Maintenance company

15POSTS

11 years ago

Hi,hope that of an info about how to deal with a lousy maintenance company.we bought an apartment near Sunny beach.Paying 380 euro p.a for nearly no maintenance.
1.It is a british maintenance company and the commitee as well.Yearly meeting is only held when the favourites are there.Their excuse are that because of the school holidays even though to 90% of the Owners have grown up children.Most of the new comers Russian,Bulgarian etc were not informed about the meeting but then that 80% of the Owners have agreed to what they deide.
2.There is a forum for the Owners but when citics or thruth are told then the Owners will be slagged and called names.No commitee had ever come over to the complex to see how does the complex really looks like.
3.On the yearly maintenance financial reports are stated Solicitors fee,accountant(accountant reports does not look like when it is done from an accountant.The maintenance money are used for other matters but not for the maintenance.
4.we came to know that the maintenance is from april till end of September.as we asked about it,we were told that 80% of the Owners agrees to it,which Owners agrees to it,that we does not know.No new Owners were told about the period of the maintenance.
5.The maintenance consists of 1x cleaning the steps,2x weedings in the garden during the seasons.1x lawn mawing monthly.A little bit here and there.Spider webs cleaning on the staircase is only done when asked about it.Swimming pool water testing,none at all,so many Owners are afraid to go in the pool.Gutters cleaning,no way.Gutters full of dirt,moose etc.Cleaning lady are cleaning more outside the complexes and doing errands for the mainteance company.
6.The committee consists of 3 persons(it includes the treasury who have actually nothing to do with the maintenance fund because it is in the hand of the maintenance company).
I could write a whole novel.Can anyone give us a tip how to handle the committee and the maintenance company because they are working hand in hand but not for the Owners.

See also

Setting up a business in Bulgaria - Guide
Registering with water company (General Toshevo) - 10 Replies
Gardening maintenance service in BG - 4 Replies
Company incorporation - 26 Replies
Property Maintenance. Who is responsible? - 3 Replies
Maintenance Fees. Condominium Act etc - 3 Replies
pool maintenance - 2 Replies

sumsum Member

15POSTS

11 years ago

Hi,I do want to know how this maintenance company are working in bulgaria.The company is in Bulgaria but the maintenance fees are paid in U.K bank account.I am interested to know,in which country are the company registered.,in U.K or in Bulgaria?We as owner got a self made financial report but have to pay for the real accountant company.where can we have our report check,in U.K or in Bulgaria?Hope someone will have the information for us.

bansko blogger Member

17POSTS

11 years ago

Are they registered as a condominium?
you need to do a search for the above laws in google.
you can hit them with a law that if you do not live in your apartment more than 30 days a year you get a 50% discount.
why would you pay in uk pounds when it's in bulgaria?
same problems all around bulgaria with uk company's,to be honest bulgarians,russians,greeks do not pay so I would ignore them and not pay
You can also check if they are registered in uk by going to companyshouse.co.uk type in the name and it will come up if registered,you need a lawyer in bg to check if registered here.
To remove the maint company you need to form your own owners association and have a meeting with lawyer.

sumsum Member

15POSTS

11 years ago

Hi Bansko Blogger,thank you for your reply.We live permanently here so we paid the Maintenance in BG but for the other Owners who just come for holidays,they paid their Maintenance fee in the U:K bank account of the Maintenance company.This is a residential complex.There are Owners community which consists of 3 and they are good friends from the Maintenance company.Please take a look at my first Post so then you can know what is really happening here.Since the company took over in 2009,there have been many changes of Ownership.Many new Owners were not inform of the yearly meeting(A Russian Owner was threatened with the Police,just because he wanted that the meeting be held in Bulgarian language and not in English. There were only 3-4 Owners at the last meeiting (2014) because the meeting is only held when the same people are here.We did not attend the meeting because as we were last time there in 2013,we waited for hours but nobody turned up.As we asked someone,we were told it is postpone to the next day but the community nor the maintenance company had informed us about it. we did not attend the meeting in 2014 because,there are only the community who happens to be her friends and we do not want to be treated like the Russian who fight for his right.The Financial reports looks like a mess because it is a selfmade report but each complex were charge 666 leva for it.Money are used for Solicitor without them asking the new Owners.We were told 80 percent of the Owners agreed to it but none of the new Owners knows about it.Some Owners had not been here since years.This is not going the right way.There are many other races living at the Complex(Tankovo)near Sunnybeach BG but it seems like only the British that counts.

bansko blogger Member

17POSTS

11 years ago

Hi sumsum
Its a legal mine field so be carefull not to go the legal route if not needed.
the tricks are the owners have a meeting in uk and they turn up in bg (maybe just one person) then claim they held the meeting that is now not legal.
My advise is to down load from google the condominium rules and this will tell you what is correct and what is not.
it sounds like you are being screwed for money so do not pay and if they threaten police there is nothing they can do if you are the owner.
the law stated that when they have a meeting it should be displayed on the entrance of complex 7 days before meeting,they start and if they do not have the percentage of owners with power of attorney its prosponed for 1 hr,if still not got the percentage prosponed for 24hrs.
once the meeting has finished they have seven days to publish on entrance the decisions made in english and bulgarian,if this is not followed the meeting is ilegal and can be challenged in court.
check see if they have registered the complex as a condominium at local municipality?
there are so many laws you need to check but i would not pay them a penny?

