Imagine this. You invested your money in a home that you love in a society you trust. You did your due diligence with paperwork and payments, picked out plush drapes and ordered bespoke furniture, and settled in comfortably in your new digs. One fine day, you find out that the land on which your residence is built, is being claimed by another as theirs and you have to fight for it in the court of law. Wouldn’t that be a nerve-wracking and traumatic experience? Learn About Title Insurance in this article to see how it saves you from any unexpected ownership disputes.

What is Title Insurance?

A Title Insurance protects homebuyers against any losses, damage or defects in the Title (ownership) of the property. As a real estate project evolves, builds over time, the ownership changes many hands, from the landowner, builder, to the homebuyer. When you are purchasing a property, you are essentially purchasing a legal Title to the Ownership of that property. As the property (including the land it was built on) may not belong to the developer and could have been acquired from multiple successive owners, its Title may be disputed due to transfer errors or if proper and legal ownership documents have not been generated each time the property has been bought and sold. A Title Insurance indemnifies the homebuyer against any disputes, litigation and settlement expenses that are caused over the ownership of land from previous owners and also from claims of ‘ownership’ by other parties. It is an effective risk transfer mechanism.

In India, the real estate market suffers from many setbacks and misrepresentations with respect to ownership of property, such as a forgery in the previously owned deed, inadequate documentation, among others. If a Title Insurance is purchased, the homebuyer is safeguarded against any repercussions and tedious court procedures as the original property records (dating back to years ago) may not always be available for verification.

What is covered under Title Insurance?

Real Estate Regulatory Act (RERA) Registered Developers are mandated to buy Title Insurance for all their projects and pass it on to the buyer at the time of the actual sale of the property. Indeed, non-RERA developers too have started buying it for the additional credibility it brings.

This is a relatively new category of insurance that only a few financial agencies have started providing recently in India, noticeably HDFC Ergo and SBI.

It not only insures buyers against title defects that may happen in the future but also covers losses that may have occurred in the past and were not been discovered before the policy commencement date.

Typically, Title Insurance coverage includes but is not limited to the following:

• Losses due to order of settlement
• Cost of demolition, alteration in existing structure if built without a permit by the previous owner
• Title defects due to forgery, fraud, misrepresentation, impersonation, incompetent/inadequate/under duress documentation
• Failure of any authority to give transfer of conveyance
• Coverage when the insured cannot obtain a permit to build over previously incorrectly subdivided land prior to sale
• Documents that may harm the title due to improper, false, or expired power of attorney
• Inadequate descriptions and plans in historic title deeds
• Property encroaching adjoining owner’s property
• Coverage for insured if the title is not good and marketable
• Errors and omissions in drafting title/registration which results in provisions not being enforced duly
• Unknown burdens or variations that may have been imposed in the historic title deeds

Initially, the builder/developer is liable to buy the Title Insurance and pay the premium in one-time payment (which usually provides coverage for 7 to 12 years). Once the handover has been made, later the housing society may have to bear the remaining expenses, and also when the insurance has to be renewed, the expense will be carried by the members.

How does Title Insurance benefit homebuyers?

Homebuyers who are looking to buy from builders/developers in residential spaces can definitely avail of the ultimate benefits of title insurance which is bought by the builder. Ultimately it protects them from risk, enhances the market value of their property, saves them from long and arduous litigation procedure in case if a title dispute occurs from a historic deed, eliminates the threat of a project being stalled due to title disputes, and indemnifies them from all claims of ownership over their investment. Another major benefit is that the first-time premium is paid by the developer and only the renewal charges and/or other premiums have to be borne by homebuyers at a later stage.

What should housing societies need to know?

Housing societies stand to gain the primary benefits of title insurance as currently, independent home buyers are not the primary beneficiaries of the title insurance. It is a practice for builders to ensure that the title deed provided to the society is clean and free from disputes. However, having title insurance is a foolproof measure for a society to ensure risk-free handover because it means that every member will be safely insured against unforeseeable claims or losses in the future and no unexpected financial loss can occur to any member or to the society on the whole. While RERA developers are mandated to provide title insurance to society, non-RERA developers can be urged and convinced to purchase title insurance before handover if the society has any suspicion regarding land ownership.

