In order for people to live in clean and renovated houses, to enjoy walking near the house, it is necessary to maintain the functioning of the entire system of public services, properly organize the use of common property, take care of the comfort of residents and the improvement of the courtyard area. Who should be doing this? Obviously, the residents of an apartment building (MKD) need to do important work to organize such a body that will take care of the common property in a quality and timely manner and keep the house clean and tidy in their interests. The whole range of home maintenance work is called the MKD management.
How exactly can MKD be implemented?
Many have heard about what methods of managing MKD currently exist. But often there is simply not enough time to understand the details, although this knowledge is very useful.
In the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, the methods for managing MKD are set out in a very understandable way (part 2 of article 161). However, not all of them are applicable to every home. If there are less than thirty apartments in the MKD,housing legislation offers direct management as a way to manage MKD. In this case, contracts with suppliers, repairmen, cleaners and other workers are concluded by apartment owners, who will be responsible to inspection organizations and pay fines in case of problems in the field of fire safety, accidents, untimely garbage collection. Management is usually carried out by an initiative group of residents or a selected representative on a pro bono basis. But the implementation of activities for the maintenance and operation of MKD is a lot of work, therefore it is reasonable to install direct control as a way to manage MKD in small houses. Each tenant has his own vision of the picture of an ideal house and entrance, so the number of residents directly affects the ability to reach a compromise and affects the likelihood of conflicts and misunderstandings.
The second option for the management of MKD, specified in the Housing Code, is the management of a certain type of legal entity. In particular, such a person may be a homeowners association (HOA), a housing cooperative (HC) or another specialized consumer cooperative (PC). With this method of management, apartment owners authorize the legal entity to sign contracts for current repairs and for all aspects of the operation of house property, as well as for the provision of water supply, sanitation, heating and other services.
The third option involves concluding an agreement with a managing organization that will fulfill allrange of services for MKD and at the same time be responsible for possible violations of the requirements of Russian legislation before the inspection authorities.
Who makes the choice of how to manage the MKD?
Apartment owners not only have control over their square footage, but must also keep the common property in good condition. Therefore, the Housing Code of the Russian Federation contains a directive for homeowners to decide how their house will be managed. Before choosing a method for managing an MKD, apartment owners should study in detail their specifics, which one is best suited for the house, taking into account its age, condition and other features, as well as correlate it with the willingness of the owners to manage their own home and pay utility bills on time.
The final choice is made at a general meeting of owners, which can be held in person or organized without the personal presence of all residents. In order for a decision of the meeting to be valid, residents who together have 50 percent or more of the votes must vote for it. The choice of how to manage the MKD by the general meeting must be strictly accepted by each tenant in the MKD, even despite the possible omission of the meeting itself. When the meeting is held in absentia, participation is deemed to be the timely transfer by the owner of his decision in writing. The result of such a meeting of apartment owners is recorded in the protocol for choosing the method of managing MKD, which is posted in the entrances in such a way that each ownerapartments without fail was acquainted with him. Public placement is made by the initiator of the meeting within ten days after the decision is made. In the same way, through the organization of a general meeting, the possibility of changing the method of managing MKD is realized.
All of the above has to do with houses that are already occupied. But the situation is different with newly built houses. It often happens that in a new building, not all tenants have the right of ownership, for example, these are long-suffering equity holders. Due to the fact that such citizens, according to housing legislation, do not have the right to vote on the issue of determining the form of managing a house, it becomes impossible to choose a way to manage this house.
What happens if the MKD control method is not selected?
The Housing Code limits the period of time when owners have the opportunity to consider and organize the process of creating an HOA or choosing a management organization.
determined by the governing body. Here, none of the tenants has the right to refuse, and each owner is obliged to follow the provisions of the management agreement concluded with the selected managing organization, regardless of whether this agreement suits him or not. But there is always a procedur althe opportunity to correct the current state of affairs and, before the expiration of the contract, hold a general meeting to discuss the issue of changing the method of managing the MKD or the managing organization.
What does the maintenance of the premises in the MKD include?
All services and works related to the concept of "maintenance of premises in an MKD" are defined by housing legislation. This concept includes a wide range of services for organizing the supply of water, electricity, gas, heat, registration of citizens living in the house, accounting services, technical operation, sanitary maintenance.
Technical operation, in turn, includes the maintenance of engineering systems of the building and repair work. Sanitary maintenance includes the whole range of measures to maintain cleanliness and order in the house and on the adjacent territory, for example, cleaning, disinfection, deratization, disinsection.
What does the HOA do?
This way of managing MKD, as HOA, appears where some tenants would like to be able to control the spending on maintenance of their home. The leadership of the HOA does not arise from scratch, but is always created from the most active and interested residents. And although such enterprising citizens do not always have full knowledge of the legal base and knowledge in the field of public utilities, an important factor in successful work is the desire to make their home better. The board of the HOA has to conduct contractual work on cleaning, garbage disposal, maintenance of engineering communications and other aspectsmaintenance of the house and adjacent territory. Maintaining order and following sanitary and fire safety standards is also an important function of the HOA. The financial side of management involves the presence of an accountant in the HOA to keep records of the funds that are transferred by the tenants to pay for utilities, as well as the money that is spent on the needs of the house. Additional income of the HOA can be received from the lease of any part of the common property.
