Is it possible to leave the HOA with one apartment?

Last modified: October 2021

To keep the house in order, apartment owners unite into a partnership, which is entrusted with the routine work of maintaining common property and interacting with utility providers. Each new owner, when buying an apartment, must submit an application for entry. If the work of the partnership does not suit the residents, they have the right to terminate cooperation. The procedure for leaving the HOA largely depends on the number of owners who intend to switch to a different form of service. Since you can abandon the HOA voluntarily, a personal statement from the owner will be required to exit.

Rights and responsibilities of citizens

In relation to the apartment

Attention!
The owner has the right to own, use and dispose of the residential premises belonging to him at his own discretion. He can provide an apartment for rent to another person for use. And also conclude a free residence agreement with him, but this use should not infringe on the interests of other citizens.

In addition to rights, the owner is obliged to comply with the necessary living conditions in the premises. He needs to maintain the living space in which he lives in proper condition. He must respect the rights and legitimate interests of his neighbors and follow the rules for the use of apartment premises. In addition, the owner is forced to bear the costs of maintaining common property and premises.

On our website you will find other information about the activities of the HOA and you will be able to find out how it differs from the management company and the housing cooperative, as well as what the HOA association is.

In relation to non-residential premises

Participation in a partnership organized in a house gives the right not only to attend the meeting, but also to make various decisions, for example, regarding non-residential premises. It is the members of the HOA who determine the need for a concierge rate, or what cosmetic repairs need to be done in the lobby, corridor or stairwell. And this directly affects the market value of apartments in this building.

Considering the fact that it is the association that manages the premises for collective use, the tenants, with its support, decide how to use the attic or basement of their home. And the registration of the adjacent territory for the partnership will allow organizing not only car parking, but also a children's playground.

Reference. In addition to the contributions made, government subsidies can also be a source of income for the partnership.

To do this, participants should remember that the municipal authorities, who are the owners of non-privatized apartments in the building, are also obliged to cover the costs of maintaining housing, and in case of refusal, the HOA has the right to forcibly recover part of the fees.

And also in accordance with Art. 153 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, a partnership may initiate the construction of additional structures with further extraction of income from them. For example, it is allowed, after obtaining all permits, to attach a store or cafe to a residential building and rent it out: it is quite possible that these payments will cover most of the collective expenses.

The owner of a private enterprise located on the territory of the house, regardless of membership in the partnership, is obliged to bear utility costs and spend money on maintaining common amenities in proper condition. In this case, an important point is what is meant by the costs of maintaining common property.

This clarification is due to Art. 210 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, which states that the owner of the property bears the burden of maintaining the premises and property located in it, unless otherwise specified in the HOA agreement.

In addition, according to Art. 39 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, owners of uninhabited premises are required to bear the costs of maintaining collective property in an apartment building. They are determined by shared participation in the right of common ownership.

Is it worth doing this?

Termination of membership in a partnership has a positive aspect - exemption from paying membership fees. Depending on the size of your monthly payment, this can be a significant financial savings. If the resident of the house is strapped for money, refusing membership is beneficial for him.

However, membership in the HOA gives the owner the opportunity to participate in the management of the apartment building and influence the decisions of meetings on issues of managing common property. Therefore, he will not be able to influence these issues.

The owner of the premises in the apartment building, after leaving the partnership, will need to enter into an individual agreement with the organization, prescribing the terms of interaction and the procedure for paying fees for the supply of housing and communal services.

How to leave the HOA with one apartment

In accordance with the Civil Code, a real estate owners' association is a non-profit corporate organization.

The possibility of free exit from the HOA is enshrined in paragraph 3 of Article 143 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, and the law does not provide for any restrictions regarding repeated entry and termination of membership of the same partnership. Thus, the apartment owner can easily join and leave the HOA as often as he wishes.

The procedure is determined by the Charter, and the basis for leaving the HOA is the written desire of the resident. The procedure involves performing several steps:

repayment of debt to the partnership, if any;
payment of utility bills and other bills prior to leaving the HOA;
drawing up an application for termination of membership to the chairman;
sending an application to the HOA by registered mail with notification.

If the owner submits the application in person, he needs to prepare 2 copies of the document. One of them is given to the HOA manager, the second remains with the resident. At the same time, the application indicates the date and number of the incoming request, which eliminates the possibility of “accidental loss” of the document.

