Do you need to write an application to join a homeowners association?

Membership in the HOA is voluntary

The creation of a HOA to manage an apartment building will not in itself lead to the fact that every owner in such a building will become a member of the HOA.

Acquiring ownership of premises in an apartment building that is managed by a HOA also does not mean that the new owner will automatically become a member of the partnership.

The inclusion of an owner as a member of a partnership without his expression of will is “prohibited” by the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation (Resolution of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation of April 3, 1998 N 10-P.).

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What do you need to do to become a member of the HOA?

The only basis for obtaining the status of a member of a homeowners’ association is an application from the owner (Part 1 of Article 143 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation).

An application to join the HOA can be made:

1) when creating a homeowners association - by signing the minutes of the general meeting of owners of premises in an apartment building, at which decisions were made on the creation of a homeowners association and on the approval of its charter;

2) when joining a HOA after its creation, including when purchasing real estate in a house managed by the partnership, by sending a written application to the management bodies of the partnership to join the HOA.

The law does not require additional actions to be taken to create membership - for example, paying an entrance fee, considering the issue by a general meeting of owners or the board, etc.

To be sure that the application is submitted in the proper form and in the prescribed manner, it is recommended to hand the application directly to the chairman of the board of the partnership with a note from the latter that the application has been received. Another working option is to send an application by valuable mail with a list of attachments to the legal address of the HOA, which can be found through the service https://egrul.nalog.ru

According to established judicial practice, it is the owner who bears the burden of proof of delivery of a written application to join the HOA to the authorized representative of the partnership.

No responses from the HOA to the application are required.

Is it possible not to join an HOA and what are the consequences?

It is necessary to consider the HOA from two positions, as a method of management and as a legal entity. In accordance with Article 135 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, in order to create a homeowners' association, the number of votes of the owners of residential premises who have chosen the HOA must exceed half of the total number of votes of the owners of premises in an apartment building. In accordance with Art. 143 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, membership in a homeowners’ association arises from the owner of premises in an apartment building on the basis of an application to join the homeowners’ association. Thus, if you do not apply to join the HOA, you will not be a member. This is your personal right and no one can force you to join the HOA.

Automate the HOA

However, in accordance with Art. 161 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, a homeowners' association is one of the ways to manage an apartment building, the choice of which occurs in accordance with Articles 44, 46 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, by obtaining more than 50% of the votes of the owners of the apartment building. If we assume that the members of the HOA are already more than half of the residents of an apartment building with a single opinion, then they have to make decisions defined in paragraph 1, subparagraphs 4 and 5 of Article 44 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation (all issues except for the reconstruction of the house, use of land, construction outbuildings, use of common areas for advertising structures), and if the members of the HOA are two-thirds of the unanimous residents of the apartment building, then they have the right to make all decisions related to your apartment building. Therefore, you will still have to pay the costs of all decisions made, including housing and communal services. The partnership, while fulfilling its duties, will always be able to collect fees for the provision of services and performance of work on the basis of the law, regardless of whether you are a member of the HOA and whether an agreement has been concluded with you. In accordance with Article 210 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, Art. 30 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation establishes the general principle of placing the burden of maintaining property on its owner. Also, the owner’s obligation to pay is provided for in Art. 155 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation and clause 28. “Rules for the maintenance of common property in an apartment building”, approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of August 13, 2006 N 491.

Therefore, your failure to join the HOA threatens to prevent you from taking part in the fate of your apartment building. You, of course, can attend HOA meetings, but only to keep abreast of all events, since you will not have the right to vote.

We also recommend viewing:

Rights and obligations of the HOA

Rights and obligations of HOA members, as well as persons who are not members of the HOA

General meeting of HOA members

Establishing the amount of payments for housing and communal services in the HOA

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How to find out who is a member of the HOA?

In accordance with Article 148 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, maintaining a register of members of the partnership is the responsibility of the board.

By virtue of Article 143.1 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, both members of the homeowners’ association and non-members of the association, owners of premises in an apartment building, have the right to familiarize themselves with such a register.

Based on the above, in order to find out which owners in an apartment building are included in the HOA, you need to submit a written application to the board to familiarize yourself with the register of members of the association.

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Application for joining the HOA in 2020

Can a non-owner join a partnership and why?

In accordance with paragraph 1 of Art. 143 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, only the person who has the right of ownership to the living space in this house can become a member of the homeowners’ association in an apartment building. Accordingly, persons living in apartments, but not being their owners, do not have the right to apply for membership, since this would contradict the norms of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation.

Persons using residential premises on a leasehold basis also cannot become members of the partnership. If an officially married couple lives in an apartment, but the right of ownership of the home belongs to only one of the spouses, the second spouse cannot be accepted as a member of the HOA, even if, according to family law, the property is considered joint property.

The ownership of the apartment must be registered along with the ownership of the second spouse.

Process of registration and submission of documents

This is a standard procedure that can be assisted by other members of the organization. But everyone is responsible for all their actions, and therefore they themselves must know what and how to do. There is no statutory form or form to fill out .