If the owner himself decides whether he wants to become a member of the HOA or not, then, in turn, the HOA does not have the right to refuse admission to its ranks, even if suddenly other members of the HOA will oppose. The reluctance to become a member of the HOA is sometimes associated with the need to pay for additional services - security in the parking lot and at the entrance, flower beds in the yard, video cameras on the floors. Indeed, for members of the HOA, payment is mandatory if the board of the HOA has made such a decision. The way out in this situation may be an individual agreement with the HOA, in which all fees will be approved in advance.
How does the management company work?
With the direct conclusion of an agreement between the owners and a specialized management company, it is expected to provide maintenance and sanitation services at home, as well as high-level repair work, as professional and experienced specialists working in the management company will be able to correctly assess the need and the complexity of the work, select suitable materials, invite the rightspecialists. If the management company works with several houses, then a lower cost of work and services is also possible. However, communication with the management company is often difficult, and even a small incident like a burned out light bulb can be inconvenient for several days.
Agreement with the management company: what is the most important thing?
The most important step in the procedure for establishing one of the ways to manage MKD is the development and conclusion of an agreement with the management company. The content of the agreement will determine the future relationship between the tenants and the management company, including the possibility of terminating the agreement in case of dishonest performance of house maintenance functions. The text of the contract must indicate all house property, types and frequency of work and services that the management company will be obliged to produce, the amount and timing of all payments that the owners will have to make. In the contract, you can also prescribe the procedure for reporting to residents on the work done. If this is not done, then the report should be sent to the owners once a year.
Why is the MKD council being assembled?
Another duty of the tenants is to choose the council of the house in the event that the option with a management company was chosen from the methods of managing the MKD. In fact, the main tasks of the council are the formulation of proposals and control of ongoing work. At a meeting of owners, council members make proposals on what exactly is neededto repair, which current repairs can be postponed to next year, and which require urgent measures, to whom and for what purposes common property can be leased and other aspects of the maintenance of MKD and landscaping. The tasks of the council also include the study of contracts and agreements that are proposed to be concluded by the owners in order to protect the rights and interests of the residents of the house. Based on the results of the consideration, the council makes its conclusions and recommendations on all documents. It can be said that the MKD council streamlines the discussion of important issues at meetings of owners, interacts with the managing organization and controls the implementation of the terms of the management agreement.
Pros and cons of different forms of MKD management
If we conduct a comparative description of the methods of managing MKD, we can draw the following conclusions. The fundamental difference lies in the fact that direct management involves the solution of all issues by the residents of the house. While the other two ways to manage MKD allow you to transfer the burden of responsibility onto the shoulders of the chairman of the HOA or the management of the managing organization. On the other hand, with independent management, you can operate with funds much more mobile and flexibly adjust the choice of works and services to the current situation. Residents who directly manage the home can even significantly reduce their home repair and maintenance costs by selecting contractors according to their wishes for the cost of work and services.
At the same time, a distinctive featureagreement with the management company will receive professional services in accordance with the requirements of the law. When managing tenants or in the form of an HOA, people with special education and skills do not always participate in organizing home maintenance, so additional costs may be required for training staff in the field of housing and communal services and legislation. Also, managing organizations, as a rule, have specialized equipment available that allows them to provide many services at a higher level. In general, all methods of managing MKD have their own nuances that must be taken into account when making a choice.
Where to contact if there are problems with the management company?
In case of defects in house maintenance (for example, garbage was not removed from the container site on time, the entrance was not wet cleaned, the walls in the elevator were painted and other violations), it is advisable to first contact the management company directly with the requirement to fix the problems. If the management company does not respond, then a complaint should be sent to the State Housing Inspectorate for verification.
However, there are alternative ways to influence the management company. Thus, in St. Petersburg, the portal “Our St. Petersburg” created by the city government has been operating for several years. On this site, you can post a report about an existing problem by selecting the appropriate category and attaching supporting photos or documents. After registering on the sitethe message is sent for processing to the executor - to the management company and to the control of the district administration. At the same time, a period is automatically set during which the contractor is obliged to provide a response on the elimination of the problem. Message statistics is an important indicator of the work of district administrations in the field of housing and communal services, so most messages are processed efficiently and on time.
For problems related to determining the method of managing MKD, two categories are open on the portal for submitting messages: “Violations when choosing / changing a managing organization” and “Violations when creating an HOA”. Also, if there is no information about the selected management company, you can send a message to the category “There is no information about the management company in the house.”
The portal presents a huge selection of categories for posting messages about the unsatisfactory condition of common property in the house and yard. You can also report broken swings in the playground, and overflowing trash cans, and unwashed stairs. The most popular categories for house maintenance are "Unsatisfactory condition of the front door" and "No or non-compliance with the schedule for cleaning the entrance." In the first one, messages are received about the need for urgent work on the current repair of the entrance, in the second - information about the violation of the sanitary condition of the stairwells.
Awareness about the methods of managing MKD, their features, the procedure for choosing a management company and monitoring its work allows you to choose the most successful option formaintenance of your home. In order to understand the intricacies of housing legislation, you need to spend quite a lot of time, but this work will pay off with well-groomed stairs and smoothly working elevators.
