PROPOSAL OF THE LAW ON MANAGEMENT AND MAINTENANCE OF BUILDINGS

In this text we bring the most important parts and novelties of the proposal of the Law on Building Management and Maintenance, which has not yet entered into force at the time of publication of this article, all for the purpose of getting acquainted with the significant news that this important regulation brings for all apartment owners in the Republic of Croatia.

Introductory – essential terms

• the functional unit of the building is a part of a residential, residential-commercial building or office building that forms an independent technical and technological unit
• the usable area of the apartment is the net floor area of the apartment, which is calculated according to point 5.1.7. HRN ISO 9836 with the application of coefficients of useful value of surfaces
• the qualified majority of co-owners are the majority of those co-owners who own more than 80% of the total usable area of the building for buildings for which no co-ownership parts have been designated, i.e. co-owners who own more than 80% of the co-ownership parts registered in the land register.
• the simple majority of co-owners are the majority of those co-owners who own more than 50% of the total usable area of the building for buildings for which co-ownership parts or co-owners who own more than 50% of the co-ownership parts of the building registered in the land register
• the competent ministry is the state administration body responsible for physical planning and construction
• utility rooms are rooms that are located outside a special part of the building, and serve its use
• special parts of the building are the apartment, business premises and other parts on which the ownership of a special part of the building is established
• business premises is an independent usable unit intended for the performance of activities consisting of one or more rooms
• a residential and commercial building is a building consisting of at least three apartments and one office space
• the apartment is an independent utility unit intended for housing consisting of one or more rooms that have a separate entrance
• A multi-apartment building is a building intended for housing and consists of at least four apartments
• a building is a multi-storey building, residential-commercial building or commercial building

 Community of co-owners

The community of co-owners consists of all the owners of special parts of the building. The community of co-owners manages the joint property in the building and is a legal entity with legal personality. The community of co-owners regulates their rights, obligations and mutual relations by an inter-ownership agreement. The community of co-owners may acquire rights and obligations and sue and be sued in matters relating to property management. The community of co-owners participates in legal transactions for the purpose of maintaining and managing the building by identifying themselves with a personal identification number assigned by the Ministry of Finance, Tax Administration by exchanging real-time data with the Register of community co-owners.

Legal personality of the co-owner community

The community of co-owners acquires legal personality on the day of registration in the Register of co-owners. The community of co-owners loses legal personality by deleting it from the Register of co-owners community. The community of co-owners shall be represented by the personal identification number and the name used to enter it in the Register of the Community of Co-Owners. The name of the community of co-owners is the term “Building” indicating the address of the headquarters. The headquarters of the co-owner community is the address where the building is located.

Community Register of Co-owners

The register of the community of co-owners with certain and assigned personal identification numbers is maintained by the State Geodetic Administration. The Register of Co-Owners is an electronic database that is kept uniquely for all communities of co-owners in the Republic of Croatia. For the purpose of determining and assigning a personal identification number to the community of co-owners, the State Geodetic Administration determines a unique identifier to the building and each separate part of the building.

The Minister responsible for physical planning and construction will prescribe the content of the Register of Co-Owners of Buildings, the manner of its management, the application forms for registration, the application forms for entering changes to data and the manner and procedure for determining unique identifiers.

The building manager is obliged to submit an application for registration in the Register of co-owners to the locally competent regional cadastre office, i.e. the City Office for Cadastre and Geodetic Affairs of the City of Zagreb.

The application for registration in the Register of co-owners contains a floor study of the building. If the floor study of the building has not been made, the application for registration is accompanied by a sketch of all floor plans of the building by floors of the building with data on the useful areas of special parts of the building and data on book and non-library owners of the building.

The building manager is obliged to report any change in the entered data within eight days of becoming aware of the changes in the Register of co-owners.

Separate communities of co-owners

If a building has several functional units with separate entrances or there are several separate buildings on one cadastral plot, each of them may establish a separate community of co-owners to which all the provisions of this Act apply.

