Archive for February, 2011

Waste Recycling for Apartments – HOW

This is a sequel to our earlier post: Waste Recycling for Apartments – WHAT

In this post you will find 2 success stories from Bangalore, and loads of resources to learn from and re-use.

Success Story 1: Diamond District. Project Green Diamond

Before:

Diamond District – the 917 unit Apartment Complex located on Old Airport Road used to send out 1 Truck load of MIXED WASTE every day (2000KG).

After:


How did they do it?

Resources that you can Reuse

The below link contains Promotional Posters, Stickers etc. RBDD (Rotary Bangalore Diamond District) is happy to share with other RWAs/individuals for appropriate Re-use.

http://www.rbdd.info/service-projects

Success Story 2: Brigade Millennium – MayFlower Block

Before:

Brigade Millenium has an issue: A chute at each floor where Residents can dump their garbage, which collects in the chute room in the basement. Enforcing Waste Segregation is a challenge due to this chute. Brigade Millenium doesn’t just aim to segregate but also compost the wet waste as well.

After:

How did they do it?

Do you too have a Success Story to share?  Please share it with other RWAs; send it to support@apartmentadda.com.

What else can you do as a community, for the environment. Here are a few possibilities.

Credits: We thank Poonam Kasturi & Vinita from Daily Dump, Shalini Charles from Diamond District and Aarti Manay from Brigade Millenium for these resources.



ApartmentADDA is India’s #1 web-based Housing Society Accounting Software with complete integration to Online Payment Gateway, Society Communication and Facility Management . We empower Cooperative Housing Societies (CHS), Resident Welfare Associations (RWA), Apartment Owners Associations etc. with online tools to manage their Apartment or Villa Complex effectively.

Please sign up for a LIVE Online demo to know more about the product here : Register for Demo. Start your ADDA (Complete Communication Package), right now, FREE of cost here: Create my ADDA.

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Waste Recycling for Apartments – WHAT

8AM. The door-bell rings and you hand out your waste – one bag of around 1 KG to the Housekeeping Staff.

The bag contains kitchen wet waste, bathroom waste, 3 used batteries, a jam bottle, 4 milk packets, a thermocol board – all mixed up.

Case 1: The whole bag is dumped as it is and the municipal waste collectors come and take it. 95% of this goes to the Landfill. The toxins eventually get into the groundwater.

Case 2: The Housekeeping staff, puts her hand into the bag and takes out the jam bottle & milk packets and puts in her collection to be sold to the Kabaadiwalla (recycler) for some petty cash. If the jam bottle was broken the housekeeping staff may end up with a bleeding cut on her hand.

Fact: BBMP & many other Municipal Bodies are not responsible for Solid Waste Disposal of Apartment Complexes. The garbage collectors that arrive to pick up the community’s garbage are private bodies licensed by BBMP.

Many Apartment Complexes have realized that much of the waste generated in the Complex can be RECYCLED/REUSED, only if they can be SEGGREGATED AT THE SOURCE.

What is Seggregation at Source?

Each Household is instructed to segregate their waste into categories. Typically -

1) Kitchen waste – stale food, peels etc.

2) Dry Waste – Paper, Milk Packets, Plastic containers etc.

3) Toxics – Bathroom Waste, Broken Glass, razors etc.

4) E-Waste  – Used Batteries, phone chargers, cables etc.

The door-to-door garbage collector (housekeeping staff) come with 4 large bags to collect these separately.  Dry Waste is further separated by the housekeeping staff and sold together to a recycling vendor. E-waste is sold separately to a recycling vendor. Only the Toxics and Kitchen Waste are taken away by the Garbage Collector.

Some Apartment Complexes even compost the Kitchen Waste if they have adequate land allocated by the Builder.

If your Association plans to initiate a Waste Recycling campaign and you are wondering how to, check out our next post:

Waste Recycling for Apartments – HOW

It has Success Stories from Brigade Millenium, Diamond District along with the resources you can reuse such as stickers, posters and most importantly – experience!



