, tax applies as per current notifications; smaller societies and smaller bills are generally outside it. The thresholds have moved over the years, so confirm the current figures with the society's auditor rather than a forum post, and show the tax as its own line when it applies.
Can the society charge different rates for tenants or commercial units?
Only what the bye-laws and the act permit. Non-occupancy charges for let-out flats are capped in several states, Maharashtra's model caps them at a small percentage of service charges, and commercial units follow the registered documents. Improvised surcharges on tenants are the classic overreach that registrars strike down.
How should arrears and interest be handled?
Bill on a fixed cycle, age the arrears, and apply the interest your bye-laws prescribe, uniformly. Model bye-laws commonly cap simple interest around 21% per annum; your registered figure governs. The uniformity matters more than the rate: selectively waived interest is how committees end up defending themselves at the registrar. Our arrears interest calculator does the arithmetic.
Should maintenance be collected monthly, quarterly or annually?
Whatever the general body resolves — the trade is administrative load against cash flow. Monthly billing tracks salaries and vendor cycles and keeps individual bills small; quarterly cuts the office's collection rounds by two-thirds at the cost of chunkier dues; annual suits small societies with disciplined members and terrifies everyone else. The under-rated variable is the due date: aligning it to the start of the month, with the reminder before and the receipt instant, moves collection rates more than the frequency choice does. Whichever cycle you pick, bill it like clockwork — irregular billing manufactures irregular payment.
Who pays for the flat lying vacant?
The owner. Maintenance attaches to the unit, not the occupancy; a vacant flat consumes security, lifts and structural upkeep like any other. Most bye-laws state this plainly, and committees that grant vacancy discounts create both a revenue hole and a precedent.
Can the general body simply vote any method it likes?
Within the act and bye-laws, the general body sets rates; it cannot vote a method that contradicts the registered bye-laws or the state's model where binding. The safe sequence for changing method is a bye-law amendment through the prescribed procedure, then the new bills — not the reverse.
A bill that explains itself.
Applied on every payslip, files generated for upload — per employee, per month.
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