If work is required on parts of the building that are common to multiple functional units, as well as to decide on how to manage and maintain the common land, decisions are made for the complete property.   For the separation, that is, for the formation of a separate community of co-owners, a simple majority of the functional whole that is separated is required. The separating co-owners assume all rights and obligations in proportion to their co-ownership shares. If several communities of co-owners are formed on the same land registry plot, they are obliged to bear the common costs in proportion to the sizes of the useful housing and other areas of each of them, and for the damage that would arise to thirdparties from parts that are common to them or for joint obligations to third parties, they are jointly and severally liable.

Liability for damage

The community of co-owners is liable for damages arising from non-performance or improper execution of tasks relating to the maintenance of the building.  The community of co-owners is also liable for damage arising from a part of the building when it is not possible to determine from which special part of the building the damage is derived. In this case, together with the community of co-owners, all owners of special parts and the manager are jointly and severally liable for damage if it is proven that the damage occurred as a result of the manager’s non-compliance with the obligations prescribed by this Law.

Joining the co-owner community

The merger of one or more co-owners communities to another shall be entered in the Register of the Community of Co-Owners. The decision to merge the community of co-owners is made by a simple majority of the co-owners of each of the communities of co-owners in the proceedings.  Co-owners’ communities sign an acquisition agreement regulating mutual rights and obligations.

Termination of the co-owner community

Reasons for the cessation of the co-owner community:

1. if the number of co-owners has decreased to one co-owner,

2. merger to another community of co-owners.

In the case referred to in point 1, the building manager as a liquidator is obliged to submit a request to the locally competent regional cadastre office, i.e. the City Office for Cadastre and Geodetic Affairs of the City of Zagreb, for the registration of the cessation of the activities of the co-owner community in the register of co-owners’ communities within eight days from the date of the determination on the termination of the co-owner community.

The liquidator represents the community of co-owners in the liquidation procedure and by opening the liquidation procedure, it is entered in the register of co-owners’ communities as a person authorized to represent the community of co-owners until the end of the liquidation procedure and deletion of the community of co-owners from the register of co-owners.

Court proceedings and application of civil procedure regulations

The community of co-owners is a party to the procedures of forced collection of reserves, exclusion from the co-ownership community and in tax proceedings, and is represented in the proceedings by the building manager.

Before initiating court proceedings, except in the procedures of forced collection of reserves and temporary measures, the community of co-owners is obliged to conduct mediation proceedings, in accordance with the regulation governing mediation procedures.

In court proceedings in which, according to the provisions of the law governing civil proceedings, all co-owners of the building should be sued or one or more co-owners should sue other co-owners, and the basis for initiating proceedings is liability for damage caused by poor maintenance of the building, collection of energy consumption and services in the common areas of the building, reimbursement of costs for necessary and urgent repairs on common parts of the building,  the party on the defendant’s side may also be a community of co-owners.

In court proceedings, the community of co-owners is represented by a building manager or proxy authorized to do so by the community of co-owners, respecting all the restrictions prescribed by the law governing civil proceedings.

The court in whose territory the building is located has territorial jurisdiction to resolve disputes.

Common parts and devices of the building

Common parts and appliances of the building (hereinafter referred to as common parts of the building), unless otherwise regulated by the co-owners of the building by an inter-ownership agreement, shall be considered to be:

