This post was automatically translated into English
Residents who purchase a new home not only have to deal with installation or transportation issues, but also choose who will maintain the building – a building administrator or a residents’ association.
Residents who purchase a new home not only have to deal with installation or transportation issues, but also choose who will maintain the building – a building administrator or a residents’ association..
To avoid headaches due to an unexpectedly burned-out light bulb in the stairwell or a broken intercom, residents should make a thoughtful decision. What criteria should be considered when taking care of the maintenance of an apartment building?
Price
Based solely on cost, establishing a condominium association is often a cheaper option than hiring a management company. The members of the association can agree among themselves, select a manager, and pay him/her monthly for the maintenance of the condominium.
“Residents should assess their financial capabilities before making a decision on who to entrust with the maintenance of the building. It is useful to know that the companies administering apartment buildings will calculate monthly fees in proportion to the share of common ownership – 1 sq. m. of total usable area,” says Martynas Žibūda, Development Director of the real estate development company “Eika”.
When choosing a caretaker, you should consider whether the company can offer better prices for certain services, such as elevator maintenance. Currently, the administration fee includes garbage removal, maintenance of the house’s heating and hot water systems, elevator operation, cleaning of common areas, and other services.
It is true that a partnership that has been established and has its own separate manager can also hire an administration company. However, if the partnership is already paying the agreed fee to the manager and is still using the company’s services, the costs increase significantly.
Time consumption
However, when choosing an apartment building caretaker, relying solely on price would be risky. The issue of time also becomes important. “Although establishing a community could reduce costs somewhat, this process can take a lot of time. Preparing reports on work performed, cataloging documents, organizing meetings – all of these tasks are time-consuming. Therefore, it is necessary to assess whether any of the apartment building residents will be willing to sacrifice their free time for these responsibilities,” says M. Žibūda.
If the residents of an apartment building have decided to establish an association, it is good to know that it will not be enough to convene a meeting, elect a board, and then, usually once a month, meet to discuss the current situation.
According to the representative of “Eika”, first an initiative group will need to be selected, which will be required to prepare a project in accordance with the requirements for preparing the association’s statutes set out in the Law on Owners of Multi-Apartment Buildings and Other Purpose Buildings.
Then, you will need to collect the signatures and ID numbers of all residents who support the establishment of the community. Finally, you will need to hold a founding meeting, during which the approved documents will need to be submitted to a notary, and with his signatures – to the Register of Legal Entities.
In terms of time, a faster way is to hire a company. You just need to order the service, and the company will assign a personal manager to the apartment building who specializes in administration.
The administrator will ensure the rapid dissemination of information about the maintenance of the apartment building. He will also draw up a description of common use objects. With a correctly and accurately drawn up description, it is likely that residents will not have additional questions related to the distribution of fees for work in individual parts of the apartment building or engineering systems. For example, if the elevator is repaired for a separate staircase, and not for the entire building, then the fee will belong only to the residents of that staircase.
The company administering the apartment building undertakes to prepare annual activity reports and an economic and financial plan for the maintenance of the building.
Technical knowledge
Community representatives should not forget that accounting knowledge is required for bookkeeping, paying taxes, preparing financial plans, and legally defining and submitting annual balance sheets and declarations to the State Tax Inspectorate. Residents should assess whether they have sufficient competence for this.
“It is important to understand that an apartment building is a large and quite complex “organism”. In order for it to function successfully, to prevent various technical interferences and failures, it is necessary to know the technical solutions, structural and engineering systems of the entire complex,” notes M. Žibūda.
In addition, if an apartment building association hires people for specific work under a business license, it should also be considered that business licenses are not insured. This means that workers will not be responsible for the quality of the work performed, and the work process itself will not be insured. Unlike administrative companies, whose activities are always insured.
Human factor
When choosing between a community and an administration company, the human factor is undoubtedly relevant. Some settlers prefer to communicate and negotiate with neighbors rather than with company representatives, who may seem too “authoritative” to residents. However, this factor is very subjective and depends on both the living environment, neighbors, and the professionalism of specialists working in the administration company.
According to M. Žibūda, trust, communication and cooperation with neighbors are the guarantee of a friendly and united neighborhood.
“However, when solving problems in an apartment building, conflicts often arise between neighbors, and it is difficult for them to make a common and mutually satisfactory decision. Therefore, it is necessary to assess whether it is worth risking friendly relations with the people living nearby,” says the development manager of Eika.
More information:
Raimonda Janusonytė
Marketing and Communications Manager
Phone: +370 5 2045 809
Email. [email protected]