You would rarely come across a well-run housing society in a shambles, where lifts are defunct, lawns are unkempt, floor bulbs are broken and water pipes are leaking. All of your society’s amenities and services run smoothly like a river because they are paid for and looked after. The nitty-gritty of a society’s financial management is no joke. Members are often confused and even agitated when they are asked to contribute towards funds that seem to be inconsequential on the surface, but when understood well, they make a whole lot of sense. In this article, we will shed light on a variety of housing society funds that create a perfectly healthy state of affairs.

Types of funds in a cooperative housing society

1. Reserve Fund

A Reserve Fund is made up of entrance fee paid by the members, transfer fees when shares are transferred with occupancy rights, transfer premium received when a member transfers interest in the capital/property, general donations (not for a specific purpose) received by the society. Accumulated Reserve Fund gets carried forward to the next year every year.

Utilisation: As per the model bye-laws, Reserve Fund is used for repair, maintenance and renewal of the society’s property.

2. Repairs and Maintenance Fund

This fund is made up of a fixed maintenance amount paid by the society’s members on a monthly, quarterly, bi-annual or annual basis. It is calculated at a rate decided at general body meetings based on per square feet, equal division or hybrid methods. Bye-laws state that rate is subject to the minimum of 0.75 per cent per annum of the construction cost of each flat for meeting expenses of normal recurring repairs.

Utilisation: As explained in the title of the fund, it is used for the expenses of amenities, bills and maintenance of premises of the society, repairs, service staff fee, common electricity expense, water charges, etc.

3. Sinking Fund

A Sinking Fund is a separate amount that the members have to pay on their maintenance bill. A housing society saves this amount for the time when there are any structural additions or alterations to the buildings/wings of society. A Sinking Fund is fixed at the general body meeting and is subject to the minimum of 0.25per cent per annum of the construction cost of each flat, excluding the proportionate cost of the land.

Utilisation: These are done after consulting the society’s Architect who may recommend such additions/heavy repairs to strengthen the integrity of the structure for the safety of the members and also for posterity.

4. Education & Training Fund

Members have to contribute to this fund. Each member has to pay Rs 10 every month or as decided by the general body meeting.

Utilisation: The purpose of this fund is to analyse the issues and complaints of the society with respect to administrative measures and create an atmosphere of camaraderie and unity through conducting training programs in order to develop professional skills among members, distribute articles, books, etc. to train members for a specific skill, to run training classes pertaining to the co-operative movement and issue certificates/diplomas to upskilled members.

5. Other Funds

Major Repairs Fund is to be created by the society to fill the gap between maintenance fund and Sinking Fund. This has to be paid as and when required and decided by the general body at the rate fixed on an area basis. Additionally, some societies create a surplus fund as and when needed in order to celebrate festivals, special days and other occasions. This does not constitute a formal or mandatory fund, however, members contribute voluntarily to participate in the festivities and to partake in the activities of communal living.

Why do societies generate these funds?

A housing society is a cooperative and democratic movement that functions on the basis of contributions made by the member. All amenities, services, repairs, etc. are paid by the members themselves and there is no outside agency that is going to swoop in and bear the expenses on behalf of the society. Neither the managing committee nor the members would subject themselves to any negative surprises due to lack of funds, a scenario that can be easily avoided if funds are generated fairly and properly in advance. To avert any unexpected financial losses in terms of repairs, failure of amenities, structural damage, the society has to be prepared in order to be able to bear the expenses. It does so by collecting money on a monthly basis in general so as to not burn the pockets of its members. The common ways to generate funds are mentioned below:

• Entrance Fees
• Deposits
• Loans/subsidies
• By issuing shares
• Voluntary donations
• Maintenance bills
• Fees on the transfer of shares
• Non-Occupancy fees
• Renting space for advertisements, billboards
• Renting terrace space for mobile towers

We’ve got some news: Mygate just raised $56 million in a Series B round, from Tiger Global, JSoros, Prime Venture Partners, among others. This is a momentous event in our journey, and a testament to the positive change we’re bringing to gated communities across the country.

In just over three years, Mygate has evolved into a trusted all-in-one platform for gated communities, going far beyond security. Every day, households rely on Mygate to seamlessly manage visitors, communicate with neighbours, handle salary payments for domestic staff, discover local services, pay society bills, track accounts, and access a wide range of community features. By combining security, convenience, and ERP-driven management into a single solution, Mygate has redefined the way urban communities function.

