Special account for major repairs of an apartment building

A special account for major repairs of an apartment building requires monthly contributions from apartment owners. For many, such an obligation is associated with a significant financial burden, so understanding the meaning of such contributions and how to use them remains a pressing issue.

Special account: what is it?

Today, major repairs of apartment buildings are financed from a special fund, the main part of which is formed from contributions from residents and penalties accrued due to untimely repaid debts.

The legislation provides two ways to accumulate funds:

by organizing a special account;
receipt to the regional operator.

To create a special account, apartment owners are required to hold a general meeting and make a decision in favor of choosing this method by a majority vote.
If citizens do not take the initiative, then the capital repair fund is formed by the regional operator. At any time, a decision can be made to change the mechanism for the formation of savings, but this requires holding a meeting of the residents of the house and observing the legally regulated procedure. The owners of the special account can be housing cooperatives, HOAs, or a management company, that is, those organizations that resolve issues of managing a house on the basis of a concluded agreement.

Transfer to a special account

Owners of premises in apartment buildings decide how they will form a capital repair fund: either in a special account at home, or in a centralized account with a regional operator.

Hold a general meeting of owners of premises in an apartment building.

The issue of choosing one of the ways to form a capital repair fund for your home should be put on the agenda. This could be a special account of a HOA or housing cooperative, a special account of a regional operator, or a centralized account of a regional operator.” Recommended forms of necessary documents and samples of their completion can be found on the regional operator’s website and printed in the required quantity.

Document Samples of documents required for holding a general meeting of MKD owners
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If owners want to choose a special account, then a number of questions should be included on the agenda:

. on the amount of the monthly contribution for major repairs (it may be greater than or equal to the minimum in the region - 6 rubles 60 kopecks);
. on the timing of major overhauls (they must be no later than those specified in the regional overhaul program);
. on the list of works and services for major repairs (it cannot be less than those specified in the program - repair of the roof, foundation, facade, internal utilities. If the house has an elevator, then it must also be included in the list);
. about the owner of a special account (the owner of the account can be a housing cooperative or HOA. The owner of the account for houses served by the management organization, and for houses under direct management, can be a regional operator);
. about the bank in which a special account will be opened (or leave the choice of bank at the discretion of the regional operator, in which case the bank will be selected on a competitive basis).

The decision of the general meeting is made by at least 2/3 of the total number of votes of the owners of premises in an apartment building (1 vote is equal to 1 square meter). If you choose to create a capital repair fund on a special account of a regional operator, then the protocol and register of owners must be filled out in two copies: one set will remain with the chairman of the MKD council, the second will be transferred to the Regional Capital Repair Fund.

Open an account.

If an HOA or housing cooperative is chosen as the owner of the account, then the specified organization must contact the selected credit institution to open a special account in its name, present the decision of the general meeting of premises owners, documented in the minutes, and other documents provided for by banking rules.”

If a regional operator is chosen as the owner of the account, then the owners must send the minutes of the general meeting to the Regional Fund for the Capital Repair of Apartment Buildings of the Oryol Region. the regional operator must contact the bank chosen by the owners to open a special account in its name and present the decision of the general meeting documented in the minutes, etc.

Notify about your choice.

As soon as a special account is opened, its owner - the HOA or regional operator - must submit a corresponding notification to the Housing Inspectorate of the Oryol Region within five days. It must be accompanied by copies of the protocol, a bank certificate about opening a special account and other documents.

Pros and cons of opening a special account

Today, the option that involves the formation of a fund on the account of a regional operator for carrying out capital repairs is called “boiler”, which reflects its essence. A regional program is approved and the money is to be distributed taking into account the needs of all houses in a particular region. When a special account is opened, funds are collected by residents of one building and spent only on repairs of that building only.

When organizing a special account, residents of the house receive a wider range of opportunities in terms of planning repair work, accepting and assessing their quality, and performing control measures regarding the expenditure of funds.

The advantages of choosing this method include:

Independent determination of the final list of works;
Variability in the choice of contractors;
Absence of intermediaries and influence of third parties;
Possibility of obtaining advice from a regional operator regarding the formation of a fund and issues of major repairs.

When apartment owners decide to open a special account, it should be taken into account that the responsibilities for planning repair work and monitoring funds will no longer fall under the competence of the regional operator. Often, residents do not have enough knowledge and experience to resolve such issues, which leads to a decrease in the efficiency of fund management. The regional operator closely interacts with local authorities, which also often helps resolve complex issues regarding the implementation of work related to complex repairs.