Immediately after submitting the application to the Board, the owner can already consider himself to have left the HOA. The final decision on exclusion from the partnership is made by the chairman and approved by the general meeting.

Next, the initiator of withdrawal from membership signs an agreement on payment of utilities, maintenance and upkeep of housing

At this stage, it is important to carefully read all the documents in order to exclude the presence of clauses in them obliging the owner to participate in the costs of the HOA to pay for the concierge, security, etc.

Refusal to further participate in the residents' association does not have any serious consequences for the apartment owner. Even if cooperation with the HOA is terminated, the homeowner can continue to enjoy all the rights provided by law:

receiving utilities, incl. current and major repairs;
informing about the activities of the HOA;
familiarization with the minutes of general meetings, house reports, technical documentation;
appealing the decisions of the partnership.

Leaving the HOA is especially beneficial for apartment owners experiencing financial difficulties, because the main advantage of this action is exemption from paying membership fees. Significant disadvantages of making such a decision are exclusion from discussion of important issues and the inability to influence decisions made by members of the partnership. And for some residents, personal contribution to the arrangement of the space around them is much preferable to monetary gain.

Consequences

The responsibilities and rights of the owner after he leaves the HOA change:

He, in accordance with the procedure established by law, continues to pay the obligatory part of the utility bills that the HOA transmits to him.
The owner ceases to pay other fees provided for by the Charter of the partnership.
The owner still has the right to request documentation on how the HOA conducts its activities (in order to verify the correctness of the accrual of amounts in the receipts provided to him).
The owner loses the right to vote at the general meeting of homeowners, and also cannot take part in resolving issues related to improving the condition of common property.

The exit of one or more owners does not affect the partnership in any way. If more than half of the participants or the entire house decide to leave, then such a partnership is subject to liquidation.

Despite the simplicity of the algorithm for leaving the HOA, this procedure remains very difficult to implement. The main problem here is the conclusion of an agreement for further utility services for homeowners leaving the partnership.

Their reluctance to participate in the financing of common property and improvements calls into question the very possibility of modernizing common property, the results of which can currently be seen in practice.

How to leave the HOA board

The board is the collective executive body of the HOA, the composition of which is determined at a general meeting of premises owners by voting from among the residents themselves. In accordance with Article 147 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, the election period is regulated by the Charter of the partnership and is no more than 2 years.

If a member of the Management Board wishes to leave his position in the partnership without waiting for the end of the two-year period, he must:

send a corresponding application to the chairman of the HOA;
obtain a decision from the general meeting of residents, organized by the chairman, to confirm the resignation from the Board.

But if the chairman himself decides to renounce the right to manage a house or multi-house complex, formalizing a withdrawal from the HOA board requires some knowledge of legal literacy.

Despite the fact that the chairman is a manager, his own activities are regulated and determined by the standards prescribed in the Charter. Upon dismissal, the chairman addresses the members of the management board of the partnership as a subordinate, and not as a manager.

If, when transferring the right to manage the HOA, an employment contract was concluded, the dismissal of the chairman is not much different from any other. In this case, the employer will be the HOA itself, and the authority to fill out the work book will be delegated by the resigning person to a passport officer, chief or ordinary accountant.

In accordance with Article 80 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, the chairman who decides to resign of his own free will submits an application to the Management Board. The document contains a request for dismissal and mentions the name of the position held. This requirement meets the established procedure, on the basis of which the founder, who does not have superior management, makes an entry in the work book.

Leaving an HOA, despite its apparent simplicity, can actually be quite difficult. The fact is that this process is regulated not only by the Housing Code, but also by the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, as well as by the opinions and wishes of third-party participants. A good lawyer with many years of experience in resolving housing issues will help you significantly speed up the entire process, avoid all pitfalls and gain confidence in an excellent result.

Is it possible to refuse a partnership with one apartment?

The procedure for joining and leaving the HOA is determined by the charter of the partnership. However, in practice, the entire exit procedure comes down to a few simple steps.

Regardless of the motives that prompted a person to refuse to participate in the HOA, in order to exit, it is necessary to perform the following actions:

Pay off all your debts to the partnership.
Pay all bills for the period prior to leaving the HOA.
Write a letter of resignation.
Send it to the board of directors by registered mail with notification.

If the application is submitted in person, then for accuracy you need to prepare two copies. One is submitted to the board, on the second, a note must be made by the secretary that it has been accepted, and the date and incoming number must be affixed.

