Filenews 28 November 2024
At a time when tens of thousands of citizens live in apartment buildings, the State has not only delayed the promotion of a bill regulating common buildings, but also does not implement the lack of legislation that exists, which poses risks to the safety of owners / tenants.
The chairman of the parliamentary committee on Internal Affairs, Aristos Damianou, said that the examination of the bill will proceed at a fast pace and already yesterday began to be discussed in the presence of all involved state services and organizations.
The aim of the bill is to regulate the issue of shared buildings in order to end the absolute anarchy that prevails, which causes constant friction between owners and leaves thousands of buildings unmaintained, with all that this entails.
One of the main innovations of the bill is that it gives the management committees the power to make expenses, reasonably necessary, for the maintenance and proper operation of the common areas of the common building, which the owner neglects to pay.
This power upgrades the role of the management committees and those who have ignored them until now, if they continue with the same tactic, are very likely to be called to account before a court. The Ministry of Interior considers that the bill expands the responsibilities and powers of the management committees (their operation is imposed on all common buildings) which will act on the basis of standard or internal regulations.
At the same time, the bill aims to resolve serious issues, such as the non-existence of a management committee, the non-payment of common expenses, insurance, partial or total destruction of the building, etc., which concern all owners of a jointly owned building.
The issue was also discussed from time to time by the parliamentary Committee on Internal Affairs, before which all concerns about the prevailing situation were developed. The task is not easy since thousands of people are affected, their comforts, their safety, while there is also the "thorn" of the economic aspect, which created and creates frictions, since other owners want to carry out maintenance or landscaping works of the buildings in which they live, while others do not want to spend anything, either because they cannot afford it or because they are indifferent or even waiting for the rest to cover their own share them. Of course, to the above should be added the thousands of tenants who want to live in buildings with relative amenities, but have no say in making the relevant decisions. There is also an issue with the non-payment of common expenses, but because the existing legislation has gaps, it is difficult and time-consuming to promote solutions by the local management committees, to the extent that they work.
The need to amend the existing legislation stems, according to the Department of Land Registry, from the following:
a) The weaknesses and certain gaps identified in the implementation of the current legislation, including the need to define the rights and obligations of the owners of the units (i.e. the owners) to regulate various issues, but also the weaknesses in the existing management practices of such buildings, as well as the need to ensure more effective implementation of management taking into account that, Unit owners escape their obligations and many properties are not adequately maintained, resulting in risks to their safety and the safety of third parties.
b) the need for the responsibilities of the Department of Lands and Surveys, in view of the huge volume of additional work, to be limited only to issues of ownership and registration of common buildings.
It is noted that the proposed bill ("The Management of Common Buildings and Related Matters Law of 2022") applies not only to registered common buildings, but extends to all common buildings that have obtained a building and division permit, regardless of the fact that they have not obtained a certificate of approval and/or have not been registered in the cadastral register and consequently no separate titles of units have been issued.
What does the promoted legislation regulate?
The proposed bill establishes a Service for the Registration of Joint Owned Buildings and the Supervision of the Operation of Management Committees, while defining its responsibilities.
The Registration Service for Joint Owned Buildings, among others, will be responsible for:
>> Registration of common buildings, as well as the mandatory registration of management committees with the Service, which maintains a register of common buildings and management committees.
>> Adoption of Standard Internal Regulations to regulate the management of common buildings, as well as the determination of the rights and obligations of owners, which will apply in case of non-issuance of regulations under the proposed law to regulate any issues.
>> Compulsory insurance of common buildings and supervision for the compulsory insurance of units and joint buildings.
>> Registration of the jointly owned buildings and the relevant management committee in a register to be kept by the Service and regulation of their management.
>> Determination of the rights as well as obligations of the owners of the units to regulate various issues.
