Maintenance charges

[Fozziebear]

Hi everyone, I wonder if you would mind sharing with me what the average maintenance charges are for your complex/house per year. I seems to vary quite a lot, and if possible what is included in your contracts. We are being charged a massive amount more than, nearly 4 times what we were first quoted. I know this will different from area to area, but it wll at least give me some idea. I think we have a real battle on our hands. :fight:

Thanks for your help.

 

[Property hunter]

Maintenance surcharges

Hi Fozziebear,

Based on my experience with developments in Bulgaria, anything over 8-9 EUR/ sq.m is a surcharge. However have in mind that although you are usually obliged to pay maintenance you do not need to agree to whatever price you are quoted. You just stop paying that. They will have major problems collecting it.

Best,
Kevin

 

[KayJay]

Yeah, great idea, Kevin!

So someone signs a contract and then stops/doesn't start paying and the maintenance company does nothing, eh? There are usually penalty clauses in the contracts and many AGMs vote to impose sanctions on defaulting payers - strangely enough, people don't like people not paying and just getting a free ride at everyone else's expense....

The maintenance company where one of our apartments is located start court action after 3 months arrears - purely by chance, the lawyers they use are very expensive and that gets tacked onto the bill also. Amazingly, the rest of us applaud this action against free-loaders.....

 

[Property hunter]

Surcharges

Hello KayJay,

It is not my idea- just a legal point of view towards this subject: If a developer requests 15-20 EUR/sq.m, which is obviously ridiculous, you just pay nothing for maintenance until you agree on 8-9 for instance- as simple as that. The developer is no position to be blackmailing owners. That was my point.

 

[KayJay]

Hello KayJay,

It is not my idea- just a legal point of view towards this subject: If a developer requests 15-20 EUR/sq.m, which is obviously ridiculous, you just pay nothing for maintenance until you agree on 8-9 for instance- as simple as that. The developer is no position to be blackmailing owners. That was my point.

Kevin

There are a few points there

1 - it's the maintenance company which charges for maintenance, not the developer. It is often, although not always, the case that the developer and the maintenance company are owned by the same person/company but it is usual for a different company to be set up for this purpose and for the maintenance contract to be with that company.

2 - depending on what is being done, a contract for 15 euros/m2 isn't necessarily "ridiculous", although it is at the top end of the scale that I'm aware of.

3 - the whole point is that by and large we're talking about a maintenance contract - the time to decide whether or not what you're being charged is "ridiculous" is before you sign it. Once you have signed, or someone has signed for you with your POA, then it's too late to change your mind and decide that you're going to pay a different amount. If you don't pay then the maintenance company should be taking you to court for breach of contract - and it's no part of the court's function to decide if you're paying too much (or too little for that matter!) It's simply ludicrous to accuse the maintenance company of "blackmailing" owners when they insist on the agreed maintenance being paid, any more than an owner could be said to be blackmailing the company by insisting that they carry out the maintenance that they've paid for....

Most complexes have penalty clauses for defaulters, including fines and/or depriving owners of access to the complex (both provided for within the Condominium Act). In ours, we insist on the maintenance company (owned by the developer) taking legal action against all defaulters; as I said previously, I see no reason whatsoever why people should be allowed to free-load on other owners or to renegotiate their contracts whenever the fancy takes them. They wouldn't expect such behaviour to be tolerated in their home countries so why would they think it should be here? I can imagine what they'd say if their employers decided to unilaterally stop paying them until they agreed to accept a 50% decrease in salary for the same work.

Frankly there are way too many people not paying their maintenance in most complexes - and even more bleating about being "cheated" simply because they didn't have the common-sense to inform themselves about the issues before they blithely signed on the dotted line and committed themselves, and the maintenance company, to a binding contract.

 

[Property hunter]

Comments

Hi KayJay,

You have dug too deep in this matter. I was just commenting on what Fozziebear shared: ' We are being charged a massive amount more than, nearly 4 times what we were first quoted. "

If that is the case, then Fozziebear should pay nothing until they reach a reasonable quote with the maintenance agent. Your comments are made on an entirely different scale and refer to other circumstances.

Kevin

 

[KayJay]

Kevin

This is indeed a subject close to my heart - and pocket!

Put simply, my response to Fozzie is just this: what you were "quoted" means nothing if you subsequently signed a contract for a higher figure, even if "your" signature was via a POA.

There are too many people who seem to think that it's okay to renegotiate a contract whenever or as often as it suits them, just as there are idiots who consider that a complex maintains itself during the 50 weeks of the year when they're not staying in their holiday apartment. I can't imagine that they'd dream of behaving like this at home, so why would they imagine that it's acceptable here and why should they be allowed to get away with it?

Sermon over!

 

[Property hunter]

Maintenance

Hi KayJay,

I was expressing my views in general- my comments were focused on developers blackmailing owners, yours refer to carefree and careless owners.

 

[2gd2Btrue]

Hi everyone, I wonder if you would mind sharing with me what the average maintenance charges are for your complex/house per year. I seems to vary quite a lot, and if possible what is included in your contracts. We are being charged a massive amount more than, nearly 4 times what we were first quoted. I know this will different from area to area, but it wll at least give me some idea. I think we have a real battle on our hands. :fight:

Thanks for your help.

To get back to the original question:

I pay 6 euros/m2 which includes all areas such as living, balcony, parking and "common areas".

4* apartment in Pomorie.

With regards to whether you should pay or not. Of course you should pay if that's the figure you signed for in the contract, but you might have an arguement if you find out others in your complex are paying less.

If it's a case that they just want to make a sudden (excessive) increase, then that's a different story.

Good luck.