When you buy a condominium, you buy the right to manage the shares of the housing company. This brings with it both responsibilities and rights – you need to be careful at least when you decide to renovate something.
Under the Housing Act, it is the responsibility of the shareholder – you – to take good care of your home, and to report in good time if you notice any defects or faults in your home.
The building management company is responsible for all structural work, e.g. waterproofing in the bathroom, functionality of the underfloor heating, condition of the plumbing, etc. This is why it is also a good idea to check the annual repair plan (PTS) when planning a purchase.
Renovation and responsibilities
When you decide to renovate your home, you must get permission from the building society. Without a permit, you can only carry out renovation work that is mainly on the surfaces, e.g. painting and wallpapering.
Anything that goes “below the surface”, e.g. replacing plastic carpet with parquet, replacing bathroom tiles, kitchen renovation, etc., requires a permit. And it is also worth getting this, because in the event of damage, for example, unauthorised renovation can result in considerable costs for the shareholder. The condominium association also has the power to appoint its own inspector for the intended renovation, and the cost of this is borne by the shareholder, i.e. you.
It is often thought that since the building society is responsible for, for example, waterproofing the bathroom, part of the cost of the renovation should be borne by the society. However, this is not the case if you decide to renovate your home just for “convenience”.
The obligation for the building society to contribute to the costs only comes at the stage when it is decided to make e.g. a more extensive renovation (a pipe renovation, a balcony renovation, or water damage caused by a water pipe/sewer), and even then the company is obliged to repair the premises. to a basic level. In other words, if the bathroom was originally fitted with plastic tiles, the company is only responsible for the cost of replacing the plastic tiles – you are responsible for the cost of any tiles you want and their installation.
Let’s take a brief example:
You have bought a two-bedroom apartment where the bathroom was renovated a couple of years ago, and the tiles and floor are in pristine condition. However, the building is already 40 years old, and a renovation is planned for next year. As your bathroom has only been tiled, but not plumbed, it will also be torn open. The building society is obliged to repair the bathroom back to basics – so your beautiful Villeroy-Boch tiles will be left behind, and if you want them back, you’ll have to pay for them yourself.
Another example, this time an unauthorised renovation in the kitchen:
You’re tired of the tile in the kitchen and old appliances, the company was built in 1979 and everything is original. Your friend Leksa Raksanen will do your kitchen renovation for you cheaply, take an asbestos survey, and adjust the electricity in the cooker and the water hoses in the dishwasher all by himself. Nothing has ever been reported anywhere before.
You admire your new kitchen, until the next week when your downstairs neighbour comes to tell you that they have water leaking from under the living room ceiling, and your firstborn is coughing profusely every time he goes into his room, which is under your new kitchen… has some dust got into the ventilation system? You heard a banging last week? Then you can reconsider whether the renovation was cheap after all… (I wouldn’t recommend this situation to anyone, and you probably wouldn’t want to be there in front of your neighbour either!)
When you buy an apartment, always check that the renovations are mentioned in the property manager’s certificate. You can then be confident that the building society has been properly informed of the measures taken. Good advice can be found on the website of the Association of Finnish Property Managers, and much has been written on the subject elsewhere.
Remember that as a new owner you are also liable for the actions of the previous owner – you can of course try to get compensation from the seller if you suffered financial losses, but this is often a long and complicated process.
This is another reason why we warmly recommend that you study all the documents of the apartment thoroughly before making an offer – we at OUN can also look beyond the surface of the apartment!
(The author is a member of the OUN community)