The second copy always remains with the resident and it will serve as confirmation of intentions to leave the HOA in case the first copy is accidentally lost in the partnership.

After the application is submitted to the HOA board, you can consider yourself to have resigned from its membership. The board decides to expel the applicant and the owners approve this decision at a general meeting. For a person leaving a partnership, this is just a formality.

For the final exit, you need to sign an agreement with the partnership on the payment of utility bills, bills for maintenance and maintenance of housing.

When signing the contract, you must read it carefully. Often the text of the agreement includes clauses that illegally require the owner, who is no longer a member of the partnership, to participate in the expenses of the HOA, pay for security or concierge, even share contributions.

Attention! The internal expenses of the partnership and the person who left its membership do not apply. He is obliged to pay only those payments that are directly related to the maintenance and maintenance of housing - bills for water, electricity, home repairs.. Leaving the HOA is an extreme measure that will cause, at a minimum, misunderstanding on the part of neighbors, and at maximum, a severance of relations with them

Therefore, it should be used only when staying in a partnership has become completely impractical, and the means and opportunities to change the situation for the better have been exhausted

Leaving the HOA is an extreme measure, which will cause, at a minimum, lack of understanding on the part of neighbors, and at maximum, a severance of relations with them. Therefore, it should be used only when staying in a partnership has become completely impractical, and the means and opportunities to change the situation for the better have been exhausted.

How to write an application correctly?

When leaving the partnership, you need to remember several important points:

a person ceases to be a member of the HOA from the moment his application is registered with the board;
if the owner’s rights to real estate in a given house have ceased (sold, transferred, donated) - he automatically ceases to be a member of the HOA (Article 143 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation);
The tenant does not need anyone's consent to terminate his stay in the partnership.

Reference! The application should be addressed not to the board, but to the HOA itself, since it is not the board, but the general meeting of the partnership that accepts members of the HOA. It also approves the final decision to exclude a person from its membership.

In the header of the application, in the upper right corner, you need to write the HOA (not the abbreviation, but the whole), its name and address. Next, from whom, that is, full name. resident, his full address, passport details.

Stepping back a little, write the word statement, and then the very essence of the appeal. The document is written in free form, but there are established phrases that are used when drawing up such documents.

Usually they start with the words “I ask you” and then what the applicant asks for. In our case, expel from the membership or terminate membership from such and such a date. But drawing up a resignation letter in the form of a request will not be entirely correct, both tactically and psychologically. The owner in this case acts based on the law, which determines that whether or not to be a member of the HOA depends only on the citizen himself.

At the end, indicate that there are no complaints against the HOA and that all payments have been made in full.

Don't forget to put the date of your release, i.e. From what date does a citizen consider himself not a member of the HOA. The reasons for your decision may or may not be indicated.

standard application for withdrawal from the HOA
applications for withdrawal from the HOA

Future intentions

The entire procedure for leaving one member or one apartment is carried out within 7 calendar days. In some cases, deadlines may change. The procedure does not involve depositing funds, except in cases where the applicant has debts to pay utility bills.

After completing the necessary documents, the applicant is given an official response from the board or administration of the settlement stating that he is no longer a member of the organization . If there are debts, the board will require that they be repaid initially.

After completing the procedure, the resident of the house will need to independently care for the territory adjacent to his apartment and pay utility bills directly to resource-supplying organizations. If an individual agreement has been concluded with managers, payment for housing and communal services can continue as usual.

The process of leaving the HOA does not have any difficulties and only requires its registration in accordance with the laws of the Russian Federation. To carry out the procedure legally, it is worth consulting with specialists in advance.

Procedure for leaving members of the partnership

It is as easy to leave a partnership as it is to become one. Both are carried out on the basis of an application from the owner. The application is drawn up in two copies. It can be submitted in person or sent by certified mail with return receipt requested.

In the first case, the HOA representative is required to put a mark on the application stating that it has been accepted. A second stamped copy or return receipt by mail should be retained by the owner who withdraws from the partnership.

No consent is required from the members or the chairman of the HOA. The owner has the right to make his own decision to leave the organization.

Thus, from the moment the application is submitted, the owner’s membership in the HOA is terminated (Article 143, Part 3 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation)

You should pay attention to one more nuance: if the owner issued a power of attorney to one of the members of the HOA to represent his interests, then it must be revoked

What are the consequences?

