Not paying condominium charges undermines shared ownership

A private apartment in a condominium is merely an “island” of privacy within a network of common areas, and there is no way to reach that island except through common property. On the route through the courtyard, stairwell and elevator, the private owner must comply with decisions of the majority and discovers, to their surprise, that they are not the “sole ruler of the kingdom.”
There is no need to prove who uses the common property more. Its very existence obliges every owner to contribute to maintenance costs according to a predetermined formula.
Payment of condominium committee charges for maintaining common property causes many disputes between residents and owners, some of which reach court. The residents’ meeting sets the amount from time to time. The residents’ representative body, or “house committee,” implements decisions and manages routine upkeep of the building and elevator and the payment of water, electricity, cleaning and gardening bills. The law permits owners to be charged for preserving common property in its existing condition, including improvements introduced with their agreement, but not for improvements to which they have not agreed.
Many condominiums charge every apartment the same amount despite differences in size. Section 58 of the Land Law requires owners to contribute in proportion to their apartment’s area as a share of the total apartment area in the building, unless the bylaws set a different rate, for example according to room count. It is therefore important to read the bylaws carefully and understand the binding contribution formula.
The contribution is proportional only to apartment floor area; attached parking spaces, gardens and roofs are excluded. In one litigated case, the court held that an attached garden should not be included in the apartment’s floor-area calculation. The rationale is that apartment area is a relative indicator of the number of occupants and therefore an appropriate measure of common-property use.
The law allows an owners’ meeting to set a uniform payment, but if that formula differs from the bylaws, the owner who pays more than the apartment’s proportional share must agree: the law does not permit excess charges without that owner’s consent. An owner who asks to pay only as prescribed by law must therefore be charged in accordance with section 58. This adjustment is not retroactive: future charges will be updated, but past payments will not be refunded.
Sometimes an occupier refuses to pay committee charges or has financial difficulty paying them. The representative body’s powers are statutory, and it is entitled to collect these sums. In the event of refusal, it may sue the refusing owner before the Land Registration Supervisor.
Leases commonly require the tenant to pay condominium committee charges. However, the law imposes liability for condominium expenses on apartment owners. Leases should therefore be drafted precisely to avoid the embarrassing situation in which an owner-landlord is sued by the owners’ representative body for a debt left by the tenant.
What about an area built unlawfully? Just as municipal tax is payable on areas built without a permit, common-property maintenance charges are payable for those areas too. Courts do not allow someone who has violated one statutory provision to evade other obligations and thereby profit from unlawful conduct.