For the most effective and high-quality management of an apartment building, Russian legislation grants residential premises owners the right to organize a special administrative form - a homeowners' partnership or HOA. By making such a decision, apartment owners seem to take the fate of the house into their own hands. They are independently responsible for the condition in which it is located and the funds collected for paying for utilities are not sent to an outside mythical management company, but are distributed in accordance with needs and directed to solving pressing problems of the entire house.
Naturally, all owners at the same time cannot give up their main occupation and deal exclusively with household needs. Therefore, at the general meeting of HOA participants, a representative body is elected - the board, which consists of the most active and competent members of the partnership.
Main functions of the HOA board
Representatives of the HOA board are involved in drawing up an annual plan for receiving and spending funds, concluding contracts and protecting the interests of the partnership in all administrative and public organizations. They can convene a general meeting to make decisions on the most important issues, and also exercise control over the timely receipt of funds from all participants in the partnership.
In addition, their responsibilities include the selection of personnel who will carry out all economic work in this residential complex. The full range of everything that members of the board will have to do during the exercise of their professional activities is discussed at the general meeting of residents and recorded in the charter of the partnership.
Members of the board must elect a chairman from among themselves, whose main function is to ensure the successful implementation of all decisions made by the board. The terms of reference of the chairman of the HOA are clearly stipulated in the Housing Code of the Russian Federation and the charter of the partnership.
Chairman of the Board of Homeowners Association: how to become one and what awaits him
- The chairman is elected by the members of the HOA board for the purpose of managing the activities of the HOA.
- In his work, the chairman of the HOA must rely on the laws of the Russian Federation and the charter of the HOA, as well as on regulations and his job description.
- The chairman must conscientiously manage the activities of the HOA.
- Being the immediate supervisor, the chairman has the right to give orders to all employees of the HOA.
- The chairman is obliged to monitor the implementation of all resolutions and decisions of the HOA.
- The chairman is charged with developing and submitting for discussion to the members of the HOA rules regarding the calculation of wages, work rules and the schedule of HOA employees.
- The chairman of the meeting is authorized to represent the interests of the HOA in all government bodies.
- comply with the legislation of the Russian Federation and the charter of the HOA;
- control the timely payment by HOA members of all established payments;
- draw up the HOA budget for the year ahead;
- on behalf of the HOA members, enter into contracts for the repair and maintenance of common property;
- hire and fire employees in the HOA;
- compile lists of HOA members and lists of homeowners;
- control financial statements;
- hold meetings of HOA members;
- select an organization to manage, maintain and repair common property;
- other duties set forth in the HOA charter.
Requirements for the chairman of the HOA
The chairman of the board can only be selected from among the owners of apartments in a given building. This is the main condition that must be met when selecting a candidate for this position.
It is desirable that he have a higher education and experience in administrative or managerial work. The chairman of the HOA must be a comprehensively developed, intelligent and self-confident person who knows how to achieve his goals through legal means.
It is also important that a person who plans to take this position have strong nerves and a healthy psyche, since in this position he will have to resolve numerous conflicts and find a compromise in very difficult, unforeseen situations.
The ability to withstand powerful external pressure from both the members of the partnership themselves and representatives of the administration and contractors will also be useful in order to successfully fulfill the official duties of the chairman of the HOA.
Only an extraordinary and active person with good health can cope with such a difficult role. And finding a worthy candidate for this post is often very difficult.
Management companies
- composition of the homeowners association, detailed, indicating all names and apartment numbers;
- indicate in detail and completely about all the work that was carried out during the year and what funds were spent on it. For example, the ceilings in the hallways were whitewashed and how much money was spent on it. Everything must be very detailed;
- all information about all emergency situations and what funds were spent to eliminate them;
- a complete report on the receipt of all funds to the HOA’s current account and a report on the expenditure of these funds;
- a report on the inspections carried out by the controlling organizations and it is necessary to attach all reports of the inspections carried out to the annual report;
- a report on new contracts concluded and contracts that were terminated and for what reasons;
- damage to common property caused by the owners of the premises themselves or other third parties, how this damage was eliminated and how much money was spent on it.
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The responsibility of the chairman of the HOA according to the law is provided for in Articles 7.22 of the Code of Administrative Offenses “Violation of the rules for the maintenance and repair of residential buildings and (or) residential premises” and 7.23 “Violation of the standards for providing the population with utility services.” Again, responsibility rests with officials and legal entities. The chairman is not formally an official, but a legal entity, such as the HOA, can be held liable and the residents themselves will pay for the actions of the chairman.
The main functions of the chairman of the HOA
After the candidacy of the chairman is approved at the meeting of the board of the tenants' association, an employment contract is concluded with him, which stipulates all the conditions of his work. Since the partnership is an official legal entity, each time its chairman changes, it is necessary to inform the tax office about this so that they make the appropriate changes to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities.
The main documents that regulate the activities of the HOA board and its chairman are the charter of the partnership, the Housing Code of the Russian Federation and the Legislation of the Russian Federation. All provisions contained in them cannot contradict each other.
The charter of the partnership is approved at a general meeting of residents of the house and has legal force. It must spell out and provide for the actions necessary for the implementation of successful activities not only by members of the board, but also by all other members of the HOA, who are also responsible participants in this organization.
