It as well known that HOAs offer the best way to manage multifamily residential buildings providing tangible immediate benefits and improving quality of everyday life. HOAs help to maintain and improve the multifamily housing stock and subsequently to increase the value of apartments. They also allow to carry out energy efficiency improvements, with care of lower utility payments and natural environment protection. HOAs allow to gain control over building common areas, to have a say over their management and even turn them into a source of income to finance future repairs. !But HOAs also unleash an opportunity of meet ing and gett ing to know your neighbors. This not only increases security in the building and its surrounding area but allows to organise communal activities such as neighborhood picnics, gardening clubs, sport groups strengthening bonds between households.

European Commission has prepared a dedicated handbook helping owners of flats in multifamily buildings to set up ‘HOA’. There you can learn how to call first meeting of flat owners, how to communicate your decision to local government entities and state housing maintenance organisation managing your building, where to obtain information on status of common areas (attic, cellar, stairwells), how to organise free of charge or low cost energy audit and other necessary information. !First of all the book contains a grid which allows to conduct self assessment showing what are the chances of establishing active and well functioning HOA in your building.

The handbook is available in several languages and was prepared by specialists working in the countries of former Soviet Union in the field of privatization and housing management. It can be downloaded free of charges from the following webpage.

WANT TO ESTABLISH ‘HOA’ BUT DO NOT

KNOW HOW?

ESTABLISH HOMEOWNER ASSOCIATION

MANAGE YOUR BUILDING

EFFICIENTLY TOGETHER WITH

YOUR NEIGHBORShttp://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/

W I T H H O M E O W N E R A S S O C I AT I O N Y O U C A N :

MAKE CAPITAL REPAIRS

Evidence show that up to 50% of apartment owners had been waiting for improvements in their housing conditions by state housing maintenance organisations for more than 10 years. HOA provides means for apartment owners to take control over repairs of common areas of the building: what to repair, how and when. The immediate benefit of an HOA is that instead of making maintenance payments to the state, apartment owners pay directly the HOA, which ensures that all the money they pay is spent on the upkeep of their building. Moreover, HOA is a legal entity which is eligible to take bank credit and be a grant recipient of state programmes of housing-led regeneration.

LOWER YOUR BILLS - MAKE BUILDING ENERGY EFFICIENT

Making your building more energy efficient can considerably lower bills for utilities. Studies show that estimated typical energy losses of not modernized residential building can be of 40-50%. Some improvements are relatively cheap - thermostatic radiator valves and meters installation, change of entrance doors and widows. Others, such as walls insulation, repairs of roof and heating system, on-site generation of renewable energy require considerable investments. Those can be obtained in banks offering ‘green credits’ at a preferential rate of interest and free of charge energy audit or partially covered by dedicated governmental programmes.

GAIN CONTROL OVER COMMON AREAS

Even if most of the units in a building are privatised its common areas (stairwells, hallways, ground floor, attic) that affect its comfort, convenience and value are maintained and operated by local government entities. HOAs can gain control over these areas and manage them independently, turning them even into a source of HOAs income. Home owners can decide whether and whom to rent available spaces and thus have a say if they prefer to have a laundry or a night club, a cafe or a liquor store on building premises.

MEET YOUR NEIGHBOURS

Participation in HOA gives a possibility to meet and know better your neighbours during HOA meetings. This can lead to setting up a range of regulars communal activities: neighborhood picnics, reader and sport clubs or even children day care groups, hence strengthening bonds between households and its members.

IMPROVE SECURITY

Eradicating anonymity, which is often prevalent in big multifamily buildings, increases level of security inside it and surrounding area. Moreover HOAs members can organise voluntary neighborhood patrols to prevent crime and vandalism within a neighborhood.

MAKE AESTHETIC IMPROVEMENTS

HOA members can make general environmental improvements. These includes aesthetic improvements, provision of children's play areas and better street design. All together they not only improve comfort of living but also increase the value of each apartment.