Each HOA can choose its own sample and make printed forms based on it. A simple written form of the document is not prohibited.

Content

The form must contain the following information:

In the upper right corner there is a standard “header” indicating who is being addressed and from whom. The full name of the organization, the applicant's full name and residential address, and contact information should be indicated.
The heading explains the reason for the application - an application to join the HOA.
This is followed by a direct application for membership.
Indicate full name, address, passport details, details of the document confirming ownership of the apartment, as well as the area of housing.
List of documents attached to the application: certificate of registration of rights (original and copy) and an extract from the state register, copies of the passport.
Submission date, signature with transcript.

Before joining an HOA, you should study how the organization works. We invite you to read about the rights and obligations to residents and concluding an agreement with homeowners, about the taxation system and accounting policies, about membership and other fees, as well as about the fund, about documentation and maintenance, about the features of checking the activities of the HOA.

Who does it?

The owner himself is responsible for the registration, that is, the preparation of the document; he can apply to the HOA board for the form.

Who assures?

The application is submitted to the HOA board; it does not need to be certified . The application can be accepted by the secretary or another representative of the board.

There must be 2 copies, signed by the applicant and the recipient. The second copy remains with the owner as confirmation of the fact of filing. You can submit your application in writing.

The services of a notary may be needed to confirm the power of attorney if the application is submitted by a representative of the owner.

Validity periods

The law does not provide for a time frame within which the HOA must consider the application. Such terms are determined by the organization itself; as a rule, it is up to 30 days . After accepting the document, the board must initiate a general meeting, where the fact of accepting the owner into the partnership will be established.

For a positive decision, you must receive at least half of the votes in the general vote.

Do I need to register?

No registration with government agencies is required for this document. It can be registered with the board of the HOA to maintain its internal documentation.

State duty and cost

No financial costs will be required for the preparation of such paper . If suddenly the registration of property rights has not been completed, then you will have to pay the state duty established by law to correct this fact.

Features and nuances

There are few nuances in this matter:

The interests of minor citizens, including the submission and execution of such a document, and presence at the meeting, are represented by legal representatives.
In order to join a partnership, you must be an owner in the full legal sense. To do this, title documents must be registered in the Russian Register. Confirmation is a certificate from the Unified State Register.

The algorithm for fulfilling requests from residents regarding housing and communal services has been improved in the Moscow region

A working meeting was held at the Moscow Government House with the heads of 300 of the largest management companies in the region, during which issues of improving the quality of service for apartment buildings and working with residents’ requests were discussed, this was reported in the press service of Vice-Governor Dmitry Pestov.

The event was held under the leadership of Pestov, and was attended by the heads of the Ministry of Housing and Communal Services of the Moscow Region, the state housing inspectorate, municipal authorities, representatives of public organizations, including the regional association of chairmen of the councils of MKD.

“Thanks to the unique management and communication resources introduced in the Moscow region, management organizations today already have the opportunity to quickly, bypassing unnecessary authorities, receive and process all applications received from residents of apartment buildings. In this they are helped around the clock by specialists from the Regional Management Center, where requests from residents from all possible sources are accumulated - from official appeals to authorities, from the Dobrodel portal, including its section “Unified Dispatch Service”, the governor’s “hotline” and even from social networks,” the press release says.

Thus, the work of the LRC makes it possible to shorten the path of the application from the resident to the management company as much as possible, which allows the specialists of the management company to quickly complete all the work that does not require much effort or significant funding.

All requests for housing and communal services accumulated by SDGs are classified, deadlines for their execution are determined, and the result is monitored.

“Most management companies operating in the Moscow region have already actively participated in the new algorithm for working with the population and have increased the speed of response to residents’ requests,” the material reports.

For example, applications regarding faulty lighting in an entrance are today, on average, completed in the Moscow region in four hours - despite the fact that the deadline established by the regulations for their execution is 24 hours, that is, six times faster than required by the regulations.

During the meeting with the management of the largest management companies in the Moscow region, considerable attention was paid to discussing the transition to a qualitatively new level of service for residents of apartment buildings - from responding to emerging problems to preventing them.

The material states that many complaints can be prevented by organizing early and high-quality information to residents about upcoming planned work.

LRC specialists note that a significant number of complaints related to the quality of water supply come from residents of apartment complexes where planned short-term repair work is being carried out on water supply networks. If residents had been notified in advance about the start and end dates of work, these complaints could have been avoided.

“Despite the presence of many communication channels for tracking and promptly responding to residents’ requests, some management companies still require significant time and reminders from the State Housing Inspectorate in order to fulfill basic requests. Such cases, if they are recorded repeatedly, are a reason for the implementation of legal mechanisms to remove unscrupulous management companies from the market for the provision of apartment management services in the Moscow region,” Pestov emphasized.

During the working meeting, the heads of management companies were also given the task of including the necessary elements of the apartment building into the capital repair program in advance, without waiting for emergencies to arise. Thus, timely repair of elevator equipment, heating or water supply networks will prevent malfunctions in the operation of these systems and reduce the number of reasons for residents’ requests.

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