The Moscow City Court considered two cases concerning the possibility of workers servicing apartment buildings living in non-residential premises of the house. As it turned out, practice even within the same court is contradictory. In one case, the court considered it illegal for the owners to allow the concierge to live in the non-residential premises of an apartment building. In the second case, the court found no grounds for prohibiting the concierge from living in the control room of the apartment building, citing the fact that the plaintiff chose an inappropriate method of protecting his right, and the law does not already provide for people living in non-residential premises.
What are the responsibilities of such an employee and what are his functions?
Most citizens of the Russian Federation now live in houses where there is no concierge, so they have a vague idea of what the duties of this employee are. In fact, the reason why such a position from the management company was created and introduced is the need for reliable and constant feedback between the management company and residents.
In an average apartment building, neighbors live on their own, practically without communicating, which is normal and natural - these are separate apartments, not dorm rooms. The concierge must notify each resident of any changes, regulations, proposals and other events coming from the management company. He is also obliged to inform his employers about the fact of any violation that occurred in the territory under his control.
To record its activities, there is a registration journal - a document that is filled out and checked according to the rules.
What else do you need a concierge for:
- to control people who are not residents and their guests - these are, for example, groups of children and teenagers who are skipping school, or homeless people;
- quick response to any incident that occurs in the house - hooliganism, a burst pipe, even a burst light bulb;
- incapacitated residents of the house - children, old people, disabled people - can turn to the concierge for help;
- protection of the entrance, elevator and mailboxes from vandals and advertising agents.
Important! If there is parking in the local area, the concierge must monitor it. They only check for incorrect parking to prevent the path being blocked for the ambulance crew, gas service, etc. Security guard duties are not included in his job.
Also, personal interaction with the concierge is not prohibited - it is completely voluntary on both sides. An example of such interaction could be calling parents as soon as the child came home or, on the contrary, went for a walk. Every resident of the house has the informal right to make such requests, both free of charge and for a symbolic reward.
Simply put, a concierge is someone who monitors the entrance, who decides some organizational issues for the residents and is responsible for timely notification of the residents of the building.
Responsibility for improper performance of duties
Despite the apparent simplicity of the concierge’s work, the list of responsibilities for this position is quite extensive and not every employed person conscientiously performs all of them. You can often hear complaints from residents that the concierge is of no use. In what cases can you safely complain about the concierge:
- traces of strangers are visible in the entrance;
- if there is an intercom, the employee delays significantly before answering and letting you in;
- the concierge does not allow guests of the building's residents to pass through for personal reasons (with the resident's permission);
- after the time necessary for adaptation (up to a month), he does not recognize the residents by sight;
- the concierge is not sufficiently aware of the new regulations of the Criminal Code and planned work on the territory of the house;
- the employee is under the influence of alcohol or drugs at his workplace.
Watching TV or reading at work is not a sufficient basis for a complaint if these activities do not interfere with the employee’s ability to perform his job duties. Due to the shift method of work, the concierge is allowed to have personal belongings at the workplace and do his own business in his free time.
In case of failure to fulfill his duties, the concierge will be removed from work in accordance with the Labor Code of the Russian Federation and replaced with another, more responsible employee. He is not subject to criminal liability, since he does not bear it - the employee does not have personal responsibility for the safety of the residents’ property, both personal and general. The Criminal Code of the Russian Federation will be applied only in the case of theft and other crimes against the person.
The nuances of appointing an employee to a position
The proposal to hire personnel is made by the senior manager or the head of the management company. The residents themselves must decide whether to hire such an employee, since in the future they will pay for the services of this person.
The procedure for hiring a concierge is simple. First, a general meeting of residents is held, where the final decision is made. After this, the management company is instructed to find a suitable person and enter into a cooperation agreement with him. It is important that this decision is supported by the consent of all apartment owners, even if they did not take part in the meeting. In the future, labor relations between residents and the concierge will be regulated by the main provisions of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation and the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. An employee must have vacation, monthly pay and sick leave compensation. All these expenses will fall on the shoulders of homeowners, therefore, it is better to calculate the costs in advance.
Job description
A job description is a document that details the responsibilities and powers of a person in a position. For quality work, the concierge must comply with all the points, the meaning of which generally boils down to the following:
- Establish friendly and friendly relations with residents.
- If possible, prevent emergency situations, but in the event of an actual emergency, be the coordinator of residents (timely notification), call the necessary services, and on the spot guide them to the source of the problem, if this is not dangerous for the concierge himself.
- Serve as a means of communication between residents and the management company - transmit orders, warnings, requests, statements and complaints.
- Prevent any crimes against individuals in the entrusted territory.
