In today's article, we continue to discuss how court case law defines common parts in buildings in which separate premises have been separated and common parts have been created, and what elements fall into this category.
As we pointed out in the previous article ( #225 ), the starting point for this discussion is Article 13, Section 1 of the Act of 24 June 1994 on Ownership of Premises (" UWL "), which outlines the obligations of the owner of the premises and those of the housing or housing community. We remind you that one of the main obligations of the owner of the premises is to bear the costs of maintaining the premises and to contribute to the management costs associated with maintaining the common property.
So what else, apart from balconies and terraces (which we devoted last week's article to), belongs to the common parts of properties?
A very interesting and comprehensive view of this problem was contained in the judgment of the Provincial Administrative Court in Warsaw of 19 February 2020, file reference VII SA/Wa 2295/19.
The facts of this case concerned the imposition of an obligation to perform construction work on the terraces of one of the units in a multi-family residential building to bring it into compliance with the law. After receiving information from residents about the poor technical condition of the building, the District Building Inspectorate ordered the housing community to submit an expert report. After assessing the results, it initiated administrative proceedings in this matter and subsequently issued a decision ordering the performance of construction work to bring the building into compliance with the law by providing a watertight passage for the terrace drainage pipes, repairing leaks in the plaster on the facade, and repairing all plaster defects on the building's facades and leaks in the sheet metal.
The housing community questioned the above-mentioned decisions, as it took the position that the owners of the individual premises should be the addressees of the decisions.
Ultimately, the case was considered by the Regional Administrative Court, which considered the issue of whether downpipes discharging rainwater, as well as walls, ceilings and other structural elements of a building constitute its components, and therefore whether the obligation to repair them will rest with the housing community or with the owners of individual premises?
In the aforementioned judgment, the Regional Administrative Court stated that, in its opinion, the designation of the housing community as a whole raises no doubts, since, among others, external walls and load-bearing walls, ceilings, as well as unused attics, balconies, loggias and similar architectural and construction solutions, as well as technical infrastructure (pipes, cables, etc.) are considered common parts of the building.
As the adjudicating panel pointed out: " it would be absurd to claim that ceilings, walls and gutters serve only the owners of premises that are adjacent to them vertically or horizontally. The case law of administrative courts is consistent in this respect " (see, for example, judgments of the Supreme Administrative Court of 6 July 2018, reference number II OSK 1996/16, of 11 January 2018, reference number II OSK 758/16, or earlier: of 6 December 2006, reference number II OSK 858/06, as well as the judgment of the Regional Administrative Court in Rzeszów of 4 September 2019, reference number II SA/Rz 363/19 or the judgment of the Regional Administrative Court in Gliwice of 22 January 2010, reference number II SA/Gl 115/09).
However, the Regional Administrative Court also pointed out a very important exception to this rule, namely: " exceptions to the above rule of recognizing walls, ceilings and water installations, etc., as common parts of a building are only permitted if a specific element of the building or its change were the result of an individual, usually arbitrary action of a specific owner of the premises ."
Therefore, if the owner of a specific unit makes unauthorized changes to building elements such as walls or ceilings, they must consider the risk of being held responsible for repairing such elements. In other respects, the housing community will generally be responsible for repairs, renovations, and maintaining the walls and ceilings in good condition.
Next week we will summarize for you the proposed solutions and changes to the law in October and November.
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This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.
Legal status as of October 29, 2024
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