Carrying out major repairs is always associated with large expenses, so a situation may arise when the accumulated funds in a special account may not be enough to carry out the required list of works. Using bank services for servicing a special account, conducting settlements in terms of calculating contributions and penalties, printing and delivering receipts also requires certain costs. If funds stop flowing, a decision may be made to close it and transfer the balance to an operator operating in this region.

Special account for contributions for major repairs: “pros” and “cons”

One of two things: a common boiler or your own boiler?

It is known that the Housing Code of the Russian Federation allows you to choose only one of two ways to form a capital repair fund - a “common boiler” or a special account (special account).
In the first case, a single fund is formed for everyone, the owners make contributions, and the Capital Repair Fund of the Kaliningrad Region (FKR) regulates the implementation of major repairs in all apartment buildings (MKD) buildings that pay contributions to the “common boiler”. If the owners decide to accumulate money themselves for major repairs of only their home, control their spending, choose a bank and contractors, they need to switch to a special account. The decision to change the method of forming the capital repair fund is made at a general meeting of owners of premises in an apartment building (OSB) and is documented in minutes. This is quite difficult, so the FKR has developed approximate forms of the necessary documents, which can be downloaded from the website of the Capital Repair Fund. The protocol is transferred to the owner of the special account. One of three: choose the owner
The owner is a legal entity that performs all operations with money in the account by decision of the meeting of owners.
There are three options to choose from (see parts 2 and 3 of Article 175 of the RF Housing Code). Firstly, the management of this house is a homeowners association (HOA) or a housing cooperative (HC). The second option is a management organization with which the owners have a management agreement. And finally (if there is no HOA and you are not ready to cooperate with the management company), the owner of the special account can be a regional operator, that is, the same FKR that runs the “common boiler”. He will only “manage” your money separately, in the bank of your choice and solely on the basis of the decisions of the OSS of your home. The owner of the account is selected by the general meeting of owners. In addition, you need to select the bank where the account will be opened from the list of Russian banks posted on the website of the Central Bank of Russia. This, to some extent, guarantees that unreliable banks are eliminated, but still, this is a very responsible step, because the owners assume all banking risks. What's next and where is our money?
Now you need to officially notify the regional operator (aka FKR) about the change in the savings method.
If you have chosen a redevelopment operator as the owner, it is enough to provide the original minutes of the general meeting with the owners’ decision to change the method of forming the capital repair fund. The FKR itself will open an account in the bank of your choice or will choose the bank itself if the meeting of owners for some reason has not decided on the choice of bank. If the owner of the special account is a homeowners association, housing cooperative or management company, you need to send by mail or bring in person to the FKR certified copies of the protocol and agreement with the bank on opening a special account. The sooner the documents get to the FKR, the better, because the decision made by the owners, according to the law, comes into force three months from this moment. Within five days after the owners’ decision comes into effect, the regional operator will transfer previously paid contributions from the “common pot” to a special account. Pros and cons
All rights belong to the owners. You save only for yourself, manage your money and repairs yourself. Major repairs can be carried out at any time, and without waiting for the period specified in the regional program (of course, if the required amount has been accumulated or the house has taken out a loan). Misuse is not possible: the account owner cannot order any transaction without a decision of the general meeting. In addition, the bank is obliged to control the targeted spending of money (Article 177 of the RF Housing Code), and the list of permitted operations is strictly regulated. You can send additional funds to the account, for example, annual bank interest, penalties for non-payers, recalculation for services not provided or low-quality resources. On the other hand, all responsibility lies with the owners. If, according to the regional program, the deadline for major repairs approaches, it is impossible to postpone it to “later” due to lack of money! Otherwise, the collected funds will automatically go into the “common pot”. In addition, you will have to act as a technical customer yourself, determine the timing of major repairs, prepare estimates, technical supervision and, ultimately, check the quality of work. And two more risks. Firstly, even if the owner of a special account is a regional operator, responsibility for calculating contributions, printing and delivery of payments lies with the owners. You can enter into an agreement with any company that provides such services, and even with the Federal Financial Markets Service, but these services will be paid. While in the “common pot” the payment slips are printed and sent out by the registrar without additional costs on the part of the owners. The second risk is returning to the “common pot” due to non-payers. All data on the payment of contributions for major repairs is sent to the State Housing Inspectorate (SHI). If the house debt exceeds 50 percent, the procedure for transferring to the “common pot” begins. Any details on how to open a special account and work with it can be found by contacting the Specialized Non-Profit Organization of the Kaliningrad Region “Fund for Major Repairs of Common Property in Apartment Buildings” at the address Kaliningrad, st. Uralskaya, 18. tel. 99-49-93, 57-06-07, 30-35-41, 30-35-42, 30-35-44.