- Prevent damage to state property or common property of residents (the maintenance of common property in apartment buildings is described here).
- Monitor the equipment in the entrance, check its serviceability and, in case of breakdown, call the responsible services (breakdown of elevators, panels, etc.). Read about the repair and maintenance of elevators here.
- Keep a logbook in the form where you enter the dates and time periods of incidents, the measures taken and the result.
- Do not leave the workplace without good reason.
We do not recommend completing the documents yourself. Save time - contact our lawyers by phone:
8 (800) 350-14-90
Attention! For the concierge, as well as for the residents of the house, drinking alcoholic beverages in the workplace, especially taking drugs, is strictly prohibited. There is no formal ban on smoking, but smoking is prohibited for everyone in the common area of the house.
It is important to understand that the concierge also has rights, like any employee, including rest, lunch breaks and other needs.
Origin story
The first mentions of concierges go back centuries and date back to the 12th century. Initially, this word meant the person who was responsible for the constant burning of candles in the castle. He began to perform other functions much later.
The concierge, in the sense in which he appears to this day, appeared only at the beginning of the last century in the Grand hotel chain, after which these workers began to rapidly appear in hotels around the world.
The attentive attitude of the concierge towards regular hotel guests is a guarantee that the client will use the services of this particular hotel more than once.
Schedule
Since job responsibilities require the employee to be at the place of work around the clock, a rotation schedule is established. Depending on the terms of the agreement with the management company or HOA, the size of the shifts may vary, but usually it is a standard week every other.
That is, the concierge performs his duties for 7 days, being in his place around the clock, and then rests for 7 days, giving up the job to a replacement. Shifts may be changed by mutual agreement. Exceeding the shift beyond the norm is prohibited and ineffective - an employee tired of endless duty will not be able to fully control everything that is happening around him.
Payment for services
Money to pay an employee is collected from residents as part of fees for home improvement and payment for additional functions (for example, parking lot maintenance).
If the house is shared ownership by the residents, the concierge's working conditions and remuneration can be decided at meetings. The latter is often included as a separate expense item for the members of the partnership, since in practice it is very difficult to find a responsible contractor for the bare salary of the entrance supervisor (close to the minimum wage).
It is impossible to set a salary below the minimum wage level - this is prohibited by RF Regulation No. 1490.
Not in all houses it is possible to hire a person for such a position - sometimes it is simply impossible due to the lack of a workplace and even a territory for it. In houses that are being built now, there is a place for a concierge, while in old buildings, which were not previously classified as elite and cooperative, there is nowhere to place a worker.
If the reader lives in an apartment building, then we recommend reading articles about contributions for major repairs, a statement about a roof leak, for repairs in the entrance, about cleaning the local area and its landscaping, about removing garbage and the entrance, and about breaking the intercom.
Concierge rights
- Request the necessary information about residents, lists of persons who are allowed to visit the house.
- Check IDs
- Do not allow suspicious persons in.
- Do not allow strangers to remove residents' property without presenting permission.
- Require residents to provide assistance in performing work duties.
- Require management to organize the workplace appropriately.
- The concierge also has the right to all conditions specified in labor legislation.
How to refuse this position in the entrance of a residential building?
This is as easy to do as rejecting any current official associated with his activities with a specific apartment building - raising the issue at a meeting of residents and gaining the required amount of support from other participants. You won’t be able to refuse an entrance monitor yourself - you can only write a complaint, pointing out specific shortcomings in the employee’s work, or immoral behavior.
Procedure for dismissing an insufficiently competent concierge:
- Collection of information and specific examples on which it will be possible to prove the professional incompetence of the person responsible for the entrance before the meeting.
- Argumentation of your initiative directly at the meeting.
- If the required number of allies is recruited, a collective request to replace the concierge with a more competent one or to refuse such a service altogether.
In this matter, the principle of the majority works - that is, one or several dissatisfied people cannot fundamentally change the situation. Before trying to act emotionally, you should definitely try to talk with the employee himself, and in case of failure, with the key figures responsible for the entrance. It is important to convey your message and convince other residents that this is not a matter of personal hostility.
Damaged property of the house or materials where the concierge’s neglect of his duties is recorded can be used as evidence. Usually this is not necessary - all residents feel the poor performance of the person responsible for the entrance. If no one in the house takes the initiative, then show it yourself - this way you will receive the support of those who did not want or could not put the issue on the agenda.
A concierge is an extremely necessary position in a decent apartment building, where residents want to feel comfortable, clean and safe. The number of residents in an average apartment building is sufficient to support such an employee without any special costs for each individual and require him to properly perform his duties.