sumsum Member

15POSTS

11 years ago

Hi Bansko Blogger,thank you for your info.They have here a forum for the complex where one can write when they have something to say.But it is a 2 forum,1 is for all Owners?and the other 1 is a close forum,where they discuss matters about the complex among themselves and the other Owners are not allow to it.

bansko blogger Member

17POSTS

11 years ago

Hi Sumsum
I understand what you are saying,
Its just a forum?you need to check what legality they have? who is the chairman,secretary and how many owners are in there Owners association if they legal'y have one?(IF NOT FORM YOUR OWN) otherwise ignore them they are just trying to get money for nothing.

sumsum Member

15POSTS

11 years ago

Hi Bansko Blogger,the moderator from the Owners community sent mails to some Owners but not to all.This is the way they inform the British Owners and not the others.Some of us,are kept in the dark as to their plan of the Complex.
By the way,this is not the first time that they are doing it.The Complex where the Owners community and their Apartments are,is now clean and taken care of but at our complex, they only do the garden and nothing eles,bet they will still put the salary from the cleaning lady on the financial report for our block even though she had done no cleaning here.The steps looks dirty.Last year the spiders were getting bigger and bigger,so is the spider web and they cleaned it as we told them to.But they only clean half of it.The Gutters had never been cleaned and the Owners have to clean the pool from insect etc when they wanted to go for a swim.

bansko blogger Member

17POSTS

11 years ago

hi Sumsum
Then let the british pay and Ignore them,If I was you, get to find out all non british owners and form your own community!
kevin

sumsum Member

15POSTS

11 years ago

#10

Hi Bansko Blogger,The Committee and the Maintenance company brought the case against the Russian(for not paying the maintenance fee) to court and the Russian won the case.But the committee and the maintenance company won against the case against an English Owner(nonpayers).She must pay for the 6 years that she did not pay the maintenance.

bansko blogger Member

17POSTS

11 years ago

#11

She could always appeal.
how come the russian won and was the cases in courts in bg?
milen of mhlegal in varna is the best guy to contact he has done work for me and knows me very well just say kevin from bansko?

sumsum Member

15POSTS

11 years ago

#12

I think the court case (Russian) was in Sofia but the case for a British Owner was in U.K.We don´t know much about the matters except the committee,maintenance company and a few owners who happens to be their good friends.The last time they wrote,they sent the address of the lawyer when info is needed regarding this matter.
ani

bansko blogger Member

17POSTS

11 years ago

#13

if the property is in bg then it should be a bg court it's only because she was english that they took her to court in uk,if she took them to court in bg then yes she probably would of won and remember it should be for leva not euro or pound.

But you are in varna are you not?
why a court in sofia?

sumsum Member

15POSTS

11 years ago

#14

Hi Bansko Blogger,we are in Tankovo near Sunnybeach.Don´t really know what happened,first the court case is in Sofia,then they moved the case to Varna or Burgas,not really sure with new Solicitor.As I wrote before,there were no information about how it goes except at the decision which only some Owners were informed.Now the maintenance company wrote that they are not allow to register the water for all the Apartments under their maintenance name anymore,one of the Owner have to register the water under their name for all the Apartment.We have 14 Owners at the complex.That means 1 Owner have to stand up for the water bill for 14 owners.But the communal water can still be registered under the maintenance name,I find it is just something fishy,isn´t it.

bansko blogger Member

17POSTS

11 years ago

#15

That sound correct sofia court put back to local courts near to you.

what you are telling me about the water sounds as though the maint company are not registered as a condominium.

do you have your own water meter? if so then only you can register for the water.

It sounds very simple to sort out, don't pay them,create your own management company within your complex,registar as a condominium,find out what legal rights they have it may just be they have created something that is not legal?

sumsum Member

15POSTS

10 years ago

#16

Hi Bansko Blogger,got the Maintenance Financial report for may 2014-may 2015,The Maintenance company raise their salaries automatically without the Committee informing the Owners.

sumsum Member

15POSTS

10 years ago

#17

Hi Bansko Blogger,just got a mail from the Committee Moderator,they wanted to raise the Maintenance because of the Solicitors cost.We told them last year that we do not agree that the Maintenance money are used for Solicitors but they still did it.ani

bansko blogger Member

17POSTS

10 years ago

#18

Hi.
Solicitors fees is not part of maintenance and should not be taken from funds, it is to be spent on repairs to building and common areas only.

It sounds to me they are stealing from owners and should be stopped, or stop paying them any more money as a group of owners.

They should not increase there salary's without the vote of owners or change maintenance company by voting them out at a Agm.

sumsum Member

15POSTS

10 years ago

#19

Hi,
Yes I do agree but from 14 Owners,3 are their best friends,6 Owners unknown and never saw them since we bought the Apartment and 4 just keep on moaning but don´t want any problem.We can´t do anything without the support of them.And at the AGM,all the committee belongs to the same group(good friends of the Maintenance company).