NirmaanOne Help
TroubleshootingReviewed 2026-09-29

Membership or reference number already exists in the society or project

A membership number is unique among a society's members, and a reference number among a project's landowners and PAP tenants; saving a member, or importing a sheet, with a number that another person already holds, or that appears twice in the sheet, is refused.

Messages this explains

  • “This membership number already exists in the society.”
  • “membership_no: "<x>" is already used here”
  • “membership_no: "<x>" also appears on row <n>”

Membership or reference number already exists in the society or project

You are adding or editing a society member, landowner or PAP tenant, or importing a sheet of them, and the Membership no. or Reference no. is refused as a duplicate.

What you see

In the member form (Add member, Add landowner, Add PAP tenant, or the pencil on a row) on the Society page, the project's Society & Tenants tab or the allottee's page, and in the Quick add row on a society's members card, saving puts this message under the Membership no. or Reference no. field:

  • "This membership number already exists in the society."

The wording always says "membership number" and "in the society", even for a landowner's or PAP tenant's Reference no., where it means "among this project's landowners and PAP tenants".

In Import members or Import landowners & PAP tenants, the check lists row errors instead and nothing in the sheet is written:

  • "membership_no: "<x>" is already used here": the row updates one person (it carries their tenant_id), but the number it gives belongs to someone else already recorded here.
  • "membership_no: "<x>" also appears on row <n>": the same number is used on two rows of the sheet. The message is shown on the later row and names the first one.

Why it happens

The membership number identifies a member on the society's roll, the way the society's own register and share certificates do, and the reference number does the same job for a project's landowners and PAP tenants. The app relies on it to tell people apart: offers, letters and search show it, and an import matches a row to an existing person by tenant_id first and then by membership number. Two people with the same number would make that match ambiguous, so a number can be held by one person only.

The rules:

  • A Membership no. is unique within one society. Members of two different societies may share a number.
  • A Reference no. is unique among one project's landowners and PAP tenants. Society members and project allottees are checked separately, so a landowner may carry the same number as a society member.
  • The number is compared exactly as typed, capitals included, after spaces at either end are trimmed: "A-12" and "a-12" count as different numbers.
  • A blank number never clashes: both fields are optional.

In an import, a row without a tenant_id whose number matches someone already recorded is not an error: it updates that person. The "already used here" error only appears when the row names one person by tenant_id and another person's number.

How to fix it

You need the Create permission on Tenants to add people and the Edit permission on Tenants to change them (both, for an import). In the default roles the Administrator, the Rehab Officer and the Project Manager have them.

  1. Find who holds the number. Search the members or allottees grid for it (the search box "Name, phone, membership or unit no." matches membership numbers).
  2. If it is the same person already recorded, don't add them again: open their row with the pencil and update it instead. In an import, remove the duplicate row, or clear its tenant_id so the row updates the person who holds the number.
  3. If it is a different person, check the society's register and correct whichever number is wrong: open that person's row with the pencil, change the Membership no. or Reference no. and click Save changes, then save the one you were entering. To swap two people's numbers, first give one of them a temporary number (or clear it), save, and then set both.
  4. For "also appears on row <n>", fix the number on one of the two rows in the sheet.
  5. After fixing a sheet, choose the file again with Choose another file; when every row passes, click Import <n> rows. See Import is greyed out or nothing was written for other row errors.

Related

  • SocietyScreen

    One housing society's details and its member roll: add members one by one or from an Excel sheet, record their existing flat, consent and co-owners, and export the roll.

  • Society & TenantsScreen

    On a redevelopment project, link the society being redeveloped, keep its members and the project's landowners and PAP tenants, and give each of them an offer that allots new units and sets the benefits the developer pays.

  • AllotteeScreen

    One society member, landowner or PAP tenant on a page: who they are, what they hold today, their co-owners, their offers on each project, the letters and files filed for them, their bank accounts and parking.

  • Import is greyed out or nothing was written: rows in the sheet failed the checkTroubleshooting

    Every Excel import is checked row by row before anything is saved, and nothing at all is written while even one row fails; Import stays greyed out until the listed rows are fixed in the sheet and the file is chosen again.

  • "Already exists" or "listed twice": the name, code, number or line must be uniqueTroubleshooting

    Names, codes and numbers are unique within their scope (the organization, a project, a tower, a set of books) so that records can be told apart, and a line can appear once on a plan, offer or account; rename, reuse the existing record, or remove the duplicate line.

  • Enter society members, their consent and co-ownersHow-to

    Build a society's member roll one person at a time: quick-add names and phones, fill in the full form with the existing flat, record each member's consent to the redevelopment, and add the co-owners who share the flat.

  • Import society members from ExcelHow-to

    Fill the members template (or an export of the roll) in Excel and bring it back: the sheet is checked row by row first, and nothing is written until every row passes.

  • Record landowners and PAP tenantsHow-to

    Record the project's own allottees, the landowners who receive units for their land and the project-affected (PAP) tenants rehabilitated in PAP units, with their co-owners, and open an allottee's page to complete their record.

  • Allottees: society members, landowners and PAP tenantsConcept

    The people who receive new units through an offer on a redevelopment: society members (under the society, with an existing flat and consent), landowners and PAP tenants (under the project); each is a contact with co-owners, one live offer per project, documents, bank accounts and parking.

  • Excel sheets: check first, then applyConcept

    Units, parking slots, construction stages, unit pricing, benefit plans, society members and allottees can be exported to and imported from Excel; every sheet is checked row by row first, and nothing is written while any row fails.