What you need to know about maintenance fees

While the shopping malls, markets, swimming pools, gyms, and SPA centers within complexes the size of a district may initially seem attractive to owners, the maintenance costs of these facilities cause maintenance fees to rise.

In addition to this, management issues such as the lack of transparency in sharing income and expenses and the inflation of costs force residents to pay maintenance fees as high as their rent.

In complexes where high maintenance fees effectively turn owners into tenants in their own homes, the fact that the money collected every month equals the budget of a medium-sized business is also attracting the attention of illegal groups.

Personnel expenses, which make up the majority of complex expenditures, had pushed maintenance fee payments close to 2 thousand liras even in many small complexes following the wage hikes in January. In some districts of Istanbul, maintenance fees for a 100-square-meter residence range from 2 thousand to 5 thousand liras. With the new year, further hikes in maintenance fees are expected. In metropolitan cities, maintenance fee payments have become a nightmare for consumers. New maintenance fee hikes have also led to a re-evaluation of expenditures in these complexes. Naturally, this topic also brings with it debates regarding complex management.

The Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change had announced that there are ongoing efforts to improve the quality of complex management and to establish a unit that will oversee minimum standards. The possibility of including a ceiling for maintenance fee prices in the regulation to be made on this subject is being brought to the agenda. Currently, there is no upper limit for maintenance fee payments.

A REASON TO MOVE

For property owners or tenants using the residence, especially in Istanbul, as well as in some complexes and central streets in Ankara and Izmir, maintenance fee increases are also becoming a reason to move. For example, a retired citizen who owns a home on Baghdad Street in Istanbul states that they moved to an apartment in Çekmeköy to escape a maintenance fee payment equivalent to 5 thousand liras, despite not paying rent. In complexes specifically, consumers are choosing places with lower maintenance fees.

COURT BURDEN SHIFTED TO MEDIATORS

Due to high rent prices, mediators will take over the increasing burden on courts caused by lawsuits filed between landlords and tenants in recent years. Those who want to file a lawsuit must first go to a mediator. Only if a solution cannot be reached between the parties there can the matter be taken to court.

The events at the Innovia 2 Complex in Esenyurt, which consists of 19 blocks and 3,692 apartments, have become one of the latest examples of all these problems.

"IT WAS STATED THAT THE COMPLEX HAD A DEBT OF 60 MILLION LIRAS LAST YEAR"

Disturbed by the complex being associated with public order incidents and exorbitant maintenance fees, residents described what they have been through.

Sibel Karagözoğlu stated that it is alleged that there are members of illegal organizations in the complex management, saying, "An operation was carried out on the management; some were arrested, and some were released under judicial control conditions."

Stating that the same management is still in charge despite this, Karagözoğlu said, "We do not want people whose names are associated with illegal organizations to be in the complex management until they are cleared. We are paying very high maintenance fees. We are constantly faced with additional budgets. Last year, it was stated that the complex had a debt of 60 million liras. As a complex, we want a trustee to be appointed or a professional management company with a clean record. We want to live in a complex where illegal organization members are not in management and whose name is not dragged through the mud every day."

Karagözoğlu expressed that until a trustee arrives, the owners have come together to form a "Change Group" and are preparing for the election to be held in January, adding that she wants to live in a complex where everyone is happy.

"WE ARE PAYING MAINTENANCE FEES AS HIGH AS RENT"

Bülent Toprak also stated that he has been living in the complex for about 11 years and said the following:

"We bought our home with the sweat of our brow, paying off a loan for 10 years. We wanted to have a home to shelter in when we got old. We pay our maintenance fees regularly without missing a single day. Despite this, we were faced with a debt of 60 million. Due to the complex's debt to institutions like İSKİ and İGDAŞ, our water and natural gas are cut off from time to time. We were left in the cold on a winter day and could not eat a hot meal. As someone who pays a maintenance fee as high as rent, I don't think I deserve this. Where did the money we paid go? We hear that the management will collect another payment under the name of an investment budget next year. We are tired of being tenants in our own homes."

