A homeowners' association is a structure formed to solve current problems of a residential building. His tasks are to represent the interests of owners, ensure order and comfort. In practice, there are often situations when the management of an organization takes advantage of its official position, embezzles the collected funds and ignores the requests of residents. To stop the chaos, you need to use an algorithm that will allow you to re-elect the chairman of the HOA.
Can the board be re-elected?
The chairman of the HOA should be interested in timely maintenance of the house and surrounding area, keeping them in perfect order and constant improvement. This is understandable, but in practice it does not always work out this way. It happens that an organization’s budget is not spent wisely or it is not at all clear what it is being spent on. Any owner of an apartment in the building should know that an unscrupulous head can be removed and re-elected.
Grounds and reasons for the re-election of the chairman of the HOA:
- constant ignoring of the demands and requests of the residents of the house;
- misappropriation of funds or their obvious embezzlement;
- non-compliance with decisions made by a member at the general meeting;
- extortion against members of the HOA.
Reference. The rules for the work of the partnership are established by the Housing Code of the Russian Federation (Articles 135 - 152), as well as the Civil Code of the Russian Federation (Article 291).
How to check the operation of the HOA?
The main task of the partnerships is to provide for the economic needs of the house and the surrounding area. These are non-profit organizations created to represent the interests of residents. They have a Charter that defines the procedure for conducting activities and the term of office of the chairman. As a rule, the latter is elected for a period of two years.
The duties of the HOA chairman include the following:
- ensure uninterrupted functioning of communications;
- participate in coordinating the budget of a non-profit structure;
- respond to requests and wishes of residents;
- interact with local authorities;
- hire contractors to carry out repair work;
- work with defaulters, etc.
To check the work of the chairman, it is enough to assess the condition of the housing. If the entrance is not cleaned, the plaster on the walls is peeling, the lights don’t work, the elevator needs repairs, but the apartment owners are regularly charged fees, probably the lion’s share of which goes into the pocket of the HOA management.
Another way to check is to study the financial documentation of the authority, which residents are required to provide upon request. An audit commission can be created from among the apartment owners, which will participate in the management of the house, drawing up estimates and tracking cash flow.
Is it possible to change if a person does not fulfill his duties?
According to current legislation, the manager can be removed and another person can be chosen in his place. The initiators of change can be residents of the house (one or a group), the board, the housing or tax office.
To re-elect a boss, there must be irrefutable evidence of his misconduct. Such evidence will appear after a commission inspection of the condition of the houses included in the partnership.
Facts of dishonest performance of the duties of the chairman include entrances and elevators requiring repairs, and lack of lighting in the entrance. At the same time, receipts are attached as an illustration of the fact that money was received regularly into the partnership’s budget. It is possible to conduct an audit of the organization. The chairman of the HOA has no right to oppose its implementation.
Who can initiate the procedure?
If you want to re-elect your HOA manager, but do not dare to undertake this procedure because you believe that you do not have the right to initiate the re-election procedure, then you are mistaken.
In fact, the initiator for this can be any person who is part of the partnership . This could be the manager himself, if he decided to leave his post on his own.
Don't forget about board members who also have voting rights. If they are dissatisfied with the activities of the chairmen, moreover, they have found any mistakes in his activities, then they can also initiate re-election.
The re-election of the chairman can be initiated at any stage of his leadership . It doesn't matter how much time has passed since the election. They may demand that the manager immediately leave his post.
If government bodies, such as the prosecutor's office or housing inspections , have found violations in the activities of the chairman, they can also demand that the head leave his post.
As you can see, the initiators of the procedure can be many people; it remains to understand the main stages of the procedure.
After a new person has been elected, the leader does not leave his post. He must transfer his powers in the proper form and bring the person up to date . Let's consider how feasible this is.
Process
According to Part 3 of Art. 147 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, the board of a homeowners’ association elects from among its members the chairman of the partnership, if the election of the chairman of the partnership is not within the competence of the general meeting of members of the partnership by the charter of the partnership. Who can initiate the process is established in the charter.
The procedure for changing the chairman in the event of a vote by HOA members:
- After receiving all the necessary materials of the case, a general meeting of members is convened. Invitations are being distributed among the owners to host it. All residents must be notified in order for more than 50% of the owners to participate in the meeting. Only then will the decision of the meeting be valid.
- Residents decide what kind of voting (secret or open) will be held. Voting can be in person (at a general meeting) and in absentia (by door-to-door visits).
- Residents are informed in advance about possible candidates for the post of chairman, get acquainted and communicate with them.
- The meeting is provided with information and evidence that the current chairman of the board is not coping with his duties. Next comes discussion and voting.
- The head is removed from office by an absolute majority vote. If less than half of the participants vote for re-election, the chairman remains in his previous position.
- The voting results must be entered into the minutes.
- The new chosen one must appear at the housing committee and the tax authority to re-register the documentation in his name.
