The Supreme Court prohibited management companies from increasing rent at their own discretion

Its size is determined by the general meeting of owners

The amount of payment for repairs and maintenance of the common property of an apartment building must correspond to the decision made at the general meeting of owners. This conclusion was reached by the Supreme Court after considering the claim of a resident of the city of Asbest, Sverdlovsk Region, against a local management company.

The conflict arose after the residents of one of the houses received payment slips, which indicated that they needed to pay 30% more for the maintenance of their living space than they decided at the general meeting. At the meeting, the management company proposed setting the rent at 33 rubles. 88 kop. for 1 sq.m of living space, but the owners rejected the offer. As a result, they agreed that they would pay 13 rubles for the maintenance and repair of residential premises in an apartment building. 44 kopecks

Imagine the surprise of the residents of the house when they were asked to pay rent at the rate of 20 rubles. 87 kopecks for 1 sq.m. As it turned out, such a tariff was approved by a resolution of the administration of the Asbestovsky urban district, adopted 3 months before their meeting.

Unable to accept such injustice, one of the owners of half the apartment in this house went to court. The first decision was in his favor – the fee should be 13 rubles and kopecks, as the residents decided. But after the case was considered by higher authorities, his claim was denied.

The courts motivated this by the fact that the general meeting of owners made a decision without taking into account circumstances that could affect the volume and quality of work in order to maintain the house in proper condition. This is, in fact, what the Criminal Code insisted on, raising the tariff to the level established by the administration.

The Supreme Court indicated that this is still illegal. In accordance with current legislation, the tariff should be as decided by the owners. Exceptions are if they have not decided what the method of managing an apartment building should be, or have not made a decision at a general meeting to establish the amount of fees for maintenance and repairs. In this case, the tariff recommended by local authorities is applied. But in Asbest the situation was completely different. Therefore, the decisions taken in favor of the Criminal Code were canceled and the case was sent for a new trial.