When you buy a condominium, you are buying shares in condominiumthat entitle you to manage a particular apartment. This brings with it both obligations and rights – so be careful, at least when you decide to renovate something.
Under the Housing Act, it is the responsibility of the shareholder – you – to take good care of your home, and to report in good time if you notice any defects or faults in your home.
The building society is responsible for all structural measures, e.g. waterproofing in the bathroom, the functionality of the underfloor heating, the condition of the plumbing, etc. This is why it is also a good idea to have an annually updated statutory maintenance plan, which should show the measures planned for the next five years on an annual basis, or preferably a Long-Term Target Plan (PTS), which is a plan for the next ten years based on a condition assessment, with time and price estimates.
Renovation and responsibilities
When you decide to renovate your home, you must get permission from condominium. Without a permit, you can only carry out renovations that mainly concern surfaces, such as painting and wallpapering.
Anything that goes “below the surface”, e.g. replacing plastic carpet with parquet, replacing bathroom tiles, kitchen renovation, etc., requires a permit. And it is also worth getting this, because in the event of damage, for example, unauthorised renovation can result in considerable costs for the shareholder. The condominium association also has the power to appoint its own inspector for the intended renovation, and the cost of this is borne by the shareholder, i.e. you.
It is often thought that since condominiumis responsible for waterproofing the bathroom, for example, part of the cost of the renovation would be borne by the company. However, this is not the case if you decide to renovate your home just for “convenience”.
The building society’s obligation to contribute to the costs only comes at the stage when it is decided to carry out a more extensive renovation (e.g. renovation of pipes, balcony renovation, or water damage caused by a water pipe/sewer, for example), and even then the company’s obligation is to repair the premises to a so-called basic level. In other words, if the bathroom was originally fitted with plastic tiles, the company’s obligation is only to pay the costs up to the point of replacing the plastic tiles – you are responsible for any tiles you want and the cost of installing them.
Let’s take a brief example:
You have bought a two-bedroom apartment where the bathroom was renovated a couple of years ago, and the tiles and floor are in pristine condition. However, the building society is already 40 years old, and there are plans to renovate the lines next year. Since your bathroom has only been tiled, but not plumbed, it will also be torn open. The building society’s obligation is to repair the bathroom back to basics – so your beautiful Villeroy-Boch tiles will then be left behind, and if you want them back, you’ll have to pay for them yourself.
Another example, this time an unauthorised renovation in the kitchen:
You’re tired of the tile in the kitchen and old appliances, the company was built in 1979 and everything is original. Your friend Leksa Raksanen will do the kitchen renovation for you on the cheap, get an asbestos survey, and adjust the electricity in the cooker and the water hoses in the dishwasher all by himself. Nothing has ever been reported anywhere before.
You admire your new kitchen, until the next week when your downstairs neighbour comes to tell you that they have water leaking from under the living room ceiling, and your firstborn is coughing profusely every time he goes into his room, which is under your new kitchen… has some dust got into the ventilation system? You heard a banging noise last week? Then you might reconsider whether the renovation was cheap after all… (I wouldn’t recommend this situation to anyone, and you probably wouldn’t want to be there in front of your neighbour either!)
When you buy a home, always check that the renovations are mentioned on the property managercertificate. This way, you can be confident that condominiumhas been properly informed of the measures taken. Good advice can be found on the website of the Finnish Real Estate Management Federation, and much has been written on the subject elsewhere.
Remember that as a new owner you are also liable for the actions of the previous owner – you can of course try to get compensation from the seller if you suffered financial losses, but this is often a long and complicated process.
This is another reason why we warmly recommend that you study all the documents of the apartment thoroughly before making an offer – we at OUN can also look beyond the surface of the apartment!