Text - newspaper "City House Manager"

Tags: Major repairs

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How to open a special account for major repairs of an apartment building

To open a special account, a general meeting of residents is required. Owners of more than 50% of the total number are required to attend, and if their personal participation is impossible, proxies can act instead. The final decision on this issue is considered legitimate if 2/3 of the owners vote for it.

There are strict requirements regarding the rules for conducting a meeting of apartment owners and preparing documentation, including for recording voting results. If legal standards are not observed, the results may be challenged and invalidated.

The process of creating a special account involves going through the following stages:

checking whether the house is included in the regional overhaul program;
creation of an initiative group of residents;
holding a general meeting of apartment owners;
making a decision to create a special account;
compliance with all documentation requirements;
sending a copy of the minutes of the meeting to the regional operator for registration;
opening an account in a banking organization;
notification to the operator and management company.

An important point is the choice of a credit institution for opening and further servicing a special account at home. The list of banks is limited, since there are quite strict requirements for the financial stability of organizations.

A special account can only be opened in a Russian bank, and the list of suitable organizations is subject to quarterly posting on the official portal of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation. Within 3 months, the regional operator must transfer the accumulated funds to a special account of the house, which will subsequently accumulate residents’ contributions for major repairs.

Stages of opening a special account for major repairs of HOAs

Opening a special account for major repairs of a house with an HOA takes place in several stages:

Search for a home from a list of other homes included in the regional capital improvement plan. Familiarization with current laws.
The HOA board must organize a meeting of residents . Notify the owners about it with a description of the issues on the agenda. It can be full-time or part-time.

In-person meeting:

open voting of all owners of apartment buildings;
registration of participants in the register, it will be attached to the Minutes of the meeting;
2/3 of the owners must participate. Votes are calculated based on the size of the area occupied by the owner (1 vote – 1 sq.m. of area occupied by each resident);
The chairman or secretary counts the votes for each item on the agenda.

Absentee meeting:

voting takes place in writing and the results are entered into a ballot, which is then handed over to the HOA board;
counting ballots. They must be completed by at least 2/3 of the owners. Votes are calculated based on the size of the area occupied by the owner (1 vote – 1 sq.m. of area occupied by each resident).

Drawing up minutes of the decision of the meeting of owners to change the method of collecting funds for major repairs. The protocol should include the following questions:

about the amount of contributions;
about the list of various repair works (roof, facade, communications, elevator, etc.);
on the timing of completion of repair work (no later than the deadlines determined by the regional program);
on selecting a bank to open an account;
on termination of contractual relations with the regional operator;
on the transfer of funds from the regional operator to a special account;
on the election of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owners;
about the source of financing the costs of servicing the special account.

After drawing up the Minutes of the meeting, you will need to transfer it to the account holder (within 5 days).
Notify all owners of apartment buildings about decisions made by voting (no later than 10 days).

If all conditions are not met, the bank will refuse to open an account.

When choosing a method for creating a fund, sometimes you need to write an application for recalculation.

Application to the HOA for recalculation - sample.

You can learn about the rights and responsibilities of HOA members, as well as its manager, from our articles.

The procedure for carrying out major repairs of an apartment building: special account

At the meeting, the residents of the house set the tariff rate for every 1 m2 of housing owned by citizens. Depending on it, the amount of contributions to be paid to the capital repair fund is calculated, which are determined for each apartment. The tariff cannot be less than the value established in a particular region.

The following issues should also be resolved at the meeting of apartment owners:

List of work carried out as part of the overhaul program;
Timing of events according to plan;
Account owner decision;
Selecting a servicing bank;
Determination of the person responsible for working with payment documents;
The procedure for providing documents and terms of payment for services.

Major repairs are carried out when it is established that the structural elements of the house are worn out, faults and damage are identified that do not meet the necessary safety requirements. After the contractor has completed the list of works, an authorized person on behalf of all owners of apartments in the building carries out acceptance, signing the necessary acts.

How to withdraw money

At the general meeting of residents, the person whose powers will include issuing payments is determined. The total amounts of expenses and the conditions for their payment are also regulated. Money is transferred only upon full provision of supporting documents regarding the work performed by contractors, including the presence of an acceptance certificate.

To complete an operation to write off money from a special account, the bank must have the following documents:

Minutes with the results of the meeting containing the decision on the work carried out as part of the overhaul;
Contractual documents concluded with contractors;
Acts regarding the list of work performed in accordance with agreements signed with the contractor.

The bank will refuse to carry out a transaction to write off funds in a situation if the owner of the special account is unable to provide documentary evidence regarding the work performed. If desired, owners can always control the size of the balance, incoming and outgoing transactions.