Law Committee: 'Using maintenance funds in some apartment buildings is not transparent'

Management and use of maintenance funds in some apartment buildings are not transparent, with investors appropriating and using them arbitrarily, according to the Law Committee.

The recent thematic monitoring report "Implementation of policies and laws on management, operation, renovation and reconstruction of apartment buildings" by the Law Committee pointed out many limitations in the management and use of apartment building maintenance funds.

Many investors do not hand over, are late in handing over or only hand over a part of the maintenance fund to the management board; do not pay maintenance funds for areas privately owned by the investors; appropriate maintenance funds for other purposes, and are not even open and transparent in management and use.

There are investors who open multiple accounts at the same time to receive maintenance funds from apartment buyers but do not record this in the apartment purchase or lease contract.

Chairman of the Law Committee Hoang Thanh Tung. Photo: National Assembly Media — Chairman of the Law Committee Hoang Thanh Tung. Photo: *National Assembly Media*

According to the provisions of the 2014 Housing Law, the management and use of maintenance funds for common areas of apartment buildings are carried out in two phases. In phase one, before organizing the first apartment building conference, the investor is responsible for collecting and managing maintenance funds. In phase two, after establishing the apartment building management board (elected by residents to operate the apartment building), the investor must transfer maintenance funds to this board for management and use according to regulations.

However, in reality, during the maintenance fee collection phase, the management board has not been established. Investors often do not open a separate deposit account to manage the maintenance fee collected from home buyers, but often combine it with their own account. This leads to the situation where investors misappropriate and use the maintenance fee for the wrong purpose, and have disputes with residents.

In addition, according to the Law Committee, current laws do not have strong enough sanctions to handle cases of failure to pay the management and operation fees for apartment buildings; regulations on work items that can use the maintenance fund are not specific, and there are no instructions on additional payments after using up the 2% maintenance fund (calculated on the value of the apartment).

Some management boards violated the use of maintenance funds and did not fully understand the provisions of the housing law, leading to disagreements and disputes with investors and residents. "There were even cases where the management board incited residents to file complaints, gathered in large numbers, causing insecurity and disorder," the report stated.

Regarding the cause, the Supervisory Delegation assessed that the state management role of specialized agencies and local authorities in some places has not been performed well.

The Law Committee proposed to amend the Housing Law in the direction of making the act of not paying maintenance fees by apartment owners and investors a prohibited act in the Housing Law, as a basis for the Government to issue regulations on administrative sanctions and apply measures to ensure enforcement.

Responding to VnExpress , Mr. Le Thanh Hoan, a full-time member of the Law Committee, said that current regulations on the management and use of maintenance funds still have gaps. The most common is that members of the management board spend money incorrectly, spend arbitrarily or for group interests to profit from the maintenance fund. "This behavior has been recorded in many places and is the cause of many lawsuits," he said.

Normally, the management board must report and explain in detail all expenditures, use of maintenance funds and receive feedback from residents. However, some management boards abuse their power, spend funds in a non-transparent manner, and take advantage of the selection of building management and operation contractors to receive commissions.

"Like replacing broken floor tiles, maintaining elevators before their due date, and choosing unreliable contractors to share profits. These are all real-life stories, but current legal regulations are very difficult to regulate," said Mr. Hoan, who believes that "putting tens of billions of dong in maintenance funds in the hands of individuals" can easily lead to negativity.

The full-time member of the Law Committee proposed that the management and use of the maintenance fund must have a supervisory board, independent of the management board. Supervisory board members have the right to monitor the fluctuations and balance of the maintenance fund account. The supervisory board also has the right to participate in selecting contractors, management units, service providers for the apartment building, choosing banks, and deposit terms for the maintenance fund.

Son Ha

Source link