• load-bearing structure of the building
• mantle
• walkable and impassable common terraces
• Facades of the building
• Doors, windows and skylights in rooms representing common parts of the building
• thermal sheath of the building
• elements of protection against external influences on the common parts of the building
• roof and other sheet metal on the common parts of the building
• chimneys and ventilation ducts, hydrants, fire fighting systems and installations including fire extinguishers in common parts of buildings
• common staircases and corridors, with associated equipment
• premises serving the use of all special parts of the building
• the spaces through which they pass or are located installations that are common parts and devices of the building and the spaces between the foundations, between the last mezzanine structure and the cover and other spaces that are not designed for the stay of people or leaving the thing
• fire approaches, ladders and staircases
• lifts in common parts of the building with installations and devices enabling their regular use
• installations for the supply of gas and electricity to the meter of a special part of the building
• sewage installations, main vertical and horizontal lines and basic installations including revision shafts
• plumbing from the main water meter or the main valve for the building to the separation of the installation for a particular part of the building, or to the water meter in a special part of the building
• sanitary appliances and installations of water supply and sewerage in the common parts of the building
• electrical installations of stairlighting and other consumers in the common parts of the building, the main switchboard with switching clock, electrical installations for special parts of the building to meters for a special part of the building
• necessary and panic lighting
• common central heating installations and central hot water preparation to the radiator valve, i.e. valve strains in a separate part of the building
• radiators and other heating elements in the common part of the building
• joint television or radio antenna installations including cable and satellite installations with amplifier and any other common devices allowing regular reception to the place of separation into a separate part of the building
• installations and devices for bells, electric locks and internal voice devices from the entrance to the building to a special part of the building or to the place of separation of the installation for a special part of the building
• common boiler room and thermal substation
• common systems of solar collectors, photovoltaic modules and heat exchangers
• common hydrophoric plants and water wells, wastewater pumping stations and water pumping stations, electric generators, battery batteries and other lighting devices, elevator starting.
• lightning protection installations
• canals and devices for transporting garbage
• Intercoms, devices and equipment for video surveillance and burglary protection of common parts of the building
• septic, collection pits and other individual wastewater treatment plants
• fence building plots, paths, retaining walls, garbage dumps and other structures on the building plot serving the use of the building, except for special parts of the building and landscaped and unfinished parts of the building plot.

Maintenance of common parts of the building

Maintenance of common parts of a building is a set of activities that, except in the interest of co-owners, maintain and improve in the public interest the designed properties of the building in terms of meeting the basic requirements for the building and use value at the level prescribed by applicable regulations.

Preservation of based building requirements and subsequent works

In buildings that were built before 1965 and in buildings that were built without reinforced concrete vertical and horizontal serclages, slits in the walls and installation of installation cabinets for all types of installations in the load-bearing walls of masonry buildings may not be performed.

No work on the built buildings may be covered and closed by balconies, loggias and terraces.

No cooling, heating, renewable energy and antenna systems may be installed on the street facades of constructed buildings. Exceptionally, these devices can be placed on balconies, loggias or terraces in such a way that they are not directly visible from the street.

All construction work on built buildings must be carried out in accordance with the regulations governing the field of construction and physical planning.

Installation of elevators

Based on the new Law on Building Management and Maintenance from the state budget, the installation of elevators in existing buildings is co-financed:

• in which co-owners natural persons own more than 50% of the co-ownership parts of the building registered in the land register, i.e. in which co-owners natural persons own have more than 50% of the total usable area of the building for buildings for which co-ownership parts have not been determined,
• Having at least three floors,
• for which the main design of the installation of elevators has been made in accordance with the construction regulations,
• in which a simple majority of co-owners made a decision on the installation of elevators,
• which have secured financial resources according to the share of the community of co-owners in the total cost of installing elevators.

The Republic of Croatia will co-finance one third of the total cost of installing elevators in existing buildings.

The program of installation of elevators in existing buildings is adopted by the Government of the Republic of Croatia at the proposal of the Ministry.

Regular maintenance

Regular maintenance are activities that are carried out regularly in order to fulfill the obligations prescribed by applicable regulations and to maintain common parts of the building in functional condition in accordance with the contractor’s statement of the works carried out and the conditions of maintenance of the structure, technical instructions and specifications, standards or as obvious as necessary, or normally reasonable need.

Regular maintenance includes, in particular:

• service inspections, safety tests or correctness on electrical installation, plumbing, including water pressure booster, sewage including pumping appliances, gas installation, central heating installation, ventilation and air conditioning installation, elevator, antenna, telephone and other cable installation, bell and internal voice device installation, fire protection installation and equipment, lightning protection installation, audio-video surveillance systems and burglar protection, façade, roof structure, tinsmith, chimney, joinery and locksmithing of common parts of the building, parking and garage ramps, lighting and common parts of the building and mailboxes,, replacement/repair of individual consumable or worn-out parts of the common parts of the building, painting of common parts of the building, tuning, cleaning, lubrication, servicing of installed equipment and devices, liquid checks and other activities envisaged by the project building and documentation and equipment, devices or installations of the common part of the building, elimination of defects in the common parts of the building or its parts in the manner and to the extent necessary to harmonize the existing condition of the building with the design state of the common parts of the building, cleaning of staircases and other common parts of the building, cleaning graffiti on the façade of the building, cleaning and decorating the building plot,  clearing snow and ice in a public area next to the building, i.e. building particle, pest control and disinsection.

