Housing cooperative, or housing construction cooperative, is an association of citizens to meet their housing needs when building a house or managing an apartment building.
The most important issues regarding the activities of the cooperative are resolved at a meeting of its participants, and the decisions made there are formalized in the form of official minutes. Dear readers! To solve your specific problem, call the hotline or visit the website. It's free.
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What is a general meeting of a housing cooperative and what are its purposes?
The general meeting of the housing construction community is a regular meeting of the community at which both planned and emergency tasks are resolved.
Its participants are co-owners of the housing cooperative. The established procedure involves holding such gatherings annually.
The basis for adjudication is a popular vote in which each co-owner has equal voting rights.
HELP: It is important to understand that everyone has only one vote. Occupying one or another leadership position will not play any role here.
How to change: where to start?
In order to remove the chairman from his post, you must have irrefutable facts that, indeed, your rights have been violated. To begin with, you just need to check the condition of the houses on the site being discussed.
If they do not have proper access repairs, light, elevators do not work, and so on, then all deductions for repairs and maintenance of housing go in a slightly different direction. Also, indisputable proof that you are right are the receipts issued to you upon the need for payment.
In addition, you can request reporting from the HOA accounting department on how your funds are spent and no one has the right to refuse you. You also need to go to the tax office and ask for copies of the tax returns of the HOA chairman.
There is also the possibility of conducting an audit, which the chairman of the HOA has no right to resist. It will actually reveal how the money of the residents of the house is managed and for what purposes.
To resolve what issues and how often are meetings held?
It is important to understand that there are several types of such events. Now there is a distinction between extraordinary and annual meetings.
Annual
Extraordinary fees of co-owners have a number of their own characteristic features. For example, the timing is decided by voting. But this is done taking into account small restrictions. No more than six months should pass after the end of the financial year, and no more than two months should remain before the start of the next one.
The events address issues such as:
- control over accounting activities;
- board report on earlier tasks;
- drawing up an action plan for the next year and its approval.
The board sets the date for the meeting of members of the housing cooperative. If the deadlines were violated, certain officials will bear responsibility for this according to the charter.
Extraordinary
Like the annual event, the extraordinary event also has a number of its own characteristics. The very first of them is that it is prescribed in the following cases:
- a written request from an auditor or auditor.
- Initiative of the board of a housing construction cooperative.
- Collective appeal from residents of an apartment building.
In the latter case , an extraordinary collection is carried out only if at least one tenth of the co-owners participates in it.
Quite often, such gatherings are held in cases where the community suffers losses. Moreover, their volume must necessarily exceed 5% of the total mutual fund. It is in such situations that most often either the auditor or the board takes the initiative to convene.
IMPORTANT: An extraordinary meeting must take place no later than 30 days after such a requirement was made. The board is responsible for organizing the event, according to the charter.
When the demand for holding is put forward by the participants of the housing cooperative, and not by officials or management, it is necessary to submit an application. The document must necessarily indicate the surnames, first names and patronymics of these people, as well as personal signatures.
The application must be considered within 5 days from the date of its receipt by the board. This period is provided so that officials can analyze the need for a meeting and make a decision. As a result, the event may be carried out, or it may be rejected. In this case, the initiators are required to receive a notification.
Not only the initiators, but also the audit commission are notified of the decision made.
Grounds for re-election of the chairman of the HOA
The Housing Code states that the chairman of an HOA can be removed at his own request (for example, for health reasons or due to relocation) or due to circumstances that have led residents to believe that he is not performing his duties correctly.
Let's take a closer look at these reasons in order to more clearly understand what is the main reason for the dismissal of the chairman.
- The procedure for changing the chairman of the HOA can be started if he, while occupying his post, systematically, and not just once, without reasoning, deviates from his immediate duties.
- If residents feel that their requests are constantly ignored and not considered, then the question of a change may also arise.
- If residents have verified information that funds are being spent for other purposes.
- If the chairman was convicted of extortion.
- In case the chairman violated labor, criminal, civil, housing or tax laws.
- When the chairman was caught misappropriating public property into his own.
- The fact of bribery or financial fraud.
