Housing Laws Laws concerning housing are State laws and vary from one State to another. Merely be way of example we have dealt with the housing law in Maharashtra. Houses can either be owned or be rented. Most of the houses in urban agglomerations, which are owned are in housing co-operative societies. These are governed by the Maharashtra Cooperative Societies Act, 1960.
Any person can buy a flat in a society and become a member.
In such a case both persons have equal rights to the flat. Thus, it is possible for a gay or lesbian couple to jointly purchase a flat in a co-operative society . If a flat in a society stands singly in the name of a person, under Section 30, she can make nomination in favour of any person of her choice. Nomination is with a view to ensure smooth transition after the death of the flat owner. However, here again, nomination is merely for the purposes of facilitation and does not create any rights in favour of the nominee as he acts only as the agent for the heirs.