Can a Housing Society Ban Airbnb? What the Bombay High Court Has Said

In a judgment dated 20 December 2024, Justice Sharmila Deshmukh of the Bombay High Court dealt with a dispute under Section 91 of the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act. A member of Bharatiya Friend's Co-operative Housing Society, Mahesh K. Mehta, challenged resolutions that stopped members from using flats for Airbnb and bed and breakfast schemes.

The court upheld the society. It held that the general body can restrict activities that go against the collective interest of members, even when the law or the lease does not expressly prohibit them. The member's bed and breakfast licence had also not been renewed, which weakened his case further. The court added that a resolution stays binding until a competent forum sets it aside.

In December 2025, a Division Bench of the Bombay High Court (Justices Suman Shyam and S. M. Modak) heard a member who wanted to keep paying guests in his flat through agencies and web portals such as Airbnb. The society and its members were not agreeable.

The court did not decide whether the ban was right. It held that a writ petition under Article 226 against a co-operative housing society is not maintainable, because the society is a private entity. The member was free to go to the Co-operative Court. For committees, the practical lesson is that a member who disagrees with your ban has to fight it in the right forum, and until then your resolution stands.

A flat is residential property owned by a member, but it sits inside a shared building. Short stays bring a steady flow of strangers through the gate, lifts and parking. Societies raise four concerns again and again:

• Security, since the society does not know who is staying or for how long.
• Wear on lifts, common areas and amenities that the other members pay to maintain.
• Noise, parties and disturbance to neighbours, especially families and senior citizens.
• Insurance and liability if a guest is injured or causes damage in common areas.

A ban has limits, and a badly drafted one is easy to challenge. Keep these in mind:

• The committee cannot ban Airbnb on its own. It needs a resolution of the general body, and for a lasting rule, a bye-law amendment registered with the Registrar.
• A ban on short stays is not a ban on tenants. A normal long-term tenant under a rent or leave and licence agreement is a different matter. For tenants, a society can charge a Non-Occupancy Charge, which is now capped at 10% of service charges in Maharashtra.
• The rule must apply to everyone equally. A resolution that quietly exempts committee members will not hold up.
• Penalties must come from the bye-laws or the Act. A society cannot invent fines or cut off water and electricity to force compliance.

We did not find a court ruling in these cities that settles the question, and there is no state law that bans Airbnb in apartments outright. What exists is the society's own power under its bye-laws and resolutions. In Noida, for example, short-term letting without RWA consent or guest verification may breach society rules, even though no blanket ban exists. In Bengaluru, associations can restrict short stays or ask for prior approval through their own rules.

So the safe approach everywhere is the same: pass a clear resolution, record it in the bye-laws, and apply it uniformly. Check your state's apartment or co-operative law before you start.

Courts look at process. Here is a sequence that gives your resolution the best chance:

• Define the activity clearly: a stay of less than, say, 30 days, or any flat listed on a booking platform, or guests paying per night.
• Put the proposal on the agenda of a general body meeting and send the notice as the bye-laws require.
• Pass the resolution with the required majority and record it properly in the minutes.
• Amend the bye-laws and get the amendment registered, so the rule is part of your permanent document.
• Decide what happens to members already running a short-stay flat. A fair notice period will reduce disputes.
• Ask every member who rents out a flat to submit tenant details and police verification, as most societies already do.

First, find out whether any flats in your building are being used for short stays. Gate records, parcel and delivery patterns and neighbour complaints usually show it. Second, talk to the member before you act. Many problems end with a written notice and a reminder of the rule. Third, keep a paper trail of every complaint, notice and reply, because that is what you will need if the matter reaches the Co-operative Court.

A society that follows the process, records the decision and treats every member the same is in a far better position than one that bans first and drafts later.