ApartmentADDA is India’s #1 web-based Housing Society Accounting Software with complete integration to Online Payment Gateway, Society Communication and Facility Management . We empower Cooperative Housing Societies (CHS), Resident Welfare Associations (RWA), Apartment Owners Associations etc. with online tools to manage their Apartment or Villa Complex effectively.

Please sign up for a LIVE Online demo to know more about the product here : Register for Demo. Start your ADDA (Complete Communication Package), right now, FREE of cost here: Create my ADDA.

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Quickster – War Against Paper Bills..



ApartmentADDA is India’s #1 web-based Housing Society Accounting Software with complete integration to Online Payment Gateway, Society Communication and Facility Management . We empower Cooperative Housing Societies (CHS), Resident Welfare Associations (RWA), Apartment Owners Associations etc. with online tools to manage their Apartment or Villa Complex effectively.

Please sign up for a LIVE Online demo to know more about the product here : Register for Demo. Start your ADDA (Complete Communication Package), right now, FREE of cost here: Create my ADDA.

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5 reasons to log that Complaint!

Software Engineer: Hello Tech Support, my laptop is not switching on. I think I need a new one?

Tech Support: Sir, please try plugging into the power outlet, your laptop battery may have drained.

Software Engineer: Okay… that worked. Thanks! Bye!

Tech Support: Hold on sir, please log this in our Support tracking system, or I can log it on your behalf. Thanks.

The above is the typical scenario in any organization that takes its support function seriously. Support issues, no matter how trivial, need to be logged in the central tracker.

Why should it be any different in Apartment Owners Associations? At the end of the day, what the Associations primarily does is MANAGES work requests, suggestions. And “Anything not measured, is not managed”. Any work request, no matter how trivial, MUST BE LOGGED into your Complaint Tracker*.

Here are 5 reasons why the Estate Manager should make sure the Complaint is logged into the Complaint Tracker (he can also log it on behalf of the Resident):

1. VISIBILITY. To the work he/the Association Office is doing. A quantitative answer for “what do you do all day?” :)

2. RESOURCE PLANNING. The maximum service requests we get are for Plumbing? Do we need to hire one more Plumber?

3. RESOURCE PERFORMANCE.  Feedback received from residents is worst for Security category. Also, complaints in this category have the maximum aging as well as escalation. Should we use this factual data to warn the Vendor? Use this data to negotiate a better deal?

4. ASSET AMC PLANNING. The old Treadmill in the Gym has the maximum breakdown complaints. Should we get a dedicated AMC for it?  Or should we dispose it and get a new one?

5. DEAL WITH MAINTENANCE FEE DEFAULT! Yes. Some of our Customers have clear instructions of de-prioritizing Complaints / Service Requests from Flats that are Maintenance Fee Defaulters. Don’t pay, don’t use!

So encourage your Association Office to proudly claim, we service an average of 60 Work Requests / Complaints a day. And the average feedback we get is 4.5 on 5. We ROCK!

Communities that do a commendable job of tracking their Work Requests/Complaints centrally: Purva Riviera (Bangalore, 800 units), L&T Serene County (Hyderabad, 1100 units), Shriram Spandhana (Bangalore, 504 units).  Is your Association is also doing a good job of Helpdesk monitoring? Do share with us.

* – The ‘Complaint Tracker’ is seen as the ‘Complaint Box’ on the Resident’s view.



ApartmentADDA is India’s #1 web-based Housing Society Accounting Software with complete integration to Online Payment Gateway, Society Communication and Facility Management . We empower Cooperative Housing Societies (CHS), Resident Welfare Associations (RWA), Apartment Owners Associations etc. with online tools to manage their Apartment or Villa Complex effectively.

Please sign up for a LIVE Online demo to know more about the product here : Register for Demo. Start your ADDA (Complete Communication Package), right now, FREE of cost here: Create my ADDA.

