A draft law ‘On the Management of the Housing Stock’ № 16209 has been registered in the Verkhovna Rada. The document changes the rules for managing apartment buildings and introduces measures to protect conscientious payers from disconnection of communal services because of neighbours’ debts.
Restrictions on service disconnections
The draft law envisages a ban on forcibly terminating the supply of services to an entire building for non-emergency reasons without a court decision. It also prohibits disconnecting a debtor if it is technically impossible to do so without harming other residents.
Debtors must be warned 30 days in advance, with the amount, grounds for the debt and the terms of any restructuring specified. Consumers are given the right to pay only for services actually consumed without mandatory prepayment.
Register and new management mechanisms
A Register of apartment building managers and a unified system for recording the housing stock will be introduced. For buildings without homeowners’ associations (OSBB) it is proposed to introduce a simple co-ownership association without creating a legal entity, where funds will be accumulated in a separate account.
In new developments the first manager will be selected through an open competition by the construction client; the contract with them must be for a maximum of three years, and co-owners will have the right to change the manager at any time without penalty. The obligation to pay for maintenance transfers from the developer to the buyer from the moment the acceptance-transfer certificate is signed or actual access is obtained; double charging for payments is prohibited.
Who the changes affect and what actions to take
The changes concern co-owners of apartment buildings, residents of buildings without homeowners’ associations (OSBB), developers and managers. Consumers have the right to demand proper quality of communal services and to record breaches by drawing up a claim notice.
The acceptance-transfer certificate is a document that records the transfer of an apartment from the developer to the buyer. In new developments it is important to pay attention to the moment of signing this certificate, because it is from that point that responsibility for paying maintenance charges transfers. Details for appeals or contact information for the register are not specified in the draft law’s text.
