Question. I
am owner of flat at 4th Floor / Top Floor of a residential apartment in
Karachi. All flat's residents of our block-A have access to Top roof /
roof of our flat. The question is that who would be called owner of roof
top / roof of our flat because any movements & disturbances of roof
affects us in our flat. If Apartments registered Union wishes to
install some Mobile company tower at our flat's roof then can it be done
without my permission?
Answer. There are different rules for residential apartments in different areas of Pakistan. At some places the ownership of residential flats is transferred by means of registration and at certain places it is only based on allotment. There are many further legal complications that arise because of ownership of residential apartments.
In cases of allotment the original owner of land remains the person owning it before the building is raised on it. In that scenario the persons owning flats are co-owners with the original owner having equal rights in the building. However when the building goes down the land belongs to the owner and for the construction of new building the apartment owners have to pay again.
Coming back to the question, there are many complications regarding the ownership of roof top and area around the apartment building. A practice is that the owner of apartment at ground floor captures the area around the apartment and the owner of top floor captures the top floor. A legal maxim is that "possession is 9/10th of ownership". Legally speaking if a person has possession on the top floor then he is owner of that and if he doesn't have possession then he doesn't have any sole ownership right to it.
If there is any contract of purchase mentioning that the owner of top floor of apartment has the ownership of rooftop also then the scenario is different. However that kind of contract is never usually there. The tower can be placed on the top floor with the permission of land owner in absence of any other kind of ownership of the apartment building. Hope question is cleared. For more do consult me at legal-experts@live.com
Regards,
Salman Yousaf Khan Golra
Advocate High Court
Answer. There are different rules for residential apartments in different areas of Pakistan. At some places the ownership of residential flats is transferred by means of registration and at certain places it is only based on allotment. There are many further legal complications that arise because of ownership of residential apartments.
In cases of allotment the original owner of land remains the person owning it before the building is raised on it. In that scenario the persons owning flats are co-owners with the original owner having equal rights in the building. However when the building goes down the land belongs to the owner and for the construction of new building the apartment owners have to pay again.
Coming back to the question, there are many complications regarding the ownership of roof top and area around the apartment building. A practice is that the owner of apartment at ground floor captures the area around the apartment and the owner of top floor captures the top floor. A legal maxim is that "possession is 9/10th of ownership". Legally speaking if a person has possession on the top floor then he is owner of that and if he doesn't have possession then he doesn't have any sole ownership right to it.
If there is any contract of purchase mentioning that the owner of top floor of apartment has the ownership of rooftop also then the scenario is different. However that kind of contract is never usually there. The tower can be placed on the top floor with the permission of land owner in absence of any other kind of ownership of the apartment building. Hope question is cleared. For more do consult me at legal-experts@live.com
Regards,
Salman Yousaf Khan Golra
Advocate High Court
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