Filenews 26 March 2023
An end to the mess with the management of apartment buildings, the anarchy that exists and the dead-end procedures that are often related to the safety of the tenants, attempts to put a bill prepared by the Commissioner for Legislation and a team of the Department of Lands and Surveys and is soon being forwarded to the Parliament.
Apartment owners become prey to some tenants who refuse to pay utilities, or to contribute to repairs, resulting in apartment buildings being left unmaintained at the risk of the safety of the residents. The Management Committees, where they exist, are powerless to take action, which is why buildings remain unsustainable. There are apartment buildings in which the elevators do not work, unclean common areas and chaos with the occupants in despair. These weaknesses are addressed by the new legislation, which obliges the Management Committees, which acquire important powers, to request static studies every ten years, while they can take to court those who refuse to pay utilities with the penalties being particularly severe.
In addition, a Service for the Registration of Jointly Owned Buildings and the Supervision of the Operation of Management Committees in Municipalities is established with expanded powers. The new Minister of Interior, Konstantinos Ioannou, gave instructions that the bill ("The Management of Jointly Owned Buildings and Related Issues Law of 2022") be immediately forwarded to the Legal Service, in order to carry out the necessary legislative scrutiny and then be submitted before the House of Representatives for approval.
The bill was drafted by the Commissioner for Legislation Louisa Zannettou and a team of the Department of Lands and Surveys and affects thousands of citizens who live in apartment buildings and are anxiously awaiting it. According to Mrs. Louisa Zannettou, the bill aims to solve the many problems that occur in apartment buildings or as characterized in the bill common buildings. Today there are about 200,000 apartments or houses in complexes. The Commissioner, as she told us, receives daily messages from citizens about the problems that exist and expresses anxiety about their solution. The current framework for the management of apartment buildings now seems to be inadequate since the current situation appears problematic and sometimes uncontrollable, since there are many apartment buildings that do not even have a management committee and are left to collapse as unsustainable. There are very old buildings that constantly have mainly maintenance needs, without anyone being able to take care of them or even pay for their maintenance. The problem becomes more serious when some buildings are no longer suitable for people to live safely, with the refusal to make the necessary static studies.
The current responsibility of the Department of Lands and Surveys, in addition to the registration of jointly owned buildings, is, in cases of non-existence of a committee, to take all those actions at the request of a unit owner to assist the owners as they appoint a General Assembly and to appoint a Management Committee. However, it has no other role in the operation, management of jointly owned buildings and to intervene to solve problems. The competence today concerns only registered buildings and not buildings that have not been divided or even registered in the Cadastral Register as jointly owned buildings.
The team of Land Registry officers with the Commissioner dealt in several sessions extensively with all the problems identified and the bill aims to resolve the following:
• The non-payment of common expenses by owners of units or their refusal to be included in the payment of any rents and the inability to collect them.
• The issues of maintenance of the jointly owned building or correction / repair of common areas such as roof, elevator.
• The inability to convene a general meeting of owners when some are absent abroad or are not found in general and is not feasible, as well as the inability to implement decisions of the management committee or to collect amounts from it.
• Filing a lawsuit for the collection of any costs that are not effective since the whole process is extremely delayed for long periods with the result that any treatment has no effect.
• The problem of the safety of jointly owned buildings and how the values of apartments are affected. The lack of control of the condition of the building with special emphasis on dangerous buildings.
• The problem with the Management Committees that are not legally elected, that do not present the annual accounts and do not operate in accordance with the decisions of the owners.
• Illegal constructions in jointly owned buildings.
The bill, which had been under study for some time by a team of officers of the Department of Lands and Surveys and the Commissioner for Legislation, was forwarded to the Ministry of Interior and an extensive consultation took place during which opinions were sent by many bodies, individuals, companies, ETEK, etc.
It is very important that its scope is extended and will now cover all jointly owned buildings that have been registered in the land register, jointly owned buildings that have a building permit and a division permit and a certificate of final approval but have not been registered in the land register and jointly owned buildings that have obtained a building permit and a division permit from the competent authority. Mrs. Zannettou explains that based on the bill, a Service for the Registration of Jointly Owned Buildings and the Supervision of the Operation of Management Committees is established, which is part of the competent building authority that with the reform of the local government will be undertaken by the provincial organizations. That is, the competent building authority per administrative region. It is extremely important to have this supervision, says the Commissioner, since we constantly see laws being passed but there are no mechanisms to monitor the implementation of their provisions, let alone on such a serious issue as jointly owned buildings.
The role of this Service will be, inter alia: ä The registration and supervision of the management of jointly owned buildings. ä The maintenance of a register of jointly owned buildings. ä The maintenance of a register for the Management Committees of the jointly owned buildings in which the Management Committee with its members and its internal regulations are indicated.
- The appointment of a Management Committee.
- The possibility of imposing an administrative fine on a management committee or on an owner who violates the provisions of the Law and/or a regulatory administrative act and/or decision of the Service.
- The referral to the Court of disputes between the owners and the Management Committee.
- The possibility of submitting an application to the Court and with a unilateral application (ex parte), for the issuance of an order for the removal of an irregularity or illegality in cases where the Management Committee of a jointly owned building or the owner erects or tolerates or allows to erect a building or demolishes or reconstructs or converts, adds or repairs the jointly owned property, without the required permission under the provisions of the Roads and Buildings Law,
- Taking measures for abandoned or even dangerous jointly owned building.