Exceptional maintenance

Extraordinary maintenance is divided into urgent and necessary repairs, and for each type of repair, different assumptions are prescribed.

Hotfix

Emergency repair is an activity that eliminates the cause of immediate danger to life and health of people or to damage to things in the building or outside the building, or an activity that eliminates the threat of basic living conditions in the building.

A hotfix involves bringing the cause of danger into a controlled state as soon as possible. An emergency repair is considered to be undertaking work on the common parts and appliances of a building in particular in the case of:

1. Failures of gas installations

2. Failures of central heating system and hot water system

3. Ruptures, damage and clogging of water and sewerage installations

4. electrical installation failures including electronic communications and video surveillance

5. significant damage to chimneys and flue ducts

6. stormwater penetration into the building, repairing the consequences of the same penetration, and significant damage to the roof

7. impaired static stability of the building or individual parts of the building

8. Elevator failures

9. Falling off parts of the façade, sheet metal and tiles.

The emergency repair building manager should have the consent of the co-owners’ representatives and the consent of the co-owners who own more than 20% of the total usable area of the building for buildings for which no co-ownership parts or co-owners own more than 20% of the co-ownership parts of the building registered in the land register.

The emergency repair costs are liable to the co-owners community and together with it all co-owners in proportion to the size of their co-ownership parts. A manager who has undertaken an emergency repair at his own expense is entitled to reimbursement of that cost from the community of co-owners and all co-owners in proportion to the size of their co-ownership parts.

In order to ensure a proportionate part of the cost compensation, the manager has a legal lien on each separate part of the property.

Necessary repair

Necessary repair is an activity that permanently eliminates the cause of immediate danger to the life and health of people or to damage to things in the building or outside the building, or an activity that permanently eliminates the threat of basic living conditions in the building.

A necessary repair is considered to be the undertaking of work in particular for the sake of:

• repair or reconstruction of the roof structure, cover, load-bearing walls, columns, mezzanine structures, foundations, all installations that are a common part of the building, the façade of the building
• installation of insulation of walls, floors and foundations of the building
• remediation of landslides.

The building manager for the necessary repair should have the consent of the representative of the co-owners and the consent of the co-owners who own more than 33% of the total usable area of the building for buildings for which no co-ownership parts or co-owners who own more than 33% of the co-ownership parts of the building registered in the land register have not been determined.

Consent is given on the basis of a previously made finding of an authorized person. The finding of the authorized person consists of a technical description of the case with the assessment of the condition and characteristic photographs of the existing condition. The community of co-owners and together with it all co-owners are liable for the costs incurred by the necessary repair in proportion to the size of their co-ownership parts. The manager who has undertaken the necessary repair at his own expense shall be entitled to reimbursement of that cost from the community of co-owners and all co-owners in proportion to the size of their co-ownership parts. In order to ensure a proportionate part of the cost compensation, the manager has a legal lien on each separate part of the property.

Investment maintenance

Investment maintenance includes activities aimed at improving the designed or achieved properties of the building for which it is necessary to allocate funds in the amount higher than the reserve funds that the co-owners are obliged to pay during one year.

An investment maintenance project that by its nature or scope exceeds the scope of regular maintenance of real estate is considered an improvement in terms of the law governing ownership and other rights in rem.

Joint Reserve

A common reserve is a monetary means intended for the maintenance of common parts and devices of the building and the management of the building or part of the building.

The funds of the common reserve are used according to the annual maintenance program of joint parts of the building, i.e. a multiannual maintenance and management program of the building to cover the costs of regular maintenance, emergency repairs, necessary repairs, building insurance, work fees to the building manager, procurement of cleaning and maintenance tools, as well as small consumables, loan repayment to finance regular maintenance costs, urgent and necessary repairs and attorneys’ representation costs.

