Nonpayment of Maintenance Fees
This article was originally published by Today's Zaman, on the 14th December and is written by Berk Çektir. As this is a 'hot-topic', we have kindly been granted permissions to republish this article. You can view the full original article HERE.
Q: "Hi, I would be very grateful if you could give me some advice. Could you tell me what the situation is when someone in an apartment complex refuses to pay his or her share of the maintenance costs. There are 14 apartments in our apartment building, and we have set up our own management committee. All owners are happy to contribute toward the upkeep of the building with the exception of one person. My enquiry seems to be a common problem in Turkey. It seems grossly unfair that everyone else who pays money for the upkeep of the grounds, swimming pools, etc., have to pay extra for the one person who is unwilling to pay but who is still able to enjoy all these facilities for free. Regards.”
I understand that this person irritated you and your other neighbors who have been paying the maintenance fee. Three, I have good news for you.
You should immediately hold an owners' meeting. This meeting works like a company, and the resolutions made at this meeting can be enforced. Make sure that you make the announcement and invite the owners to this meeting in line and compliance with the law. In this meeting, the manager of the complex (I am sure you have one) will be given the power to refer the matter to the court himself or via a lawyer. The lawyer first must send notification to the property owner, and in case he fails to pay the overdue fees despite this notice, then the lawyer of the complex shall send a payment order via an execution office.
Following this this process, and if there is still no payment, the property is sold at auction. In the end, you get your money and a happy life with a new owner.Make sure that you write the resolution to reflect the actual problem and in a way to cover any future problems. This will help your complex avoid any future “matters involving a refusal to pay.” I would recommend that you also make a resolution that any future late payments will be subject to a 10 percent per month interest rate, which is very high but necessary to keep owners in line, and that the matter will be referred to the lawyer of the complex in case there is no payment for two or three months (or any period you like).
I would love to give you more details on how to do it here, but it would take at least four or five articles to cover this matter. In addition, whenever I give some piece of advice, I receive some negative comments that each case has its own dynamics, and it is very difficult to write a fully correct article covering each possibility.