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Testimonial -Adarsh Residency ADDA

C.S.Venkatesh,Treasurer,  Adarsh Residency ADDA says ,

“Right from the response to the sales enquiry, the team at ApartmentADDA has been extremely helpful in providing support and guidance.”

We have implemented ApartmentADDA at Adarsh Residency after a careful evaluation of other options. Right from the response to the sales enquiry, the team at ApartmentADDA has been extremely helpful in providing support and guidance.The Maintenance Office Staff have benefited from the training offered and are able to use the system for all data capture with ease. The Management Committee has also been able to use the applications to get complete information including all financial reports. We are now extending the use of the system among all residents to build a social network for our community.

Thank you Mr.Venkatesh!

For more, visit Testimonials page .



ApartmentADDA is India’s #1 web-based Housing Society Accounting Software with complete integration to Online Payment Gateway, Society Communication and Facility Management . We empower Cooperative Housing Societies (CHS), Resident Welfare Associations (RWA), Apartment Owners Associations etc. with online tools to manage their Apartment or Villa Complex effectively.

Please sign up for a LIVE Online demo to know more about the product here : Register for Demo. Start your ADDA (Complete Communication Package), right now, FREE of cost here: Create my ADDA.

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Testimonial- Purva Riviera ADDA

Rajeev Singh, Vice President, Purva Riviera ADDA says ,

“Purva Riviera is a huge complex housing 802 flats/families and world class facilities which has to be maintained by our service providers. Tracking complaints and managing issues in our complex and putting accountability to the service providers, implement SLA, has been an issue in absence of any electronic tracking system.

ApartmentAdda was diligent enough to understand our challenges and was able to put a complaint management system and an elaborate workflow in place in their product which helped us track the complaints and manage escalations there in, whether it is a personal complaint or security complaint or even community complaint.

I personally acknowledge ApartmentAdda’s further diligence in continuously evolving this product Based on challenges that we face in day to day running of the apartment complex maintenance operations and make some new features as part of their product roadmap. We are looking forward for more stable features to automate visitor tracking and reduce the usage of manual registers/papers. It has changed the way one registers a work-request to the Association.”

Thank you Mr.Rajeev,

For more , please visit Testimonials Page.





ApartmentADDA is India’s #1 web-based Housing Society Accounting Software with complete integration to Online Payment Gateway, Society Communication and Facility Management . We empower Cooperative Housing Societies (CHS), Resident Welfare Associations (RWA), Apartment Owners Associations etc. with online tools to manage their Apartment or Villa Complex effectively.

Please sign up for a LIVE Online demo to know more about the product here : Register for Demo. Start your ADDA (Complete Communication Package), right now, FREE of cost here: Create my ADDA.

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NetBanking for your Association Bank Account

Are you – as a Treasurer or Executive Committee member – looking at an alternative way of paying the Vendors other than Cheque payments.

Most banks allow Association Bank Accounts to have Netbanking enabled. Below is the typical procedure to be followed, to enable NetBanking in your Bank. The below assumes that the Treasurer will operate the Account using NetBanking, and is the authorized signatory for the same Bank Account.

Process for enabling NetBanking for your Association Bank Account

1. Fill the ‘Financial Access’ forms – given by the Bank

2. Provide the PAN card copy of the Treasurer, and the PAN card copy of the Association. The copy must have signature of the Treasurer with the ‘For’ seal.

3. Provide the Board Resolution that authorizes the Treasurer to operate the Bank Account through Netbanking.

The Board Resolution must be printed on the Letterhead of the Association, with the signature and ‘For’ Seal of  all the Executive Committee Members (1. The President, 2. The Secretary, 3. The Treasurer, 4. The Vice President) . Please find the exact text of the Board Resolution at the end of this Post.

That’s All! It typically takes 7 days to activate this access.