"WE HAVE NOT FELT SAFE IN THE COMPLEX FOR A LONG TIME"

Nurettin Çelik explained that he had to take out a loan to pay the additional budget imposed by the management in the complex where he has lived for 12 years.

Noting that there are constant public order problems in the complex and that they wake up to the sound of gunfire, Çelik said, "We have not felt safe in the complex for a long time. I want whoever is responsible for the illegally collected additional budget and exorbitant maintenance fees to be held accountable before the law."

"OUR REQUEST FROM THE STATE IS FOR A TRUSTEE TO BE APPOINTED HERE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE"

Ahmet Hamo noted that he bought a house in the complex in question to live in after getting married, saying, "However, as soon as I bought the house, the management told me that the complex had a debt of nearly 60 million liras and that they had created an additional budget for it. I said, 'Whose debt is this? I just moved in, I don't accept this.' Upon this, the management removed my water meter. Our request from the state is for a trustee to be appointed here as soon as possible. I haven't been able to live for even one day in the house I bought 2 years ago; I am currently renting. We also want those who forge our signatures to be given the necessary penalties."

Asude Gürsoy expressed that she is living through a living hell in the house she bought 10 years ago to live in with pleasure, saying, "We pay a handful of maintenance fees, that's not enough, we pay an additional budget, that's not enough, we pay for common area expenses. Despite paying so much money, we still have a debt to İSKİ. In the middle of winter, our natural gas and water were cut off. We don't know where the maintenance fees we pay go. There is an election in January; we want a trustee to be appointed before this election. We want the details of the maintenance fees and income-expenses to be shown transparently."

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT MAINTENANCE FEES:

- There is currently no upper limit for maintenance fees. The fact that personnel salaries increase every year, new services are added, and the materials used and expenses increase every year and according to inflation makes it difficult to set an upper limit for maintenance fees in this context.

- Unless there is a provision to the contrary in the management plans, people who do not use the places defined as common areas do not have the right not to pay this maintenance fee. A flat or shop owner living on the ground floor cannot be exempt from common area maintenance fees by saying 'I don't use the elevator' or a person saying 'I don't use the pool.' They are obligated to pay the maintenance and repair costs of these areas as well.

- Unless there is a regulation to the contrary in the management plan or it is of a luxury nature, property owners cannot be exempt from the obligation to pay maintenance fees. Apart from this, for example, in cases such as installing a system for children in a pool that is of a luxury nature, building a playground in a complex that does not have one, or employing a caregiver, property owners who do not have children are not required to participate in these expenses.

- In case of non-payment of maintenance fees, the manager can initiate legal proceedings against the relevant property owner; if enforcement proceedings are initiated, a monthly legal interest of 5 percent is applied. If the tenant is using the property and does not pay the maintenance fee, both the tenant and the property owner are jointly and severally liable for the non-payment of the maintenance fee.

- In order to object to maintenance fee amounts, the general assembly must have convened, or the general assembly must be invited to an extraordinary meeting by 1/3 of the total property owners. Complex or apartment managers cannot increase maintenance fees by saying 'costs have increased, personnel expenses have increased.' They must obtain authorization from the general assembly.

- Property owners can also attend this general assembly to ensure that some maintenance fee items are reduced, some items are not collected at all, or that the maintenance fee is lowered by receiving new offers. If the management does not convene the general assembly even though there are 1/3 signatures for the general assembly, or if there are exorbitant and irregular increases in maintenance fee items, property owners can always apply to the Civil Court of Peace and request the judge's intervention.

- Again, those who attend the general assembly can file a lawsuit for the cancellation of the general assembly within 1 month from the general assembly, provided that they record their objections in the minutes. The period for filing a lawsuit regarding general assemblies is 1 month for those who attend, and 1 month for those who were notified but did not attend, and in any case, it is 6 months.

News Source: Gizem Yaralı