The agreement, which the chairman signs when taking office, stipulates the rights and obligations of the chairman of the HOA, as well as the degree of his responsibility. It should also indicate measures that can be taken in the event that he does not cope with the tasks that the homeowners have entrusted to him to carry out.
The main functions of the chairman of the board are:
- ensuring the timely completion of all necessary household and utility work around the house;
- providing apartment owners with high-quality supplies of heat, water and electricity from contractors;
- competent response to all requests and needs of the partnership participants.
This is a fairly large range of varied activities, often requiring the chairman to have special knowledge in the field of housing resource management and administrative work, so it would be advisable for the participants of the partnership to allocate certain funds in order to send the chairman of the board to undergo training in specialized courses. This will ensure more effective implementation of its capabilities in the difficult area of housing management.
Chairman of the HOA - rights and obligations, responsibility, how to become chairman
It rarely happens that absolutely all residents of a building are satisfied with the work of the HOA. But sometimes the situation develops in such a way that the indignation of apartment owners has real reasons: the chairman of the board does not perform the functions assigned to him, does not provide financial documents for review, does not organize timely repairs of common equipment, utility services are provided intermittently, etc.
As already mentioned, before becoming a chairman, or rather, offering his candidacy, the owner must become a participant in the partnership by submitting an appropriate application. After registration of membership, an interested person can nominate his candidacy for voting by the board or general meeting, depending on who has the right to make such a choice in the charter.
Degree of responsibility of the HOA chairman
Since the chairman’s sphere of activity is very wide, he can independently hire a staff of employees who would help him successfully carry out all the tasks assigned to him. These may include secretaries, accountants, personal assistants, laborers, plumbers and electricians. The candidates selected by the chairman must be approved by the board of the HOA or the general meeting of the partnership. And all employees who will be approved for these positions are required to follow the orders directly of the chairman of the board.
Responsibility for storing and maintaining records of partnership documents, as well as concluding agreements and submitting reports to the tax office rests entirely with the chairman of the board. He must have a perfect knowledge of all administrative and legislative regulations of the Russian Federation in order to reasonably defend the interests of the partnership in various areas of public utilities.
Among other things, the responsibilities of the HOA chairman to residents include providing them with a written report on all the results of their activities, as well as a mechanism for resolving local conflicts both between members of the HOA and with administrative bodies.
In the event of emergencies and accidents that threaten to destroy the property of the partnership participants, the chairman of the board has the right to enter the apartments of the owners during their absence in order to, with the help of the appropriate utility services, take all necessary measures to eliminate the problems.
All redevelopment in apartments and the installation of overly powerful electrical appliances must be agreed upon by the residents with the chairman of the board.
Rights and responsibilities of the HOA chairman
Leading the board of an HOA is quite difficult. The person holding the position of chairman must have strong nerves, since in the course of his activities he will have to meet with different people and listen to many claims and complaints. In addition, it is necessary that he understands technical issues. After all, he is responsible for ensuring the proper operation of engineering systems. The chairman must be able to identify malfunctions and promptly involve specialists in eliminating them. Redevelopment, installation of equipment in apartments, replacement of appliances with more powerful ones and other work must be coordinated not only with the neighbors, but also with the chairman. He is responsible for the safety of common property and ensuring the safety of residents.
- Systematic violation of the provisions of the HOA charter, legal norms.
- Misappropriation of property - theft of contributions made by owners, materials purchased for repairs, etc.
- Making unreasonable decisions without agreement with the board and residents.
HOA Manager
Considering the complexity of the work of the chairman of the board of a residential association and the very wide range of activities that he must carry out at a high professional level, it often happens that among the homeowners there is no worthy candidate for this position. The solution in this situation is to hire a hired housing manager, who may not be the owner of the housing in this partnership.
In this case, the rights and responsibilities of the chairman of the HOA and the manager of the HOA are separated. The chairman performs exclusively representative functions, convenes general meetings of the participants of the partnership or the board, registers the decisions made at them and monitors the effectiveness of the manager’s activities.
And the remaining job responsibilities to ensure the normal functioning of all communication systems of the housing complex, interaction with the administration and contractors, cooperation with the population and HOA personnel, are performed directly by the manager. An employment contract is also concluded with him, which stipulates his rights, obligations, liability for causing damage to the HOA and the amount of remuneration for the work.
What to do if the homeowners association does not fulfill its obligations
For greater resonance, simultaneously with the complaint to the housing office, send complaints to the General Director of the housing office, the head of the housing office, the city's main housing and communal services department, the head of the State Housing Inspectorate in your region and the committee for the protection of consumer rights.
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First, you still need to study the charter of your HOA - what is written there regarding the chairman. Those. if the charter is drawn up in accordance with the requirements of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, namely Article 147, then according to clause 2 of this article, ONLY the owners of this HOA are elected to the board of the HOA by the general meeting of homeowners. Thus, being in the ranks of the board, especially in the position of chairman, is an outsider, i.e. not the owner, illegal, because Clause 3 of the same article directly indicates the obligation to elect the chairman of the HOA from among the members of the elected board, i.e. and he must be the owner of this HOA.