Text of the Board Resolution

*******************************************************************************************

CERTIFIED TRUE COPY OF THE RESOLUTION PASSED AT THE MEETING OF THE MANAGING COMMITTEE OF THE CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETY  _______________________________________ ________ (Name of the Association) ON __________________(Day)___  _______________ (Date) at _________________________ (Place).

The Chariman explained the Board the benefits of availing NetBanking facility provided by ________________________ (Bank Name) in respect of the Current Account of the Association bearing no. ____________________________ (Bank Account No.) with its branch at ______________________ (Bank Branch). The Board after discussion decided to appy for the NetBanking facility and passed the following Resolution:

“RESOLVED THAT the consent of the Board be and is hereby given for availing the NetBanking facility in respect of a Current Account No.____________________________ (Bank Account No.) of the Association with ________________________ (Bank Name) at its ______________________ (Bank Branch) branch.”

RESOLVED FURTHER THAT (Name of the Treasurer), Treasurer be and is hereby authorized to apply to ________________________ (Bank Name) for and on behalf of the Association and to operate the aforesaid account through NetbBanking.”

RESOLVED FURTHER THAT _______________________ (Name of the Treasurer), Treasurer be and is hereby authorized to furnish a copy of the aforesaid resolution to ________________________ (Bank Name) and to do all such acts, deeds and things as may be necessary to give effect to this resolution.”

*******************************************************************************************

Please Note: The process may vary slightly from bank to bank, you may want to check with your chosen bank before proceeding.



ApartmentADDA is India’s #1 web-based Housing Society Accounting Software with complete integration to Online Payment Gateway, Society Communication and Facility Management . We empower Cooperative Housing Societies (CHS), Resident Welfare Associations (RWA), Apartment Owners Associations etc. with online tools to manage their Apartment or Villa Complex effectively.

Please sign up for a LIVE Online demo to know more about the product here : Register for Demo. Start your ADDA (Complete Communication Package), right now, FREE of cost here: Create my ADDA.

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Bye-Laws for Apartment Owners Associations

Bye -Law from Karnataka Apartment Owners Association Act

Per the Karnataka Apartment Owners Act, the purpose of the Bye-Laws and the norm of framing them are as below .

(1) The administration of every property shall be governed by bye-laws, a true copy of which shall be annexed to the Declaration.  No modification of or amendment to the bye-law shall be valid, unless set forth in an amendment to the Declaration and such amendment is duly recorded and a copy

Thereof is duly filed with the competent authority.

(2) The bye-laws shall provide for the following matters, namely:-

(a)  The election from among the apartment owners, of a Board of Managers, the

number of persons  constituting the same, and that the terms of at least one-third of the

members of such Board shall expire annually: the powers and duties of the Board; the

compensation, if any, of the members of the Board; the method of removal from office of 11

members of the Board; and whether or not the Board may engage  the services of a

Secretary, a Manager or Managing Agent, and specifying which of the powers and

duties granted to the Board by this Act or otherwise may be delegated by the Board to

either or both of them;

(b) method of calling meetings of the apartment owners; what percentage, if

other than a majority of Apartment Owners, shall constitute a quorum;

(c) election of a President from among members of the Board of managers who

shall preside over  the meetings of such Board and of the Association of Apartment

Owners;

(d) election of a Secretary who shall keep a minute book wherein resolutions

shall be recorded;

(e) election of a Treasurer who shall keep the financial records and books of

accounts;

(f) maintenance, repairs and replacement of the common areas and facilities

and payments therefore;

(g) manner of collecting from the apartment owners their share of the common

expenses;

(h) designation and removal of persons employed for the maintenance, repair

and replacement of the common areas and facilities;

(i) the method of adopting and  of amending administrative rules and

regulations governing the details of the operation and use of the common areas and

facilities;

(j) such restrictions on the requirements respecting  the use and maintenance

of the apartments and the use of the common areas and facilities not set forth in  the Declaration, as are designed to prevent unreasonable interference with the use of their respective apartments and of the common areas and facilities by the several apartment owners; and

(k)  the percentage of the votes required to amend the bye-laws.