A static study is required every 10 years
Owners to participate and contribute through the payment of common expenses to the expenses necessary for the insurance, maintenance, repair, restoration and management of the jointly owned property and for the provision, configuration and maintenance of amenities, facilities and services.
The proportion of each owner's share in the expenses will be determined in the Internal Regulations and/or the Standard Internal Regulations based on the area of each unit (with some variations regarding the unused development rights, the covered verandas and balconies that will participate with 40% of the contribution rate of the covered space and the uncovered verandas and balconies participate with 20% of the contribution rate of the covered space) and taking into account also the use of the unit (eg tutorial, etc.)
The costs of maintenance, repair, restoration and management of a limited joint ownership (exclusive right of use) will be borne by the owner of the unit to whom its exclusive use was granted.
The Management Committee will be obliged to take the necessary actions, when and if deemed necessary and / or after the ten years have elapsed from the date of construction of the jointly owned building, so that a suitability study of the jointly owned building (static, mechanical and electrical control) is carried out by professionals, members of ETEK, who will prepare the relevant study and submit it to the Management Committee. The suitability study will be conducted every ten years unless it is deemed necessary to do so earlier.
Important are the tools given by the bill to the Management Committee for the collection of common expenses. He will be able to claim them by a lawsuit against the owner, with statutory interest and after a relevant decision of the Court, he may register a lien on the immovable property of the owner for the corresponding amount of expenses due in accordance with the Civil Procedure Law. It may impose restrictions related to access or passage to or through common areas, for repair or maintenance where there was no contribution, but without cutting off access to its unit. It may impose a pecuniary fine on the owner who refuses or neglects to pay his share or expenses. He will be able to register a private criminal in court.
Also, in order for the unit to be alienated, or transferred, or sold, a receipt for the payment of the common expenses must be submitted to the Land Registry. A similar provision is provided for in the Rent Law that, in the event of the registration of a claim by the Management Committee against a landlord for the purpose of debt collection, the defence of the landlord shall be accepted for registration only if the defence is accompanied by proof from the Court's accounting department that the amount due in the action has been filed with the Court as arrears of common expenses on the date of its registration or by a receipt collection of common expenses by the Management Committee or by proof of the Management Committee or its representative.
The election of the Management Committee
The establishment of a Management Committee and its registration with the submission of all the necessary data of its members as well as its internal operating regulations to the Control Service of the Municipalities, will be mandatory with the renewal of its registration every year. The Management Committee will not be open to persons who are not tenants, or owners. Some of the responsibilities/duties and powers of the Management Committee which will act on behalf of the owners:
To sue and sue in connection with any matter relating to the jointly owned property or the jointly owned building in a Court of Justice.
To conclude contracts in relation to any issue related to the maintenance, renovation, energy upgrade and management of the jointly owned building (with transparent procedures presents these issues to the owners).
To impose penalties on owners for non-payment of communal fees related to access or passage through common areas, for the repair of which the owners did not contribute, without affecting the free access to the unit.
Duty to take out any insurance specified in the law.
- To convene a general meeting of the owners at least once a year and any other meeting determined by this Law or the internal regulations and to keep a register of its decisions.
- To keep in good condition records of the jointly owned building in which the decisions of the Management Committee and the General Assembly are recorded.
- To establish and maintain a fund and an account with a credit institution from the contributions of the owners of the units for the purposes of repairs, payment of management and operating expenses.
- To establish and maintain a fixed asset as a reserve fund from the contributions of the common expenses to cover emergency and urgent needs.
- To impose the amounts for the utilities and collect them.
- To recover by decree (unilateral application) temporary possession of a space or unit of the jointly owned building when the owner does not respond to the immediate repair of the damages in order to carry out the repairs or maintenance that are reasonably necessary.
- To issue a certificate of payment of common expenses for the purpose of transferring or alienating the unit from the owner.
The jointly owned buildings will be regulated and governed by internal regulations that will provide for the control, operation, management, administration, use and use of the units and the jointly owned property and will regulate the relations between the owners and their rights and obligations regarding the jointly owned building and the jointly owned property. The owners of the jointly owned building will be able to draw up internal regulations and will be able to amend, revise, replace or revoke them. Any decision of the owners taken in accordance with the internal and/or standard internal regulations and entered in the decision register will bind each owner whether he was the owner at the time the decision was made or became the owner after it.
Offences with prison sentences or fines
According to the Commissioner for Legislation, the Management Committee of a jointly owned building or an owner who neglects or fails to comply with any obligation imposed by or under this Law or the Regulations, commits an offense and is subject, in case of conviction, to a fine not exceeding the amount of €3,000.
Any owner who does not pay an amount, which the Management Committee requires from him (communally) within sixty days from the date he was notified of the claim, is guilty of a criminal offense and is subject to imprisonment for a period not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding five thousand euros or to both of these penalties.
The Court may order the convicted person to pay to the Management Committee compensation not exceeding six thousand euros.
Administrative fines
In the event that the Office finds that the owner or the Management Committee by act or omission in relation to the jointly owned building, violates the provisions of the Law and/or regulatory administrative act and/or decision of the Service, the Office may impose on the owner or the Management Committee, an administrative fine not exceeding one thousand euros depending on the gravity of the violation, regardless of whether there is criminal liability.
It is also important to provide for the mandatory updating of the owners' address in order to deal with the phenomenon of owners who are not found:
The owner of the unit is obliged to notify the Management Committee of his address and e-mail address for communication, information and service purposes.