There are also grounds that are not related to illegal behavior. For example, the chairman may retire or leave the business due to health reasons or other circumstances. To do this, he notifies residents in advance of his decision and, upon leaving his post, a vote is taken for a new candidate.
How is a housing cooperative meeting held?
The basis for holding events is equal voting, according to the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, namely Article 44, Part 1. The final results can only be summed up if at least half of the co-owners are present at the meeting.
Part 3 of Article 45 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation thus describes the quorum condition under which voting is possible.
The collection is carried out according to the following scheme:
- initiation of a meeting of a housing construction cooperative;
- preparation stage;
- notification of co-owners;
- turnout of cooperative members;
- analysis of the agenda;
- recording the results in the protocol;
- notifying absent co-owners of housing cooperatives about decisions made.
The organization decides what type of meeting will be held - annual or extraordinary. This is followed by the preparatory stage, where a convenient time and place is determined and an agenda is formed. Next, persons responsible for compliance with the rules are appointed.
IMPORTANT! Owners must receive notice no later than ten days before the meeting. There are many ways to provide information, and the most commonly used are placing advertisements in a special place or sending registered letters. Complete information about the goals, place, officials, and so on is indicated here.
Housing cooperative participants who have received the notification must appear at the specified location. The meeting is usually held at one of the cooperative's houses or nearby. The appointee recounts the number of people present to determine whether a quorum is present.
The following discusses the issues that were included in the agenda. Article 46 part 2 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation does not allow touching on topics not listed on the agenda. This does not depend on whether members of the cooperative have an interest in these topics.
Based on the results of the event, a housing cooperative protocol is drawn up (sample below). Notifications are sent to absent members of the housing cooperative.
General meetings in housing and communal services: types, differences, features of holding
For more than ten years of the existence of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, owners of apartment buildings (hereinafter referred to as MKD) have successfully held general meetings and implemented the decisions of these meetings. However, the number of violations and questions regarding certain nuances of general meetings is not decreasing.
The reasons include both the incompetence of the initiators of such meetings, who often act not on the basis of legal norms, but based on some logical conclusions (which often differ from person to person), and deliberate violations of the provisions of housing legislation, the purpose of which is to simplify the procedure for holding general meetings (and therefore - reducing the costs of holding them) and/or falsifying the results of such meetings. Public authorities contribute to the complexity of aspects of general meetings by dynamically changing housing legislation, introducing new forms of general meetings, approving recommendations and requirements for minutes of meetings, introducing new procedures for holding meetings, while authorities issue letters of clarification that often quite contradictory.
Types of general meetings
First of all, it is necessary to distinguish between general meetings of owners of apartment building premises (OSS) and general meetings of members of HOAs/housing cooperatives (OSCh).
Despite the similarity of these types of general meetings, these are completely different management bodies of the MKD, having different powers, differences in the procedure for holding them, in the procedure for establishing quorums and determining competence to make certain decisions.
The procedures for holding general meetings of owners, general meetings of HOA members and general meetings of housing cooperative members are regulated by different provisions of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, and, despite the fact that some norms are general, there are a number of significant differences that should not be forgotten.
Participants of general meetings
It should be noted that different citizens have the right to participate in various general meetings. For example, it is obvious that the owner of an apartment building, who is not a member of the HOA, does not have the right to participate in the general meeting of HOA members.
Often the initiators of a meeting justify the right or lack of right of participation of a particular citizen in a particular general meeting not at all with the documents by which such justification is carried out by law.
Minor owners of home premises are often accepted as members of HOAs, which is illegal. Of course, the participation of a minor owner (or his representatives) in the general meeting of HOA members is also unlawful.
Minutes of general meetings
Many questions arise regarding the preparation of Minutes of General Meetings and the further procedure for storing such minutes and the obligation to send copies of them to certain authorities.
Here it is necessary to clarify that the Minutes of general meetings of premises owners and the Minutes of general meetings of members of HOAs/housing cooperatives are drawn up according to different rules.
The requirements for the Minutes of general meetings of owners of apartment building premises are most strictly regulated; it is these protocols that are official documents, their copies are sent to the utility service provider and are subject to transfer to the State Housing Supervision authorities. The requirements for the minutes of general meetings of members of HOAs/housing cooperatives are completely different.
