Pay maintenance but barred from using society's facilities: Karnataka society bars 1bhk residents from using gym and pool

For many tenants in urban India, a housing society’s gym and pool are not luxury extras but a major reason for choosing one apartment over another.


In Karnataka, a tenant’s frustration over shrinking access rights has turned into a wider debate about fairness, maintenance charges, and whether a society can legally bar residents of smaller flats from using shared facilities while still collecting money from them.

Tenant who was denied access to society facilities despite paying maintenance

A Karnataka tenant shared their experience on Reddit under the title “Big society does not allow 1 BHK residents to use the amenities but takes maintenance,” and the post quickly went viral. According to the tenant, they moved into a fairly big society, paying a high rent for a 1BHK/1RK apartment, in part because they were assured they would be able to use the gym and swimming pool.


Redditor mentioned, “Big society does not allow 1 BHK residents to use the amenities but takes maintenance,” and added, “I am living in a fairly big society.” The individual explained that they were later told by their owner that some residents had a problem with 1BHK tenants using the amenities, and that the society had quietly introduced a new rule locking out smaller units.

“Guest‑fees” for residents

The tenant said the society now bars 1BHK and 1RK residents from using the gym and pool, forcing them to pay “guest fees” per day if they want access. The person added, “They are not even allowing a one‑time payment to buy access to amenities. We have to pay like a guest per day if we want to use the amenities. The worst part is they are taking maintenance from us.”


According to the resident, maintenance is calculated per square foot, so every apartment, including 1BHK units, pays according to its size. This undermines the argument that smaller flats “don’t use the same amount of facilities,” since the society itself is already treating them as full‑paying members in the billing.

Social media weighs in

The Reddit post attracted mixed reactions. One user pointed out that in some gated communities certain amenities are club‑like and billed separately, with only owners allowed to buy memberships and tenants excluded. The tenant replied that this is not the case here, since the society has not allowed a one‑time or even a regular membership; access is now purely on a pay‑per‑use, guest‑basis.


Another comment suggested that the practice sounded illegal unless the bylaws or flat‑ownership agreement explicitly allow such discrimination. The person advised, “It's illegal unless there's some stupid clause in your unit/flats agreement with the builder or some authority, which is probably not the case. Get to the bottom, read everything. Go to the registrar's office/concerned authority for societies and raise your matter.”