Construction work

We encourage housing associations to use established methodology to make big decisions that affect common issues such as construction and renovations of the house and common areas inside and outside the building. Such decisions must be taken at house meetings where all owners have the opportunity to attend and participate in discussions, decisions and voting. Individual owners may not make decisions or take measures regarding common property or common issues on their own.

In rare cases, however, the owner of an apartment can have the necessary repairs carried out on the common property at the expense of everyone, if the conditions in the law are met. This is especially the case if common property or private property is damaged due to neglect of maintenance because the board of the housing association or other owners have not been cooperative. In such cases, it is important to have proof of the necessity, scope and cost of repairs, and we recommend that expert appraisers do this. 

We encourage housing associations to get expert advice on larger projects through use of an independent party and get an assessment of the building. In this way, maintenance needs for the coming years can be estimated and projects can be prioritized. If the construction plan is managed by an independent party, you get an overview, supervision and control of the construction that needs to be carried out. However, we recommend that the parties involved in the implementation and supervision are not connected.

Our experience is that it can be useful for larger housing associations to use the services of companies that provide housing association services to simplify all work on construction and the collection of related costs.

We draw your attention to the fact that in small housing associations where there are 6 or fewer ownership shares, there is no legal obligation to appoint a board of directors. One owner may be given all or part of the board's tasks. In those cases, we encourage owners to stay in touch with us and get advice regarding construction and other maintenance.