- The partnership issues an order to assume the position of chairman. The order specifies the passport details of the new manager and contact information about the HOA. The document is signed by members of the board, the housing committee, and the tax authority. The new chairman takes office from the moment the last signature is received.
If a decision is made by the board, the actions are similar.
Drawing up a complaint
Any homeowner (or several, which makes the request a collective one) can formally file a complaint at a meeting - regular or extraordinary. A claim submitted in this way cannot be ignored; it is a violation of the law - a response must be received in writing within three days.
If this does not happen, you will have to send a complaint to the authorities that control the work of housing cooperatives - these are Rospotrebnadzor and the housing inspection. You need to choose between these two organizations based on the reason for the complaint. In the event that there is still no response to a correctly drafted complaint, the only option left is to contact the prosecutor’s office.
Important. You may need the help of a lawyer to file a complaint.
What you need to indicate:
- details of the person (or persons) filing the complaint;
- the correct name of the organization to which the document will be sent and the official responsible for fulfilling the requirements;
- the essence of the complaint is as detailed and unemotional as possible, preferably with the provision of evidence.
We do not recommend completing the documents yourself. Save time - contact our lawyers by phone:
8 (800) 302-76-94
After this, all that remains is to follow the complaint review process and wait for a response.
Our experts have also prepared the following materials for you:
- Features of joining and leaving the membership of a housing cooperative, as well as the rules for issuing a certificate of payment of a share.
- Useful facts about the creation, liquidation and reorganization of housing cooperatives and housing cooperatives.
- Purchasing an apartment under an agreement with a housing cooperative.
- What is the charter of housing cooperatives and what role does it play?
- What is a housing and savings cooperative, is it profitable?
Documenting
The minutes are drawn up by the secretary of the meeting. The document is drawn up on clean white A4 sheets. Can be in printed or handwritten form.
The protocol includes:
- The grounds that led to the re-election of the chairman.
- Method of voting.
- List of those present and candidates.
- Voting results.
- Date of voting.
Attention! The document is signed by all members of the meeting and has legal force within the partnership, so it cannot be ignored. Subsequently, the fact of the elections being held is confirmed by this protocol.
Where to begin?
So, in order to carry out the re-election procedure, it is necessary to carefully prepare.
First of all, you need to warn all residents that a general meeting is planned .
Only on it can the re-election procedure be carried out. For this purpose, residents are notified of such an event.
They need to be notified in person, or by means of an announcement posted in a crowded, public place.
Another important preparatory step is preparing the persons who are ready to take the chair.
Removal of powers
The transfer of cases
The chairman must be familiar with the minutes of the meeting, as evidenced by his signature. At the moment of signing the protocol, all powers from the manager are removed. The former manager transfers all documentation to his successor and also reports.
Provides reports:
- on the amounts of funds in the partnership’s accounts;
- about funds spent (how much and for what needs) during the last year;
- about events planned in the near future.
And, of course, it’s good if a new person is brought up to speed.
Dismissal at your own request
A change in the head of the HOA, in addition to his removal from office, may occur due to the end of his term of work established by the Charter, illness, or retirement.
Regardless of the reasons for the change of leader, he needs a replacement. The selection procedure follows the same rules.
Reference. The new chairman is appointed for the period established by the Charter, but not more than two years.
Procedure for transferring cases
After voting and choosing a new chairman, the outgoing one must resign his powers and transfer them, and with them the responsibility, to the newly elected one.
There is an approved transfer procedure, by following which both parties can minimize the risk of incidents and subsequent proceedings.
First, a citizen resigning from the post of chairman transfers to his successor all the necessary documents, reports and plans, instructions, keys - everything that is needed for the work. Then the new chairman must be brought up to date - this is also the responsibility of the previous one. He is given a period of a week or two to understand all the nuances of the new position and get used to it, and during this time he will need to be consulted if necessary. After that he will have to work independently.
Registration with the tax service
The partnership is a taxpayer represented by its chairman, therefore the tax authority must be informed about the changes that have occurred in order for it to be correctly recorded in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities. To do this, an application for a change of manager is drawn up in form P14001, and a copy of the protocol is attached. The entire package of documents is submitted to the tax authority.
The documents must be completed correctly, otherwise the tax office may refuse to register the chairman of the HOA.
Features of filling out form 14001:
- The application consists of 51 pages, but you only need to fill out those pages that are being changed. Blank pages do not need to be returned;
- when changing the manager, sheets 001, K, R are filled out;
- The application is filled out manually using a pen with black ink in block letters.
There is an approved document that should be followed when submitting information to the tax service.
Read our other articles about HOA management members:
- Election of the chairman of the board and preparation of the necessary documents.
- How is the chairman of the board of a partnership paid?
- Who can become the chairman of the HOA?
- Structure and content of the agreement with the HOA manager.
- Employment contract with the chairman.
- Job descriptions of the manager and chairman of the HOA.