The funds of the common reserve may also be used under the multiannual building maintenance and management programme to cover the costs of investment maintenance and/or repayment of the loan to finance those costs, where this does not prejudice the financing of the costs of the preceding paragraph.

Minimum amount and method of payment of the common reserve

Co-owners are obliged to pay the funds of the joint reserve to a special account of the common reserve in the amount determined by the annual maintenance program of the joint parts of the building, i.e. the multiannual maintenance and management program of the building.

Co-owners are obliged to pay the common reserve monthly.

The minimum amount of the common reserve per square meter of usable area of the apartment per year is 0.54% of the etalon construction price announced by the competent ministry. Information on the etalon price of construction is published in the Official Gazette.

According to the latest published data on the level price of construction as of December 2022, the standard price of construction for application in other regulations was determined in the amount of 796.34 euros per m2 of usable area of the apartment. So, at the time of writing this article, the minimum amount of the common reserve would be 4.3 euros per m2 of usable area of the apartment, variable depending on the changes in regulations.

However, the annual maintenance programme for the common parts of the building, i.e. the multiannual building maintenance and management programme, cannot establish a monthly amount of the common reserve that is less than 1/12 of the above minimum amount of the common reserve. This would mean at the moment that the absolute minimum amount of the shared reserve is 36 cents, variable depending on the changes to the regulations.

It is important to note that if the annual maintenance program of joint parts of the building, i.e. the multi-year building maintenance and management program, is not adopted, the co-owners are obliged to pay a common reserve in the amount of five times the minimum amount of the common reserve, i.e. 0.54% of the etalon construction price

Obligation to secure the building

Through the manager, co-owners are obliged to secure joint parts of the building from the basic risks, i.e. fire, storm, lightning strikes, water outbursts from water supply and sewer pipes as well as liability for damage to third parties.

House rules

The house rules of the building consist of general and special provisions.

The co-owner who does not comply with the provisions of the house rules is obliged to pay the funds from the common reserve, for the month in which he was found to be in breach of the house rules , in the amount of triple the amount of the common reserve.

If the same co-owner repeatedly repeats violations of house rules, co-owners can initiate other legal mechanisms for compliance with the provisions of house rules.

Violation of house rules is determined by the representative of the co-owner with the approval of the simple majority of co-owners.

Special provisions of the house rules may be additionally prescribed by the co-owners of each building within the framework of the ordinary administration, but they cannot deviate from the general provisions.

The general provisions of house rules in buildings are prescribed by the minister responsible for physical planning and construction by the ordinance. The Ordinance will prescribe the orderly use of common areas in the building, the permitted noise level in the use of special parts of the building, the prevention of waste collection in special parts of the building, the time period of house peace as well as deviations in limited cases, the obligations of apartment owners who rent their apartments, all in order to provide tenants with peace of mind in the use of apartments.

CO-OWNERS OF THE BUILDING AND REPRESENTATIVE OF THE CO-OWNERS OF THE BUILDING

Inter-ownership agreement

The rights, obligations and mutual relations of the co-owners of the building in the community of co-owners, with regard to the management and maintenance of the building or the functional unit of the building, are obliged to regulate by an inter-ownership agreement (hereinafter: an inter-ownership agreement).

The inter-ownership agreement shall be concluded in writing. The inter-ownership agreement contains, in particular:

• size of co-ownership parts of the property
• conditions and manner of managing the property
• more detailed information about the person who will manage the property
• the scope of work to be performed by that person and responsibility for performing the duties
• the conditions and manner of collecting and disposing of the funds of the common reserve
• the name of the co-owner authorized to represent and represent the community of co-owners towards the building manager, i.e. third parties and the limits of his authority
• the possibility of establishing a co-owner’s council to assist the co-owner’s representative
• possibility of compensation for the work of representatives of co-owners
• conditions and manner of using common rooms, and devices and land belonging to a particular property.