Explanation of the procedure for holding general meetings and drawing up their minutes
The AKATO Distance Learning Center has repeatedly published explanations of issues related to holding general meetings, and has also mounted and made available for free viewing videos containing explanations from the best Russian experts in the housing sector.
Currently, AKATO offers for purchase access to viewing the full version of the video recording of the seminar “Features of holding general meetings”, during which a number of topical issues are explained: – General meeting of premises owners: initiation procedure (incl.
at the initiative of the MA), procedure; – General meeting of HOA members: procedure for initiation, differences between the HOA PSC and the PSC of MKD premises; – General meeting of members of the housing cooperative: the procedure for initiation, the differences between the PSC of the housing cooperative and the PSC of the premises of apartment buildings; – Notifications of general meetings; – Procedure for holding general meetings; – Quorum of general meetings; – Counting at general meetings; – Types of general meetings: regular, extraordinary, reporting, reporting and election; – Forms of holding general meetings: in-person, in absentia, in-person and in absentia - the differences between the forms, the grounds and procedure for holding each form; – Minutes of the general meeting: procedure for drawing up, requirements for registration, requirements for posting the protocol in the Housing and Communal Information System, deadlines for drawing up and posting (according to Order of the Ministry of Construction of Russia dated December 25, 2015 N937/pr, which entered into force on April 29, 2021); – General meeting using GIS Housing and Communal Services: grounds, procedure, meeting forms, appointment of an administrator, transfer of ballots, counting, drawing up minutes, deadlines.
Duration of recording: 2 hours 18 minutes, available for download from the viewing page: presentation, regulations on the topic of the seminar, document templates for meetings of premises owners and meetings of HOA/housing cooperative members (separately for each type of meeting): notice of the meeting, registration sheet participants, ballot (decision), register of notifications and issuance of bulletin (decision), minutes of the meeting (according to Order of the Ministry of Construction of Russia dated December 25, 2015 N937/pr).
The seminar program, conditions for access to viewing and application form on the video description page via the link > > >
ATTENTION! AKATO has announced special summer discounts on access to watching video recordings of seminars! Additional discount for members of the AKATO group on the VKontakte social network!
Transformation of the cooperative based on the results of the general collection
Articles 122 and 123 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation states that a housing cooperative, by decision of the general meeting, can be transformed into a homeowners' association.
To do this, the majority of residents must vote “yes” during the general meeting. The main condition for this is the absence of any violations during the organization of the event.
The conditions for transformation into a homeowners' association are prescribed in the Civil Code of the Russian Federation.
How does voting work?
If quorum is met, votes are cast in the usual manner. In the absence of a quorum, such a form as absentee voting in housing cooperatives is possible. Residents are surveyed using questionnaires or using the Housing and Communal Services GIS.
Questionnaires are submitted to the specified address. The conditions are such that they must be submitted on time.
IMPORTANT! The decision to cast votes using the GIS Housing and Communal Services should also be made through voting during one of the general meetings.
What is the protocol?
The voting results are entered into the protocol. A sample minutes of a meeting of housing cooperative members contains the following data:
- date and place of the meeting.
- Information about the agenda.
- The number of voters for each issue.
- Presence or absence of quorum.
At the end of the event, the protocol is signed by the chairman and secretary, as well as members of the counting commission.
Sample minutes of a housing cooperative meeting.
results
The one who initiated the vote must convey to each member of the housing cooperative the contents of the protocol on the issues put on the agenda. He is given ten days to do this. The document must also be placed where all residents of the apartment building have access. This rule can be read in Article 46 of the Housing Code.
How are changes made?
The procedure for correcting errors or omissions in the minutes of a general meeting is not provided for by law. Of course, adjustments can be made if necessary to correct technical, spelling or syntax errors, or if incorrect information is provided. In this case, changes are made by the chairman and secretary of the housing cooperative and certified by their signatures. The notice date of changes does not change the date of compilation.
Correcting errors in a document should not lead to a change in the original meaning. Introducing new content that has not been agreed upon by anyone may result in criminal penalties for data forgery.
