The owners of non-residential premises built into residential buildings do not always have good relations with the owners of apartments and the cooperative of apartment owners serving the building. Controversial issues arise regarding the mandatory membership in the KSK, the amount of payments, participation in additional expenses for the maintenance of the house, control over the costs incurred.
Approval of the cost estimate and income of the cooperative, and, accordingly, the amount of monthly contributions, is the competence of the general meeting of members of the cooperative, which controls the work of the board of the cooperative and its chairman and has the right to require them to report on expenses and income.
In accordance with Article 35 of the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan "On Housing Relations", the owners of premises are required to participate in all expenses for the maintenance of common property and the house, are responsible for the safety and safe operation of common property and premises that are in separate (individual) ownership. The amount of expenses for the maintenance of common property is established in proportion to the share of the owner of the premises in the common property, unless otherwise provided by the agreement of the owners.
At the same time, according to Article 37 of this Law, the owner of a non-residential premises is not obliged to participate in the general expenses related to those parts of the common property that are associated exclusively with the use of residential premises. Conversely, expenses related to those parts of the common property that are associated exclusively with the use of non-residential premises shall be borne by the owners of such premises. The same article establishes that the owner of non-residential premises cannot participate in resolving issues of the condominium that do not affect his interests, and other owners cannot participate in resolving issues that affect exclusively the interests of owners of non-residential premises.
Article 42 of the Law "On Housing Relations" gives the owner of non-residential premises the right to conclude individual agreements on the provision of housing maintenance and communal services with organizations providing such services. Thus, the owner has the opportunity to pay for all utilities directly to their suppliers and only in the amount consumed.
The owner of non-residential premises has the right to terminate membership in the cooperative, since this organization is based on the principles of voluntariness. Despite this, in accordance with paragraph 8 of Article 43 of the Law "On Housing Relations", he, along with all members of the cooperative, is obliged to take a proportionate monetary and (or) labor participation in the maintenance of the condominium object, to comply with all decisions of the management bodies of the condominium object related to the maintenance and the use of common property and ensuring the strength and safety of the operation of the house (taking into account the above features regarding the status of non-residential premises).
According to Article 50 of this Law, additional expenses that are not mandatory and ensure the necessary operation of the house as a whole cannot be imposed on the owners of premises (apartments) without their consent. At the same time, the owners of non-residential premises are obliged to cover the costs of using the common property associated with their production, trade and similar activities.
Thus:
- The owner of non-residential premises has the right to terminate membership in the cooperative and pay utility bills to suppliers under contracts concluded directly.
- In addition to paying for utilities, the owner of a non-residential premises is obliged to bear the costs of maintaining the condominium object, but only those that are associated with the use of non-residential premises. They cannot include, for example, the cost of repairing stairwells or elevators, since the owner does not use them.
- Expenses not related to the necessary maintenance of the house (for example, benches in the yard) cannot be charged to the owner of a non-residential premises without his consent.
- The list and amount of expenses, in which the owner of the non-residential premises participates, is better defined in the contract with the KSK. If it is not possible to agree on the terms of the contract on a voluntary basis with the cooperative, the dispute may be resolved by the court.