A snapshot of our scale and the extent to which our features are used is a further indication of how large a part of everyday life Mygate has become:

• Over 7 million homes across 36,00 gated communities are now on Mygate
• Over 45 million visitors are validated through our app every month
• Over 60,000 requests are processed by our systems every minute

Of course, this is only the beginning.

With the fresh round of funding, Mygate will focus on strengthening its comprehensive ERP platform by further enhancing security, convenience, and community management for households. The investment will also enable Mygate to expand into more cities and scale its workforce to support the growing adoption across India.

• If your gated community is interested in adopting Mygate, our representatives are always available to give you a demo.
• If you’re interested in joining our team, take a look at the list of open positions.
• If you want to partner with us or think that Mygate should be in your city, tell us why by writing in to [email protected].

To read the official press release, click here.

Investors include JS Capital LLC, Tiger Global and Prime Venture Partners

MyGate on track to add over 15 million homes across 40 cities in the next 18 months

Bengaluru, October 17, 2019: Mygate, India’s leading all-in-one society management and accounting ERP platform, has raised $56 million in Series B funding. The investment comes from US-based JS Capital LLC, Tiger Global Management, existing investor Prime Venture Partners, among others. Beyond enhancing convenience and security in gated premises, Mygate offers robust ERP solutions that streamline billing, automate accounts, manage complaints, and simplify vendor payments all accessible via a unified digital platform. This funding will accelerate Mygate’s mission to transform gated communities by integrating security, accounting, and community management into one scalable and transparent system.

Mygate has experienced a fivefold growth over the past year and is now active in 1.2 million homes across 11 cities in India. This all-in-one community management platform not only enables residents to communicate with neighbours, manage visitors (guests, deliveries, cabs, etc.), and maintain attendance records and salary payments for daily help, but also integrates a robust ERP system for society accounting. Mygate streamlines maintenance fee collections, automates invoicing with GST compliance, manages vendor payments, handles complaints through a responsive helpdesk, and simplifies amenity bookings all accessible via a single unified digital platform. Processing over 60,000 requests per minute and facilitating more than 45 million check-in requests every month, Mygate delivers a comprehensive and scalable solution for modern gated communities.

Since its launch in 2016, Mygate has grown into a comprehensive ERP platform for housing societies, going far beyond security to cover every aspect of community management. From automated accounting, billing, and GST/TDS compliance to helpdesk, audits, vendor management, facility bookings, and resident engagement, Mygate unifies operations on a single platform. It empowers residents, committees, builders, and facility teams with transparency, efficiency, and scalability. With expertise in digital transformation and continuous product innovation, Mygate is enabling smarter and more self-sufficient societies across India.

Mygate is a comprehensive ERP platform for gated communities that simplifies and automates society operations. It digitizes key workflows such as accounting, billing, payments, and helpdesk while also streamlining visitor management, staff tracking, child safety, and clubhouse access. With advanced features like e-intercom, vehicle management, touchless resident identification, and powerful admin dashboards, Mygate empowers RWAs to achieve transparency, efficiency, and smarter community living.

Mygate’s success and rapid adoption can be attributed to the growing demand for a comprehensive and easy to use digital platform that goes beyond security to streamline every aspect of community living. With over 45 million people residing in gated communities, a number that continues to rise at 13 percent year on year, the need for a solution that simplifies operations, enables seamless interactions and delivers convenience has never been greater. From managing visitors, staff and vehicles to enabling digital payments, accounting and community communication, Mygate is emerging as the all in one ERP for residential communities, ensuring that every stakeholder including residents, RWAs and service providers experiences efficiency and transparency.

With this fresh funding, Mygate plans to strengthen its leadership position by expanding its platform into a comprehensive ERP for gated communities. The focus is on creating innovative solutions that remove friction from every interaction between residents and external stakeholders while digitizing and automating society operations. Beyond delivering convenience and security to residents, Mygate is also enabling greater efficiency for RWAs, management committees, security personnel, local service providers and eCommerce companies, ensuring a connected and well-managed community ecosystem.

The startup has over 700 employees spread across all of India’s metros. To power its growth, the company is planning to triple its workforce over the next two quarters. Mygate has earlier raised $11.5M over two rounds of funding. In May 2019, the company also announced partnerships with several major eCommerce brands, including Swiggy, Zomato, Grofers and Dunzo, to make possible a silent and secure delivery experience for its users.

