Misuse of apartment maintenance fund, management board fined 50 - 60 million VND

The Government has issued Decree 139/2017/ND-CP regulating administrative sanctions for violations in construction investment, real estate business, housing development, house management and use... Notably, there are many regulations that are said to resolve long-standing conflicts between investors, management boards and residents.

Article 66 of this Decree specifically stipulates many severe sanctions for investors and management boards.

Specifically, the management board of an apartment building will be fined 50-60 million VND if it violates regulations on management and use of maintenance funds for common property; arbitrarily changes the function and purpose of use of common property or common use; arbitrarily decides on the price of apartment management and operation services or arbitrarily decides on the selection of a unit to sign a contract to provide apartment management and operation services without going through an apartment building conference.

In case the investor arbitrarily sells or rents out parking spaces in the apartment building in violation of regulations, he/she will be fined from 80 to 90 million VND. If he/she fails to organize the first apartment building meeting according to regulations, he/she will be fined from 100 to 150 million VND.

In particular, if the investor does not hand over, hands over late, hands over incompletely or hands over to the wrong recipient of maintenance funds for the common property of the apartment building as prescribed, he will also be fined from 100 to 150 million VND.

Illustration photo.

Investors who arbitrarily change the function and purpose of common property; do not arrange area for community activity house; miscalculate apartment area or other area in privately owned apartment building will be fined 250-300 million VND.

Residents in the apartment building will also be fined if they commit violations. Specifically, residents who use their apartment for purposes other than residential purposes; run restaurants, karaoke, or bars in areas not used for business in the apartment building; encroach on surrounding space, encroach on common property or encroach on private property of other owners... will be fined from 30 to 50 million VND.

The fines prescribed in this Decree apply to organizations. For individuals committing the same violation, the fine will be 1/2. Each violation mentioned above is accompanied by specific remedial measures such as restoring the original state, refunding funds used for improper purposes, forcing the cancellation of regulations on improper fee calculation, etc.

Recently, disputes in apartment buildings have occurred in series, mainly due to conflicts related to common ownership areas, private ownership, especially the contribution, management and use of maintenance fees. In Ho Chi Minh City alone, according to statistics from the Department of Construction, up to 96 out of a total of 2,148 apartment buildings in the area have had disputes in recent times.

In fact, the maintenance cost of an apartment building can be up to tens of billions of dong, or converting a small area of ​​common property, such as a parking lot, into private property can bring in billions of profit. This huge amount of revenue makes investors or management boards always try to take advantage of it, not using it according to regulations.

According to management agency data, in Hanoi only 20% of apartment buildings have handed over maintenance funds to the management board elected by residents, the remaining 80% are still in a state of confusion.

According to Tien Phong Newspaper