From the moment of leaving the HOA, the owner gets rid of the rights and obligations associated with membership in the organization. In particular, there is no need to pay membership fees.

In addition, the owner loses the right to vote at meetings of HOA members, including on issues within his competence.

However, the owner, who is not a member of the HOA, retains all the rights and obligations of the owner of the premises in an apartment building.

Grounds and reasons for owners leaving the partnership

The reasons and grounds for leaving the HOA may be different. There are examples when, due to the inaction of the partnership, the house turns into uninhabited. Just a few of them are described below. They are the most common, and it is them that most owners complain about:

Residents do not like the system of distribution of collected funds.

Owners may notice unfair distribution of funds collected for a specific purpose. For example, after a major renovation was carried out, residents of an apartment building turned to the HOA to obtain a document certifying all the company’s expenses. However, in the report he provided, the numbers did not match. It is impossible to find out where part of the collected money was spent. This may serve as a reason for the liquidation of the HOA.

There may be distrust of apartment owners in the composition of the management of the partnership.

Required documents

The application may be required to provide:

legal documents;
technical documentation for the apartment;
certificate of absence of debt for housing and communal services.

In the future, you will need to conclude service agreements with resource supply organizations directly, or draw up an individual service agreement with a management company that performs intermediary functions in the HOA. By law, homeowners who are not members of the HOA are required to pay the same utilities as members of the partnership:

water supply;
gas supply;
drainage;
housing maintenance;
major repairs;
removal of MSW.

Statement

The law does not impose specific, strict requirements for the application form:

The text can be compiled in any form.
The text may not contain indications of the reasons for leaving the HOA.

The positions that must be indicated in the application are the following:

it should be clear who is coming out and where;
the application must have a date of preparation;
The application must indicate the applicant’s passport details and the full name of the HOA.

Applications for withdrawal from the HOA Applications for withdrawal from the HOA We do not recommend completing the documents yourself. Save time - contact our lawyers by phone:

It is best to submit it in person, and it is better to make it in two copies (one for yourself and for the HOA management to sign on the second). You can also send such an application by certified registered mail (with notification), if suddenly problems arise with the signature on the second copy.

How to refuse an apartment building?

More than 50% of apartment owners file quit notices.
A general meeting is convened.
A decision is made to liquidate the HOA or divide it.
The minutes of the meeting are signed.
A new method of managing MKD is selected by voting.

Membership in the HOA is regulated by an important document - the register of HOA members. You will find this, as well as other information about the homeowners’ association, in other articles on our website.

How to remove a management company and create an HOA

Often, residents of apartment buildings decide to refuse the services of a management company and create an HOA. The reasons for this can be very different, ranging from misuse of common funds to improper fulfillment of one’s direct responsibilities for the maintenance of shared property and areas of the house.

In this case, the decision is also made at a general meeting of all residents of the house. After that, the results are documented in the appropriate protocol, on the basis of which further actions are taken.

HOA - pros and cons

The main advantages of creating a partnership include:

apartment owners have the opportunity to influence the chosen management model, since most decisions are made at the meeting by voting;
reduction of general household expenses through the use of additional sources of financing. According to current legislation, the HOA has the right to conduct commercial activities and use the income received to satisfy its needs;
ensuring constant control over the process of managing the common property of apartment buildings;
As practice shows, home maintenance is performed at a higher level, since the HOA is interested in its improvement.

However, a number of disadvantages characteristic of this form of residential building management cannot be ignored. We are talking about the following disadvantages of HOAs:

higher fees are charged for maintaining the home. In this case, we are talking about additional fees that are organized by the residents of the house for its improvement. Not all apartment owners are happy with this situation;
constant disagreements between residents and lack of coordination of actions;
If there is a person in a residential building who has large debts on utility bills, his debt will be compensated by all other payers.

The procedure for transferring from a management company to a HOA

In order to replace the management company with a HOA, the following steps must be performed sequentially:

First, at the general meeting, a decision is made to refuse the services provided by the management company and switch to a form of management with the help of an HOA.
Further, on the basis of the decision made, the trust management agreement previously concluded with the Criminal Code is terminated (clause 8.2 of Article 162 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation).
The next step will be to create an apartment owners association and register it in the prescribed manner.