Decisions arising from an inter-ownership agreement bind all co-owners if the contract has been concluded by a simple majority of co-owners. The co-owner’s representative is obliged to submit the inter-owner agreement to the building manager within 15 days of its entry into force.

Co-owners’ meeting

Decisions on the management of the building for the purpose of implementing the inter-ownership agreement and in accordance with the regulations, the community of co-owners is made at the meeting of co-owners.

The meeting of co-owners is convened by a representative of co-owners, co-owners whose area of special parts of the building makes up more than one third of the usable area of the building for buildings for which co-ownership parts have not been determined, i.e. in accordance with the co-ownership ratios registered in the land register that are greater than one third or the building manager.

The invitation for a meeting of co-owners is delivered between five and ten days before the meeting, in writing to the co-owner’s mailbox in the building or to the address of the co-owner’s domicile or residence or via e-mail, by agreement of the majority of co-owners, with an additional mandatory condition by publication on the bulletin board of the building.

The meeting request contains information about the person convening the meeting, the place and time of the meeting, and the agenda of the meeting.

If the meeting of co-owners could not be held twice in a row with an interval of 15 days due to the failure of the required number of co-owners to make decisions, then an extraordinary meeting shall be convened no earlier than seven, and no later than 30 days from the date on which the last meeting was supposed to be held, with the same proposed agenda or the decisions are confirmed by collecting signatures.

A record shall be kept of the meeting of co-owners, signed by the person who convened the meeting, the clerk, all present co-owners of the building and the building manager if he is present at the meeting.

The minutes of the co-owners’ meeting contain information about the residential building, the place and time of the co-owners’ meeting, the attendees, the agenda of the meeting, the proposals presented, the decisions made and the method of voting of the co-owners.

The decision made is binding on all co-owners if it is signed by the prescribed number of co-owners.

Co-owner meeting frequency

The meeting of co-owners is mandatory to be held at least once a year and all issues important for building management are discussed, especially the annual report on management and maintenance, adopts the annual maintenance program of common parts of the building for the next year and the multiannual maintenance program of the building.

Co-owners’ decisions in building management

The decision in the management of the building is made when the decision is positively stated by the simple majority of co-owners.

Such decisions are, in particular, decisions on:

a. election and change of representatives of co-owners as well as councils of co-owners

b. selection and change of building manager

c. annual maintenance program of common parts of the building

d. multi-year building maintenance program

e. annual report on building management

f. insurer of common parts of the building

g. reserve height

h. renovation of the building after the effects of a natural or catastrophic disaster

(i) energy renovation of the building, installation of renewable energy systems, installation of canal infrastructure and charging points for electric vehicles

j. renovation of facades

k. installation of elevators in the building

l. improvements and devices for unhindered access to the common parts of the building with which unhindered access, movement and operation of persons with reduced mobility is allowed

m. how to use common parts of the building

n. house rules

o. taking out loans to finance the maintenance of the building

p. legal representation

q. other issues related to the management of the building, which are decided by the co-owners in the framework of regular maintenance according to the inter-ownership agreement or applicable regulations.

Qualified majority decisions are taken:

1. on the change of the purpose of the common part of the building into a separate part of the building

2. about investment maintenance.

Making a decision by collecting signatures

If, due to the size of the building or for other justified reasons, a meeting of the co-owners cannot be convened with the necessary majority for making a decision, the co-owner’s representative or other interested co-owner will obtain the consent of the co-owner for the decision by collecting signatures on the written decision or by e-mail if the co-owner requests it with proof of identity or with an electronic signature.

The decision is binding on all co-owners, provided it was taken correctly. The co-owner’s representative is obliged to publish the decision on the notice board or submit via e-mail if the co-owner requests it.

Co-owner’s representative

The representative of the co-owners is one of the co-owners elected in such a way that the decision on his election is made by the co-owners by a simple majority.

