Noida's Emerald Court asks all bachelor tenants to vacate homes

Noida’s Emerald Court asks all bachelor tenants to vacate homes

The Emerald Court housing society in Noida’s Sector 93A has issued a controversial notice to bachelor tenants, asking them to vacate the premises as they are “living in violation of the society rules”.

According to residents’ welfare society (RWA) officials, they have received several complaints from residents that while the rent agreements were in the name of one person, there were several persons residing in the flats which raised security issues and administrative concerns. Following such complaints, the notices have been issued to those living as paying guests (PGs), asking them to vacate the flats.

Emerald Court is the same society that won the much hyped case against the builders in the Supreme Court leading to the demolition of the 32-storey twin towers in August this year.

The notice issued on November 15 quoted a rule in the society by-laws that prohibited the use of flats as paying guest accommodations, guest house or rented to a group of students/bachelors where the residency of the flat is of a ”transient nature”. It further mentioned that the step has been taken “in the interest of harmonious community living with no intention of any moral policing”.

According to experts, while governing bodies in residential areas can form rules or by-laws to govern residents, such discriminatory rules can be easily challenged.

“Apartment owners’ associations (AOAs) pass resolutions in their general body meetings (GBM) to enforce rules for maintaining discipline and security. However, forming rules that discriminate based on caste, gender, religion or marital status can be challenged in a court of law,” said Sunil Matthew, a lawyer who has been fighting several cases involving resident groups.

He added that the residential areas are governed by the UP Apartments Act, 2010, and the Societies Act, 1860, under which all RWAs and AOAs are formed. Both these Acts don’t allow discriminatory rules.

“This rule is not new and we have only reminded people about it after we received several complaints from residents. We have not asked anyone to vacate overnight but given them due time of two to three months. The notice was issued in November and tenants have time till end of December to vacate,” said UBS Teotia, president of Emerald Court residents’ Association (ECORWA).

He added that tenants cannot further sublet the flat to other individuals and all tenants must also have police verification and approval of ECORWA to live on the premises.

The notice said, “Serious concern has been expressed by local authorities on the possibility of objectionable activities in some of these flats and ECORWA has been asked to provide details to the local authorities. In view of the sensitivity of the matter, we have managed the issue with the assurance that these types of accommodations will not be operating within Emerald Court from Jan 1, 2023. We are hereby informing the owners of these flats to give notice to students/bachelors/guest house managers and get the flats vacated within 30 days from today. From Jan 1, 2023, we will not permit these PG accommodations and guest houses to operate from our premises.”

Rajiva Singh, president of Noida Federation of Apartment Owners Associations (NOFAA), said there cannot be any discriminatory rules and regulations based on caste, creed, economics, geographies or marital status of a resident in community living.

“Bachelors and youth are part of our community and need to be mentored in case they are a cause of inconvenience for others. They are part of our responsibility; we cannot shun our responsibilities as welfare bodies. However, any commercial activity like such as paying guest facility, with frequent changes in tenants, can be a threat to the security of a society, and has to be avoided. Proper police verifications are needed for all such tenants,” Singh said.

He also said every society resident needs to be disciplined enough to not cause any inconvenience to other residents and must refrain from activities that would risk the other residents’ security.

Several young working professionals who have made Noida their home say they still face challenges in getting a house on rent. PG accommodations, therefore, is a convenient option, they said.

“Even if you can afford and want to rent your own flat, it is a huge hassle to convince flat owners to rent to bachelors. There is a false perception that all bachelors keep the house messy and cause disturbances for neighbours. Often, getting a PG is a simpler process, because they already know you’re a bachelor and they are not unnecessarily judgmental,” said Shraya Rai, a resident of Sector 76, who has changed three flats in the past three years as the landlords didn’t want to renew the lease, though there was no damage to the property.