The procedure for creating an HOA step by step

The instructions for creating a HOA have a specific algorithm of actions. You need to take the following steps:

Initially, an initiative group consisting of home owners must be created, which will deal with all the formalities.
Next, the initiators contact the local administration with an application to take the following actions:

providing a list of all apartments in a particular building;
approval of the candidacy of a representative from the district, who must be present at the meeting of residents to establish a quorum.

Preparation for the meeting - you need to develop a charter for the future HOA in order to immediately approve it, prepare voting sheets, etc.
Holding a general meeting of apartment building residents - at it the issue related to the choice of a new option for managing the house should be finally resolved, and the developed draft charter of the HOA should be adopted.
Registration of the partnership with the registration authority.
Opening a bank account, as well as sending a notice of the creation of an HOA to all regulatory authorities (Housing Inspectorate, local administration, etc.).

After all these actions, the form of management of the common property of the house is considered officially changed.

The management company does not transfer the house to the HOA, what to do?

Sometimes in practice it is quite difficult to painlessly remove a management company that cannot cope with its responsibilities and transfer these powers to the HOA.

As noted earlier, when changing the management option of an apartment building, the organization that must leave is obliged to transfer all the necessary documentation and keys to its legal successor. However, sometimes situations occur when the management company categorically refuses to transfer the house. In this case, a completely logical question arises - what to do?

The way out of this situation is for the HOA to file a claim with the court at the location of the residential building.

Summarizing all of the above, it should be noted that the legislation does not prohibit citizens from leaving the HOA, giving preference to the management company, or from changing the management company to a homeowners’ association. In both cases, it all starts with making an appropriate decision at a general meeting of residents of an apartment building.

Next Accounting procedures Cancellation of a license to manage an apartment building

Causes

The charter of the partnership must provide for the procedure according to which a citizen can leave the association. Then the citizen’s wishes, expressed in writing, become the basis. The very possibility of such a solution is secured by the latest version of the current legislation.

To be more precise, the issue is addressed in paragraph 3 of Article 143 of the Housing Code. At the same time, there are no restrictions that would prevent a citizen from joining the same HOA again when he leaves.

Interaction with owners

Often, when exercising the rights of an HOA, residents and board members have questions regarding the most problematic and controversial topics, including the relationship between the board and other owners.

Issuance of certificates

Sometimes tenants are faced with the fact that the board refuses to issue them certificates (about family composition or an extended extract from the apartment map) on the grounds that the owners owe rent. Does the HOA have the right not to issue certificates if there is a debt?

This is not a legal practice, which is often used by HOAs or management companies so that residents cover at least part of the debt. Issuing certificates is not a right, but an obligation of the HOA to its residents. This means that they are obliged to issue the necessary paperwork, even if the tenant has never paid his utility debt during the entire stay.

Breaking into an apartment

Another problematic question is whether the board or the chairman of the HOA has the right to inspect the apartment? The Constitution of the Russian Federation enshrines the right of citizens to the inviolability of housing.

Reference! Without the permission of the owner of the premises, no one can enter his premises, even if there is an emergency in the apartment.

There are only two cases when HOA employees can enter an apartment without permission:

If there is a warrant.
In the event of a threat of a terrorist attack or the occurrence of a natural or man-made disaster.

Thus, the board’s requirements for inspection of the premises under any pretext are taking meter readings, checking meters, measuring pressure in pipes, checking the temperature of the room, etc. - illegal.

A tenant can voluntarily let members of the board in, but if he is forbidden to enter, then nothing can be done about him.

Accrual of penalties

The HOA has the right to charge penalties for non-payment only if this is stated in the Charter adopted at the general meeting of residents. The accrual of penalties is a coercive measure designed to force the debtor to quickly pay the full payment for housing.

The procedure for imposing a fine does not come out of nowhere. It must be spelled out in the Charter. There are also special provisions of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation that determine the upper limits of penalties.

Attention! The amount of the penalty cannot exceed 1/30 of the current refinancing rate for each day of delay.

Signing the contract

Sometimes residents are outraged that the HOA forces them to sign service agreements.

In accordance with Article 137 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, HOAs have the right to enter into agreements with owners on utility services and the procedure for calculating payments.

In this case, the board has the opportunity, on behalf of the residents, to enter into various transactions with utility providers and fulfill its responsibility for maintaining the house. But the HOA has no right to force or coerce a tenant to sign an agreement; everything must happen according to the good will of the parties.

If there is no HOA agreement with the owner, then the residents will simply have to go to the representative office of the operating company on their own and conclude the necessary agreements.