Salil Seshadri, Chief Investment Officer, JS Capital LLC
Mygate is a company with the rare ability to innovate for all of urban India on a single platform. We believe that their deep product focus and technological prowess will enable them to build solutions that bring positive gains to the entire ecosystem.

Sanjay Swamy, Managing Partner, Prime Venture Partners
Right from the first time I experienced Mygate as a customer just two years ago, it’s been great to see a fledgling startup execute consistently and holistically, and grow into a category-creating market-leader. We’re delighted by the progress of Mygate and welcome these marquee investors, as the company prepares for the next wave of growth.

Vijay Arisetty, CEO & Co-founder, Mygate
We started Mygate to solve the real challenges of security and convenience faced by households every day. Over time, the platform has grown into a comprehensive solution that simplifies community living by integrating accounting, payments, communication, security, and overall society management on a single platform. We are deeply thankful to our customers and investors who trusted our vision, shared valuable feedback and supported us throughout this journey. Our mission of simplifying urban living is only at the beginning, and we are excited to welcome marquee investors and business partners such as Tencent, Tiger and JSoros as we move into the next phase of growth.

About Mygate:

Founded in 2016, Mygate is a technology-first platform transforming community living by unifying society management, payments, amenities, communication, and helpdesk into one comprehensive solution. Trusted by over a million homes across 11+ cities, Mygate empowers residents and RWAs to manage daily operations seamlessly. Security features complement the platform, ensuring safe and convenient living. The company was co-founded by Vijay Arisetty, a decorated ex-IAF pilot and Shaurya Chakra awardee, Abhishek K, former VP at Goldman Sachs, and Shreyans Daga, former project head at Oracle and Digit.

For press and media enquiries, please contact Samarth Mohan (at [email protected] or +91 98194 87367) or Kenneth Saldanha (at [email protected] or +91 98192 72310).

A customer story on how Max Spoorthi Bangalore uses Mygate for society management and accounting.

About Max Spoorthi

Max Spoorthi is a residential community in Bangalore comprising around 70 households. Like many apartment communities, managing daily operations, resident concerns, visitor entries, and accounting processes required significant effort from the management committee.

Prasad Pawate, President of the Management Committee, shares how Mygate helped bring multiple aspects of community management onto a single platform, making everyday administration significantly easier.

Key Highlights

• 70-home residential community in Bangalore
• Improved visitor management and security processes
• Easier complaint tracking and resolution
• Better communication between residents and the committee
• Simplified reporting and record management
• Increased transparency across community operations
• Focused on improving operational efficiency, transparency, and resident experience

The Challenge: Managing Operations Across Multiple Systems

Managing a residential community involves much more than maintaining common areas and collecting maintenance dues.

For the committee at Max Spoorthi, daily operations included monitoring visitor entries, responding to resident complaints, sharing notices, and keeping track of important records. As the community grew, managing these activities manually became increasingly difficult.

The committee wanted a single platform that could help centralize operations and provide greater visibility into community management.

Why Max Spoorthi Chose Mygate

The committee was looking for a comprehensive society management platform rather than a standalone security solution.

Mygate offered a unified system that could support accounting, visitor management, resident communication, complaint tracking, operational reporting, and financial administration.

Instead of managing multiple tools and manual processes, the committee could access critical information through a single dashboard.

This simplified day-to-day management and reduced dependency on fragmented record-keeping methods.

Better Visibility into Community Operations

One of the biggest advantages experienced by the committee was having access to organized information whenever required.

Whether reviewing visitor records, monitoring resident concerns, sharing announcements, or generating reports, Mygate provided a structured system for managing community activities.

Having operational information available in one place improved decision-making and reduced the effort involved in routine administrative tasks.

Faster Complaint Resolution

Handling resident complaints efficiently is essential for maintaining satisfaction within any community.

Earlier, tracking complaints and following up on resolutions often involved multiple conversations and manual coordination.

Mygate provided a centralized system where residents could raise issues and monitor their status. Committee members could view requests, assign actions, and ensure better follow-up.

This improved visibility helped create a more organized complaint resolution process for both residents and management committee members.