The representative of the co-owner has the following rights and obligations:

• represent co-owners in connection with the management and maintenance of the building within the scope of the authority prescribed by this Act, the law regulating ownership and other real and inter-ownership agreements
• convene and conduct a meeting of co-owners
• coordinate and negotiate with the building manager the development and implementation of the annual maintenance program of common parts of the building, a multiannual building maintenance program and certain tasks related to the maintenance of the building
• co-sign with the building manager work orders related to the maintenance of the building and control its execution
• submit to the building manager the co-owner’s decisions and other documents necessary for the work of the building manager
• supervise the fulfilment of the building manager’s obligations under the management contract and report to the co-owners, if necessary,
• on behalf of and on behalf of the co-owners of the building, report the project of energy renovation of the building and conclude the contracts necessary for the implementation of the project if the building manager does not do so
• on behalf of and on behalf of the co-owners of the building, report projects contributing to greater resilience of buildings to fire and earthquake and conclude contracts necessary for the implementation of the project if the building manager does not do so
• open a special account for the implementation of energy renovation projects, renewable energy installation projects, i.e. heating and cooling systems with lower greenhouse gas emissions, projects contributing to greater resilience of buildings to fire and earthquake, and conclude contracts necessary for the implementation of those projects if the building manager does not do so
• prepare a short report on its work in the previous calendar year, which it submits to co-owners via bulletin board or by e-mail by February 1 next year
• sign a contract for cleaning the building
• other rights and obligations prescribed by this Act, the law regulating ownership and other actual and determined by an inter-ownership agreement.

If the co-owners have not elected a representative of the co-owner, the manager is obliged to warn all co-owners in writing to do so within 60 days from the date of delivery of the written warning of the manager. If the co-owners fail to comply with the written warning of the manager, the manager assumes the rights and obligations of the co-owner’s representative until the co-owner is notified of the choice of the co-owner’s representative. The manager is obliged to inform all co-owners of the assumption of the rights and obligations of the co-owner’s representative and the appointment of the person of the coercive representative of the co-owner. The coercive representative of the co-owner has all the rights and obligations of the co-owner’s representative and is entitled to financial compensation for his work.

BUILDING MANAGEMENT

Obligation to entrust the management of the building

The co-owners of the building or part of the building are obliged to entrust the building manager with the building manager. The investor of a newly constructed building is obliged to entrust the building management tasks to the building manager within 30 days from the date of validity of the use permit, except in cases where the investor remains the sole owner after construction.

Building Management Contract

Building management activities are entrusted to the building manager with a building management contract (hereinafter referred to as a management contract) which the co-owners of the building, represented by the representative of the co-owners, conclude with the building manager. The management contract establishes the remuneration of the building manager, the manner of managing and maintaining the building, and the manner of collecting the common reserve.

Building manager

The building manager may be a legal or natural person registered to carry out real estate management activities. The building manager manages the building on behalf of and on behalf of the co-owners within the limits of the powers prescribed by this Act and the law governing ownership and other real and established by the inter-ownership agreement and management contract.

The building manager shall represent the co-owners in connection with the management of the building in proceedings before public law bodies, unless otherwise specified in the management contract. The building manager disposes of the funds of the common reserve according to the annual maintenance program of the common parts of the building, the multiannual building maintenance program, the inter-ownership contract and the building management contract and the decision of the co-owner.

Forced building manager

In buildings where the co-owners have not elected a building manager in the manner prescribed by this Law, the municipal mayor or mayor of the local self-government unit in whose territory the building is located (hereinafter: local self-government units) is obliged to appoint a forced building manager within six months of learning by decision. Only a person eligible for the building manager may be appointed as a forced building manager.

The forced building manager manages the building with the rights and obligations of the manager until the takeover of the building for management by the new building manager. No appeal can be filed against the decision of the MUNICIPALITY, but an administrative dispute may be initiated before the locally competent administrative court. A proposal for the appointment of a forced manager may be submitted to the JLS by any co-owner or manager whose management contract has ceased, but only if the co-owners have not appointed a new manager by the date of termination of the contract.

