Almost half of Ukrainians live in multi-apartment buildings. Unfortunately, condition of our housing leaves much to be desired: rusty pipes in the basements, broken windows in public places, peeling off paint on the walls, permanently broken elevators, leaking roofs ‒ each of us can continue this list. You must admit that someone will hardly bring his own apartment to such condition.

Meanwhile, the Law of Ukraine “On Privatization of State Housing Stock” defines that apartment owners in a multi-apartment building are co-owners of “auxiliary areas of this building, its technical equipment and elements of outdoor amenities”.

This means that each of us is a co-owner of walls, attic, basement of the building, its heat and water supply systems, sewage system, electric networks, staircases and other common property of the building. But property imposes obligations. Therefore, each owner is obliged to maintain property he owns (unless otherwise established by the contract or law). Thus, the owners of apartments in multi-apartment buildings are obliged to bear independently costs on maintenance of both their apartments, and common property of the building.

On the other hand, not a single by-law provides for making mandatory deductions for capital renovation of multi-apartment buildings by the owners of privatized apartments and non-residential premises.

As a result of this, when there is a significant need in funds for such purposes, the sources of regular funding for capital renovation of such buildings are practically unavailable.

The residential stock keeps getting older, and requires more and more repair work, that is, the need in more funds keeps growing. Under such conditions, all capital works (including implementation of energy efficient measures) in the building require adoption of joint decisions by the building co-owners.

Are there mechanisms for adoption of joint decisions in multi-apartment buildings? According to requirements of the Civil Code of Ukraine (CCU), “administration of property, which is in joint ownership, shall be conducted upon consent of all co-owners”. Thus, for adoption of any decision on common property, it is necessary to obtain one hundred percent consent of all co-owners. In practice, achievement of unanimous consent of co-owners on an issue will be possible only in buildings with small number of apartments, and not always. Therefore, the Ukrainian legislation provides for alternative mechanism for adoption of decisions on common property in multi-apartment buildings in the conditions of co-ownership when there is no 100% consent – association of co-owners of multi-apartment building (hereinafter - condominium).

Condominium is “a legal entity established by the owners for assistance in use of their own property and management, maintenance and utilization of indivisible and common property” (Law of Ukraine “On Condominiums”). Members of condominiums can be both natural persons and legal entities which are owners of residential and non-residential premises in a multi-apartment building. The most important issues – including reconstruction and repair of the building – are resolved by the condominium general meetings through voting. Standard condominium charter stipulates that decision on reconstruction and repair of the building shall be taken by 3/4 of votes of the condominium members present at the meeting (for the meeting legitimacy, over 50% of condominium members must be present). The procedure for voting at the meeting shall be identified by the condominium charter.

For example, your nine-storied building with a condominium established in it has 144 apartments. If owners of, for instance, 75 apartments (more than a half) are present at the meeting of the condominium members, the meeting is legitimate. If at least 50 of apartment owners present at the meeting (2/3) vote for thermal modernization of the building, the decision is considered to be adopted.

Joint resolving of common problems on building maintenance and management leads not only to improvement of its condition, but also to improvement of relations between the residents; it promotes closer contacts, warm micro-climate, and accordingly – comfort of cohabitation.

As of beginning of 2015, over 17,000 condominiums have been established in Ukraine. Join in!