Better Communication Across the Community

Keeping residents informed is an important responsibility for every management committee.

The notice board feature enabled the committee to share important announcements, updates, and community information with all residents through a single platform.

Instead of relying on scattered communication channels, residents could access updates whenever required, making communication more transparent and effective.

Streamlined Financial Management and Accounting

For management committees, accounting is one of the most critical responsibilities.

Maintenance collections, expense tracking, vendor payments, financial reporting, and record maintenance require accuracy and transparency.

Mygate’s society accounting software provided the committee with a more organized approach to financial administration.

Instead of relying on scattered spreadsheets and manual tracking methods, financial information could be maintained in a structured system designed specifically for housing societies.

This helped improve visibility into community finances while making reporting and record management easier for committee members.

According to Prasad Pawate:

“With Mygate at my desk, reporting is not complex anymore.”

The ability to access information quickly and generate reports when needed helped simplify administrative and financial oversight.

Enhanced Security and Visitor Management

Visitor management remains an essential part of community administration.

Mygate helped digitize visitor approvals and entry tracking, giving both residents and security personnel greater visibility into who was entering the premises.

The result was a more streamlined visitor experience combined with improved oversight and accountability.

A Single Platform for Society Management

For Max Spoorthi, the biggest benefit was not a single feature. It was the ability to manage multiple aspects of community administration through one integrated platform.

From visitor management and resident communication to complaint tracking, reporting, and society accounting, Mygate helped reduce complexity across daily operations.

The Outcome

Today, the committee at Max Spoorthi has better visibility into community operations, more structured financial administration, improved resident communication, and easier access to important records.

By bringing operational management and accounting together on a single platform, Mygate has helped simplify the responsibilities of the management committee while supporting a more transparent and efficiently managed community.

Frequently Asked Questions

From a field executive to now handling operations across North India, Biju’s career at MyGate has taken significant positive turns. He has been with us since inception, say about three years now. Growing up in Bhubaneshwar, Biju was always business-minded. Managing the everyday challenges of bringing the right people together and encouraging them to work towards achieving a common business objective has always intrigued him. This largely explains his inclination towards the startup ecosystem and specifically towards maintaining healthy client relationships.

Here’s Biju briefing us on his life at MyGate so far and answering a few fun questions. Over to Biju…

The journey early on

Coming from the facility management background, I understood the residential space and its particular nuances. I remember I started with handling ops process directly on the field before overseeing it for East Bangalore. I never imagined that a new security app would catch up this quick with the existing solutions focused on gated societies. However, the popularity and success of MyGate have proved me wrong, and I am more than happy to be proven wrong.

Getting the service and operations right

The small coworking space at that time was like a close-knit family. It was exciting, more so satisfying, to find how quickly societies started accepting the app, bringing MyGate to every lane in Whitefield. All of this has been possible because of the customer-centricity that is deeply ingrained into the company’s culture. We have constantly worked on providing the right and prompt service whenever required. The company’s early focus on making the product user-friendly and getting the service and operations right has not only won MyGate the heart of Bangalore but also the whole game!

Leadership of action and not of position

The best part about working at MyGate is – every day is a new opportunity to explore and excel. It’s only after joining MyGate I realised the entire idea of leadership is misinterpreted and how! The collective company psyche here is extremely open and flexible. Being a leader here simply means giving your team the freedom to do what they deem fit while having enough grasp of the situation to take control whenever necessary. In this entire story, I have been on both sides of the table, witnessing young energy and innovation brew. What a sight!

Advice to the new joinees

Whenever I get a chance to interact with the recent hires I always encourage them to understand the process and follow it in the right way. Honestly and proactively doing what is expected of us will pay us a lot better than worrying about the compensation. 

If you could do another job for just one day, what would it be?
Be an assistant to Abhishek, our co-founder & COO

What is the most unusual job you’ve ever had?
Sell dictionaries, my first job. 

What’s your favourite professional quote or a line?
Jab log aapke peeche bolne lage toh samajh lo ke tarakki kar rahe ho!

If given a chance, who would you like to be for a day and why?
Jack Ma. Retire while you are on top of it…

Three things most people don’t know about you?
I forget things often
I have an obsession for perfection
I invest a lot of time in tech and gadgets

Three words to best describe you?
The show must go on… (five words though, he chuckles)