Rights and obligations of the building manager

In carrying out his activity, the building manager shall have the following rights and obligations:

a. open and maintain a separate account, sub-account or special purpose account, and ensure the conduct of the business of each property separately from the manager’s account

b. ensure that activities are undertaken for regular maintenance and necessary repairs in accordance with the annual maintenance program of common parts of the building, or when this is in accordance with the regulations

c. ensure that activities are undertaken for regular maintenance and emergency repairs when necessary

d. ensure that activities are undertaken for investment maintenance in accordance with the multiannual building maintenance programme

e. ensure that activities are undertaken in a special part of the building in order to eliminate the cause of damage or to impair the characteristics of the common part of the building or other special part of the building, at the expense of the owner of the special part, if the owner of the special part does not remove it himself within 15 days from the date of receipt of the invitation of the building manager

f. ensure the possibility of undertaking emergency repair activities every day of the year for 24 hours

g. provide emergency repairs no later than three hours of reporting the need for repair, i.e. as soon as circumstances which are not affected by the manager allow it

h. ensure that regular inspections and extraordinary inspections of the building are carried out in accordance with the construction regulations attended by the building manager and the representative of the co-owners

(i) propose the amount of an appropriate joint reserve

j. keep records of co-owners or owners of special parts of the building

k. distribute to co-owners and charge the costs of the common reserve and other common costs of real estate (joint consumption of electricity, water, cleaning of the building, etc.) paid from the common reserve

l. take the necessary actions to foreclose overdue and unpaid instalments of the common reserve and other common costs of real estate paid by the co-owners after not paying six instalments

m. regularly cover the joint costs of the building towards third-party resources of the common reserve

n. develop a proposal for an annual maintenance program for common parts of the building, in accordance with the multi-year building maintenance program, liabilities arising from litigation and in accordance with the regulations governing the area of construction, and submit it to the co-owner’s representative no later than 15 November of the current calendar year

o. draft a proposal for a multi-year building maintenance program in accordance with the regulations governing the area of construction, and submit it to the co-owner’s representative no later than 31 December of the current calendar year

p. initiate all necessary procedures before the competent public law authorities for the purpose of registering the building and its specific parts in the land register and cadastre

q. obtain loans necessary to finance the maintenance of the building in accordance with the co-owner’s decision

r. conclude an insurance contract in accordance with the co-owner’s decision

s. on behalf of and on behalf of the co-owner of the building, report the project of energy renovation of the building. i.e. the project of installing heating and cooling systems on renewable energy sources and conclude contracts necessary for the implementation of that project,

t. report on behalf and on behalf of the co-owners of the building projects contributing to greater resilience of buildings to fire and earthquake and conclude the contracts necessary for the implementation of those projects

u. open a special account for the implementation of energy renovation projects of the building, i.e. projects for the installation of heating and cooling systems on renewable energy sources and projects that contribute to greater resistance of buildings to fire and earthquake, and conclude contracts necessary for the implementation of these projects

v. inform the co-owners of the building through the representatives of the co-owners of the work performed within 30 days from the date of the work performed.

w. create and submit to co-owners through representatives of co-owners by February of the current year the annual report for the previous year on the management of the building, which, among other things, must include an overview of individual revenues and expenditures of the common reserve, and data on the method of heating and energy consumption per residential unit.

x. in cooperation with the co-owner’s representative, establish and prepare a record of the state of funds in the common reserve, building debts and claims for which funds have not been initiated and for which legal proceedings have been initiated

y. at the request of the co-owner to make available and enable copying of documents on which the annual report on building management is based and other documents related to building management within 15 days from the date of request by the co-owner

z. inspect the building at least once a year to verify compliance with the basic requirements for buildings, to draw up proposals for a multiannual and annual maintenance program for common parts of the building

Aa. perform other tasks specified by this Act, the law regulating ownership and other actual or contracted by an inter-ownership agreement or other contracts

Bb. record the appointment or revocation of the manager in the land register in

cc. submit jls each signed contract on building management.

In the event of bankruptcy or enforcement against the administrator, the funds in the building’s account are not subject to the bankruptcy estate and cannot be foreclosed on them.

For works and other building maintenance work with a value of more than EUR 2,500.00 , the building manager is obliged to collect at least three independent and comparable bids.

In case you have a problem with a neighbor, tenant representative, building manager or you need to hire a lawyer for legal advice or representation in the field of building management, please feel free to contact us at:

info@odvjetnik-bistrovic.hr