(3) The bye-laws may also provide for the following matters namely:-

(a) subject to the provisions of this Act, provision for regulating  transfer or

partition of any apartment and percentage of undivided interest in the common areas

and facilities appurtenant to such apartment, subject to such terms and conditions as

may be specified in the bye-laws:

(b) provisions enabling the Board of Managers to retain certain areas of the

building and lease to non-residents for commercial purposes and for distribution of

resulting proceeds to the apartment owners as income or application thereof in reduction

of their common charges for maintaining the building; and

(c) any other provisions, not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, relating

to the audit and accounts and  administration of the property and annual and special

general meetings, annual report and the like.

Sample Bye -Law draft : http://apartmentadda.com/blog/sample-bye-laws/



ApartmentADDA is India’s #1 web-based Housing Society Accounting Software with complete integration to Online Payment Gateway, Society Communication and Facility Management . We empower Cooperative Housing Societies (CHS), Resident Welfare Associations (RWA), Apartment Owners Associations etc. with online tools to manage their Apartment or Villa Complex effectively.

Please sign up for a LIVE Online demo to know more about the product here : Register for Demo. Start your ADDA (Complete Communication Package), right now, FREE of cost here: Create my ADDA.

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Testimonial-Shantiniketan Westwoods ADDA

Kannan Subbiah, Secretary,Shantiniketan Westwoods ADDA says ,

The ADDA team also actively enhances the application with new features at scheduled intervals”

“In the capacity of Secretary of our Apartment Managing Committee, I have started using ApartmentAdda since December 2010. It takes most of the troubles of maintaining and tracking various information that flow between the Managing Committee and the members / residents.

The Adda team also actively enhances the application with new features at scheduled intervals. To the extent we have used the product, with few more enhancements on the accounting front this application will be of great benefit to us.”

Thank you Mr.Kannan.

For more , read the Testimonials Page .



ApartmentADDA is India’s #1 web-based Housing Society Accounting Software with complete integration to Online Payment Gateway, Society Communication and Facility Management . We empower Cooperative Housing Societies (CHS), Resident Welfare Associations (RWA), Apartment Owners Associations etc. with online tools to manage their Apartment or Villa Complex effectively.

Please sign up for a LIVE Online demo to know more about the product here : Register for Demo. Start your ADDA (Complete Communication Package), right now, FREE of cost here: Create my ADDA.

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Testimonial-Habitat Splendor ADDA

Nataraj, Treasurer,  Habitat Splendour ADDA saya,

the one thing I feel awesome about AAdda is it facilitates transparency, easy access of data , all finance ingredients are very user-friendly

Let me start by saying .. AAdda is extremely “Apartment Friendly” .. all the features, tools are made by keeping apartment needs and nuances in mind .. I love the design of the website .. kinda makes me wanna visit the page again .. keep up the good job :) ..
I am also the treasurer of my apartment association .. and the one thing I feel awesome about AAdda is it facilitates transperency, easy access of data , all finance ingredients are very user-friendly .. and lot of checks n balances for transactions .. important needs of treasurer :)
Please keep up the good work and dont stop innovating for better/ free features :) !!
An AAdda Fan”

Thank you Mr.Nataraj.

Please see our testimonials page for more.



ApartmentADDA is India’s #1 web-based Housing Society Accounting Software with complete integration to Online Payment Gateway, Society Communication and Facility Management . We empower Cooperative Housing Societies (CHS), Resident Welfare Associations (RWA), Apartment Owners Associations etc. with online tools to manage their Apartment or Villa Complex effectively.

Please sign up for a LIVE Online demo to know more about the product here : Register for Demo. Start your ADDA (Complete Communication Package), right now, FREE of cost here: Create my ADDA.

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