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Utime line of events
– in 2011-12 – bought a flat in one of the irregular colonies in south Delhi. The flat came with exclusive roof rights , with a store room and toilet on the roof and a dedicated lift servicing only our floor.
– the lift was constructed by the previous owner whom we bought the property from, none of the other residents of the building pitched in for the installation at that point and hence got no access to the lift. The lift license was last renewed in 2006, however the same is used by one of the flat owners and us whenever we are in Delhi (2-3 months in a year).
– around 2014 one of the neighbors in the building requested us to let him use the lift to his floor, which we politely denied. However, we are permitting another flat owner to use the list now as his parents are old.
– all goes well till 2024 February when we try and extend the storage room on the roof, the neighbors make a complaint against us for illegal construction with the MCD. MDC came and took action and broke one of the extended walls and asked us to seize all work and not attempt to construct further. We complied, MCD case closed.
– 2025 January we decided to do some minor repair work (not build) on the roof (to prevent seepage) and bathrooms in the house, the residents again obstruct the Maison and called in for a meeting of all the stakeholders of the building and made a claim that the rooftop is a community roof.
In the meeting a few days later, a couple of points were made
the claim to the roof was reversed – instead of them proving any stake over the roof they asked us to prove that the exclusive roof rights are our’s since we seem to be making the claim. which is ridiculous because we have been in ownership / possession of the roof without doubt for the past 15 years. We got the ownership rights through a series of GPA’s , possession letter and ATS etc., of the roof as well as the lift and paid an extra amount for both.
the residents sided together to imply that we were trying to build on the rooftop again and the argument got intense with more claims of illegal construction.
one of the residents who happens to be a lawyer began throwing legal jargon at us and in that claimed that the lift was illegal too and we are using the external shaft area illegally, and we needed to stop all repair works and not proceed without the consent of all the building stakeholders. going on to threaten us with legal action and claiming they have certain community rights. They are stating that since the building is old (made in 2003) and in an irregularized area, we cannot even put a nail in the wall if it affects their homes.
Additionally, their documents do not have any mention of roof rights whereas our documents have been vetted by a lawyer who has stated that the roof rights belong to us exclusively, and since the lift was devolved upon us by the latest gpa, we have not illegally made the lift. We simply came into ownership/possession of all existing structures, although the lift should not be operated due to its expired license. We cannot operate the lift due to license expiry and we cannot get it replaced due to the ban on construction in this area.
Can they now claim a right over our roof stating that it is a community roof or over the shaft area where the lift is situated? Is there a case here or is this harassment?
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