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APARTMENT LIVING – A few milestones crossed

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  Joyalukkas Gold Tower Vazhakkala, the first property to be submitted to the Kerala Apartment Ownership Act 1983 A prelude Protection of Apartment Ownership Rights is fundamental for a peaceful apartment living.   A  corresponding duty is constitutionally distributed among the central and state governments.   The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act 2016, passed by the Union, and the apartment ownership laws enacted by the states formed the basis of the legal infrastructure.   It is trite that both can coexist, however, a  few states in the country fell into a pitfall, due to poor draftsmanship, and Kerala was no exception. The Kerala Experience The provision regarding the application of the ownership law [i] gave room to various types of interpretations.   The provision required “ …the sole owner or all of the owners of which submit the same to the provisions of this Act by duly executing and registering a declaration …” . The combined e...

Refund of a Non Refundable Confirmed Booking - A Consumer's Perspective

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    This story and the characters are real.  The identity is not disclosed to maintain confidentiality. We may call them consumer, seller, and e-commerce entity (entity for short). The blog is primarily intended for consumer awareness. An online booking The consumer used the online portal of the entity to book an accommodation in Paris, France.  The intended check-in and check-out dates were the 27th and 29th of April 2025, respectively.  The seller, a reputed group operating in Europe, owned the property.  The booking was confirmed for a total amount of Rs 19,817.64 from the 27th to the 29th of May 2025, and the entity notified the booking as non-refundable.  The consumer blames a technical snag for the confirmation of incorrect booking dates.  The entity disputes the claim of technical snag, but does not have any provision for the correction of mistakes.  The modification of the booking will be treated as a fresh booking without giving any ...

Apartment Living - SCL Consultative Seminar on Common Property Management - A concept note

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  The first apartment building submitted to the Apartment Ownership Law  SCL [i] Consultative Seminar -  Topic - "Common Property Management in Apartment Buildings” Date and Time - 22nd February 2025 (Saturday) 9AM to 1 PM Venue - M.K. Damodaran Hall, High Court Premises, Ernakulam SCL Sub Committee Research and Conclusions The Society of Construction Law (Kerala) (SCL K for short) pioneered research on “Common Property Management in Apartment Buildings” in Kerala. The SCL(K) initiative sought ways to improve the legal infrastructure for condominium-type real estate property in Kerala. SCL (K) constituted a sub-committee for the study during the pandemic lockdown. The subcommittee studied the local law on apartment ownership and the hurdles in its application. The team worked remotely and came to a few interesting conclusions.   The Highlights of the Conclusions  The following are some of the highlights of the findings of the Sub Committee: a)  ...

Guardianship of an Autistic Person – Excerpts from a Lawyer’s Notebook

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  Dr. Shaun Murphy 'The Good Doctor (Netflix Series)' - is an autistic person About the Notebook The Notebook is the lawyer's mind and the playground of his thoughts. It is confidential, and here a case is built or destroyed.   When the pleadings are scrutinized by many, the notebook claims immunity.   Sometimes, it can critically stare at the lawyer himself, while looking back and re-reading the notes.    This is the case study of real-life characters, of late, represented as X, Y, and Z, to preserve their identity and privacy.  There is a lot of medical literature on autism spectrum disorder (ASD) [i] , but legal literature is scarce.  Therefore, it was deemed appropriate to open the lawyer's notebook to reflect on some thoughts, running parallel to litigations that started at a local magistrate court and finally ended in the highest court in the Country. Story of Z Z the protagonist, faces a condition medically defined as Autism Spectrum Disor...