Real estate law experts and consumer associations stated that apartment and site dues figures cannot be increased without authorization in the general assembly and made evaluations about what flat owners can do about dues. Real estate Ali Güvenç Kiraz, President of the Law Association, in his evaluation of the subject, said that the increase in dues, inflation, cost, and material prices; energy costs, he said, are determined by the rise in the minimum wage and other labor wages.
“THEY CANNOT RAISE PRICES WITHOUT AUTHORIZATION”
Kiraz stated that the cost differences that occur for this increase in apartments or sites are reflected in the dues in the form of common expenses and continued his
words as follows:
“The first issue to be considered here is that the directors or management boards decide on the dues increases with the budget or additional budget to be made in the ordinary or extraordinary general assembly.
Managers cannot increase dues without authorization from the general assembly. Owners may object to such increases.
Again, in the event that an exorbitant dues figure is determined, the owners of the flats may request an extraordinary general assembly meeting by collecting signatures one 3rd of the total number of independent departments and request that the dues be discussed and reduced at the general assembly.”
“IF THE AIADE EXCEEDS THE RENT, THE LANDLORD PAYS THE DIFFERENCE” Ali Güvenç Kiraz noted that there is no upper limit on the dues figures or a maximum rate of increase, ”
There is no upper limit in the limits of the due if the owner lives in the apartment himself. Only the tenant is not obliged to pay the dues above the rent paid. For example, the tenant who pays 3 thousand TL rent will make the landlord pay the difference of 4,1 TL if the dues on that site are 000 thousand TL.” Ali Güvenç Kiraz gave the following information about the most common problems related to dues recently: “The first of these problems is the increase in dues by the managers without a general assembly. Managers can’t do that, it’s against the law. Decisions must be taken at the ordinary or extraordinary general assembly. The reflection of luxury expenditures in dues is another problem. It is also fixed by the decisions of the Supreme Court that the luxury expenses are paid by the flat owners who want them.
For example, expenses such as the construction of a children’s slide in the pool, and the construction of a children’s park in the garden are not obliged to be attended by the owners or tenants who do not want and use them. However, the same is not true for issues such as ‘I don’t use the pool’ or ‘I’m on the ground floor, I don’t use the elevator’. This is not the case as it is a common area. Everyone has to participate in common areas such as elevators or pools.”
TENANTS HAVE
TO ATTEND Kiraz said that it is another problem that tenants should not pay in the site or apartment buildings to demand from the tenants and that tenants are only obliged to pay the expenses arising from the use, and that tenants must participate in items such as employee salary or SSI premiums, common heating, and lighting expenses.
Unknowns about site dues: Are dues exceeding the rent paid?
Pointing out that all items related to common area and expenses in an apartment building are dues items, Kiraz said, “However, if the building is to be demolished and rebuilt, for example, this is no longer a dues item, or all expenses until the floor altitude in the building is resolved are among the dues items provided that they are paid according to their qualifications or according to the owner-tenant distinction.The special services that the owners of the flats will receive with simple renovations and repairs to be made by themselves are not counted in the dues items.”
Ali Yüksel, President of the Institute of Real Estate Law, stated that the increase in the number of dues can be determined by the board of landlords, “The board of flat owners calculates the maintenance, repair, insurance, and renovation expenses to be made to the common main structure in the next year as an estimate. If there are any personnel, it adds the share of salary, insurance, and compensation to this account. This is called the estimated budget,” he said. Yüksel stated that it is important how these expenses will be shared with the owners, that the dues will be shared according to the principles in the management plan, and that this plan explains which apartment or workplace will pay how much, and that if there is no provision in the management plan, each independent department will pay the dues equally.
Yüksel noted that the owners of the flats can take a decision with a common decision or with the majority of the owners and that the owners can sue for incorrect calculations or unnecessary items (such as reforestation of the garden or removal of trees and making concrete), and said, “There is no explicit provision in the law on the rate of increase, but it can be said that it is possible to object to an increase exceeding the annual CPI rate.”
Ali Yüksel, drawing attention to how much of the tenant and how much of it will be
requested from the owners while determining the dues at the general assembly of the flat owners, made the following statements:
“This issue should be determined when making the budget. The guide here is the management plan. The condominium law is not clear on this issue, but the Court of Cassation hereby recognizes that the tenant does not have the right to file a lawsuit against the decisions of the board of landlords in matters related to the election of managers, the determination of dues and other management issues. However, it acknowledges that the tenant can sue for decisions that prevent and make it difficult for the tenant to use the apartment or workplace. For the tenant, the upper limit of the fee is that it cannot exceed the rent price.”
Yüksel stated that if the tenants do not pay the dues, they may face two situations, “First, the building management will follow up the enforcement because the dues are not paid. However, it is seen that the prices to be paid by the owner are also requested from the tenant in practice.
Here, the tenant can object to the unfair claim by consciously calculating the part he will pay. Secondly, the owner of the apartment or workplace in which he lives will have the right to evict the tenant,” he said. Cleaning and maintenance costs; Yüksel stated that the tenant will pay the usage expenses such as heating, lighting, and water and that the tenant will not be responsible if it is written in the lease agreement that the owner will pay these expenses, “If payment other than these side expenses is brought to the tenant, it is invalid even if it is written in the lease contract. He can always object to this. Examples of these are the renovation of the pool, garden, or roof.”
REGULATION REGULATING TENANT-OWNER RELATIONS SHOULD
BE ISSUED Yüksel noted that they received complaints that the tenant was asked to evict if the figure for side expenses was not paid, stressing that this was against the law. Yüksel stated that a regulation regulating tenant-owner relations should be enacted in the Code of Obligations and the Condominium Law and that the parties were aggrieved because both laws contained unclear provisions in their current form.
Yüksel stated that site management should be defined by the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change and a professional standard should be prepared. Levent Küçük, the Chairman of the Consumers Association (TÜDER), stated that complaints such as ”
our dues are too high, what can we do against the increase in dues” have increased in recent days, “As a society, we do not like to attend the meetings of the owners while complaining about the high dues. The meetings are usually attended by the same people, the tasks are always with the same people, and sometimes even the signature deficiencies are completed later.”
Stating that in determining the monthly dues, apartment or site management and residents are going through a difficult process in this period when costs have increased a lot, Levent Küçük said, “While we are worried about the high dues, as flat owners, we must first attend the meetings, question the expenditures to be made and discuss the budgets to be created. We should sign the decisions that we do not agree with an annotation in terms of the right to sue,” he said.
