H O U S I N G AND PROPERTY RIGHTS
b) Law on Floor Ownership 513
The Law further specifies that the maintenance costs are not fixed but shall increase with the age of the building. It The above mentioned deficiencies led to the adoption of determines the compulsory contributions of the apartment the Law on Floor Ownership in 1995. 514 It clarifies the owners to the maintenance costs at a minimum amount of responsibilities of the various stakeholders in the privatisa- 8% of the lowest income rate in Montenegro. 519 Lessees tion process. Article 11 provides for the transformation of are required to pay expenses related to the regular use of the occupancy rights over socially owned apartments to private apartment, such as current use of the common space, heatownership through the purchase of apartments. 515 Like ing, garbage collection etc. 520 The municipalities have a the respective privatisation law in Croatia, the Law excludes certain degree of discretion in determining the contributions the purchase of privately owned apartments by occupancy to the maintenance costs and the conditions of its payment, right holders. However, these occupancy right holders are taking into consideration the general condition of the buildentitled to use their apartments for a period of five years, ing and the social situation of the apartment owners. 521 after which they become lessees for an indefinite period of time. 516 For the remaining apartments that were not pur- The responsibility of administering and maintaining the chased, the Law replaces the existing occupancy rights with building’s common space is given to the apartment owners. indefinite lease agreements. However, the provisions on lease If there are more than four apartment owners in the building, do not contain any form of protected lease. 517 an administrator for the building has to be nominated. 522 The Law also includes precise provisions on decision-making The Law then introduces detailed provisions on the adminis- bodies and procedural steps for the maintenance, such as the tration and maintenance of the common space of apartment responsibilities of the assembly of owners, the election of an buildings. Until the adoption of the Law on Floor Ownership, administrator and his/her responsibilities. So far, 979 assemthe municipalities had continued to assign the maintenance blies of owners have been constituted in three municipaliof these spaces to the Public Houses Enterprises, whose ties. 523 Among the reasons for this limited number are the monopolist position did not ensure the proper execution lack of interest of the apartment owners to constitute such of this responsibility. Accordingly, the Law abolishes these organs and the failure of municipalities to nominate buildmonopolies through the introduction of public tenders for ing administrators. This is in turn linked to a lack of human the allocation of the maintenance services. Furthermore, it resources and thus lack of monitoring capacity. Apart from declares the maintenance of the buildings’ common space a that, outstanding contributions to the maintenance costs rematter of public interest, which has to be guaranteed by the municipalities. 518
513 Law on Floor Ownership, Official Gazette of Republic of Montenegro, No. 21/95. 514 The Law on Floor Ownership superseded the Law on Housing Relations, except for the latter’s Articles 85 to 94, which dealt with housing co-operatives (see below under (c)). 515 Confirming the provisions of the amended Law on Housing Relations on the purchase of socially owned apartments, the Law on Floor Ownership limited this purchase right, however, to occupancy right holders and lessees, who had acquired their title before it entered into force in July 1995. 516 Article 76 of the Law on Floor Ownership. 517 Ibid, Articles 43 to 52. Taking into account the transformation of over 90% of all socially owned apartments into private ownership, the Montenegrin legislator probably did not consider such protective measures to be necessary. 518 Ibid, Article 34.
Security of Tenu r e i n Po s t - C o n f l i c t S o c i e t i e s
519 Ibid, Article 37. 520 Ibid, Article 47. 521 Municipalities usually fix the contributions at 8 to 10% of the lowest income rate (See e.g. Article 2 of the Official Gazette of the Municipality of Andrijevica No. 3/98, Official Gazette of the Municipality of Budva, No. 9/95) For beneficiaries of social assistance, the contribution is generally limited to the minimum amount of 8%. For the appropriations of the contributions, almost all Municipalities have accepted the following scheme: 50% for current maintenance services, 30% for urgent repairs, 5% for operative reserve, 5% for insurance payments, 10% for costs of consultants/experts. 522 Article 26 of the Law on Floor Ownership. 523 Ministry of Urbanism, Information of Implementation of the Law on Floor Ownership, January 2002, p. 31. The 3,078 Montenegrin housing buildings include 50,115 housing units of which 46,350 (92.5%) have been purchased.
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