Section 3 – THE RAJASTHAN APARTMENT OWNERSHIP BILL, 2015

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-
(a) “allottee”, in relation to an apartment, means the person
to whom such apartment has been allotted, sold or otherwise  transferred by the promoter;
(b) “apartment” means a part of any property intended for
any type of independent use, including one or more rooms or
enclosed spaces located on one or more floors or any part or parts
thereof, in a building, intended to be used for residence or office or
for the practice of any profession, or for carrying on of any
occupation, trade or business or for such other type of independent
use, as may be prescribed, and with a direct exit to a public street,
road or highway, or to a common area leading to such street, road
or highway, and includes any garage or room (whether or not
adjacent to the building in which such apartment is located)
provided by the promoter for use by the owner of such apartment
for parking any vehicle or, as the case may be, for the residence of
any domestic aide employed in such apartment;
(c) “apartment number” means the number, letter, or
combination thereof, designating an apartment;
(d) “apartment owner” means the person or persons
(including a person being a member of a group housing
cooperative society) owning an apartment and an undivided
interest in the common areas and facilities appurtenant to such
apartment in the percentage specified in the Deed of Apartment
and shall include a promoter in respect of the apartments which
have not been allotted, sold or otherwise transferred;
(e) “Appellate Authority” means the Appellate Authority
appointed under section 27;
(f) “Association” means an Association of apartment
owners formed, or deemed to have been formed, under section 14,
consisting of the apartment owners in the building acting as a
group in accordance with the bye-laws;
(g) “building” means a building constructed, whether
before or after commencement of this Act, on any land, containing
four or more apartments, or two or more buildings in any area
designated as a block, pocket or otherwise, each containing two or
more apartments, with a total of four or more apartments in all
such buildings;
(h) “bye-laws” means the bye-laws made by the
Association under this Act;
(i) “common areas and facilities” means-
(i) the land on which the building is located and all
easements, rights and appurtenances belonging to
the land and the building;
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(ii) the foundations, columns, girders, beams,
supports, main walls, roofs, halls, corridors,
lobbies, stairs, stairways, fire-escapes and
entrances and exits of the building;
(iii) the basements, cellars, yards, gardens, parking
areas and storage spaces;
(iv) the premises for the lodging of janitors or persons
employed for the management of the property;
(v) installations of central services, such as power,
light, gas, hot and cold water, heating,
refrigeration, air-conditioning, incinerating and
sewerage;
(vi) the elevators, tanks, pumps, motors, fans,
compressors, ducts and in general all apparatus
and installations existing for common use;
(vii) such other community and commercial facilities
as may be prescribed;
(viii) all other parts of the property necessary or
convenient to its existence, maintenance and safety
or normally in common use;
(j) “common expenses” means,-
(i) all sums lawfully assessed against the apartment
owners by the Association for meeting the expenses
of administration, maintenance, repair or
replacement of the common areas and facilities;
(ii) expenses declared as common expenses by the
provisions of this Act or bye-laws, or agreed upon
by the Association;
(k) “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;
(l) “Competent Authority” means the officer or authority
who or which may be authorized by the State Government under
sub-section (1) of section 25;
(m) “Declaration” declaration means the instrument to be
submitted by the promoter or the developer to the Competent
Authority as prescribed under this Act;
(n) “Deed of Apartment” means the Deed of Apartment
referred to in section 12;
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(o) “free hold”, in relation to a land allotted, sold or
otherwise transferred, means tenure in perpetuity with right of
inheritance and alienation;
(p) “independent areas” means the areas which have been
declared but not included as common areas for joint use of
apartments and may be sold by the promoter without the
interference of other apartment owners;
(q) “joint family” means a Hindu undivided family, and in
the case of other persons, a group or unit, the members of which
are by custom, joint in possession or residence;
(r) “limited common areas and facilities” means those
common areas and facilities which are designated in writing by the
promoter before the allotment, sale or otherwise transfer of any
apartment as reserved for use of certain apartment or apartments to
the exclusion of the other apartments;
(s) “person” includes a company, a firm and a joint family,
and also any association of persons, whether incorporated or not;
(t) “prescribed” means prescribed by rules made under this
Act;
(u) “promoter” means a person, who constructs, or causes
to be constructed, the building or converts, or causes to be
converted, a building into apartments and where the person who
constructs or converts is different from the person who owns the
property, the term includes both of them;
(v) “property” means the land, building, all improvements
and structures thereon, and all easements, rights and appurtenances
belonging thereto, and all articles of personal property intended for
use in connection therewith; and
(w) “Registrar” means the Registrar as defined in subclause (i) of sub-section (1) of section 1-A of the Rajasthan
Societies Registration Act, 1958 (Act No. 28 of 1958).