HOUSING MANAGEMENT…

"When will the supervisor be around? He is on a site visit, should be back soon, but I am not sure when … If I could have reached your office by phone, I would have found out whether the supervisor is in. Now I will have to wait for God knows how long just to get a statement of residence, and I am late for work …"

Such a dialogue can be heard in almost any housing and utilities administration in Baku that "serves" the capital's housing stock. But the word "serves" is too strong for a situation that should better be described as confusion. Indeed, what are the functions of housing and utilities administrations now and what is the purpose of this institution, if many of its previous responsibilities are now on the shoulders of apartment owners? They do nothing but issue certificates and collect rent. The process of application for legal documents that are supposed to be issued by housing offices often turns into a gruelling and tedious wait for the supervisor. The working day of many such institutions does not last beyond three o'clock in the afternoon, which is a breach of the law and of consumer rights. At this time there is no-one to be found at the dilapidated offices of housing and utilities administrations which themselves have long been in need of repair. This can be observed in almost all such offices. 

So, are the housing and utilities administrations really necessary in their present shape? Are we pleased with their work? What can they be replaced with? And why are they still in operation despite the existence of municipalities for over 10 years in Azerbaijan? To answer these questions, let's first find out what their responsibilities are.

For example, in Soviet years housing administrations were state-owned and self-financed organizations whose main tasks were to manage the housing stock, carry out current and major repairs to buildings, ensure the smooth operation of housing facilities. Housing departments were supposed to keep houses in a good condition health-wise, to ensure that tenants looked after their apartments and houses, and improve the living conditions of residents.

The managerial functions were carried out by a staff of people and a network of specialized organizations, which included maintenance, repair and installation groups, cleaning, landscaping, transportation, chimney cleaning and other services. And if this system still operates in Azerbaijan, that's the way it should be. But what happens in reality? Hand on heart, can we boast that housing departments do all this work today? And who of us goes to these offices if we are flooded by a neighbour, if our roof on the top floor leaks, if a pipe has burst in the apartment or if the building needs repairing? Do housing administrations still have access to the above-mentioned services?

Residents of buildings have been solving their problems themselves and at their own expense for a long time. "What can housing departments do as self-supporting organizations? We barely make ends meet. The supervisor is almost never available because he is often on site visits," an employee of a housing administration said in an interview. She admitted that the activities of utility companies consist only of the slight improvement of houses, cleanliness and the issue of documents.

But as soon as a tenant thinks of putting windows in his balcony, not to mention other repair work, a representative of the housing department will appear from nowhere with a reminder of how much the landlord should secretly pay to carry out the procedure, as it spoils the external appearance of the building. No-one should be allowed to change the architecture of the building. This is true. But it often happens that the faзade of the building can be changed if you cross the palm of the head of the local housing department with silver and "don't forget" about the district police chief. As a result, lawlessness creates lawlessness. The work of some housing departments manifests itself through the improvement of neighbourhoods. And sometimes it is so unexpected that the spontaneous installation of swings, the painting of benches and curbs are seen as something out of the ordinary. So it turns out that some housing departments do something, while others do nothing at all but regularly collect money from residents for utilities.

The collection of money is a separate and rather anecdotal theme. According to the recently adopted Housing Code, the powers of housing departments have been transferred to municipalities, i.e. there is a legal basis for the abolition of utilities. However, paradoxical things are happening. Municipalities exact land and property tax from the population, housing departments charge rents and even some municipal taxes - so people have to pay for the same thing twice. It is not known on the basis of which laws housing departments collect rents if we take into account that the provision of public services for many of them means removal of the garbage.

In an interview with R+, an expert in municipal affairs, Vuqar Tofiqli, said housing departments and municipalities should not duplicate their activities. The problem is that despite 10 years of existence Azerbaijani municipalities have yet to become a real force. Therefore, it is impossible to abolish the activities of utilities. True, there are municipalities which, over 10 years of existence, have carried out many social projects to improve the living conditions of citizens. Yes, the laws regulating the activity of local governments do exist, but they are imperfect. There is no clear regulation of the scope of their activities, in many cases the responsibilities of executive authorities overlap with the functions of municipalities. Therefore, the country needs to examine its own municipalities to identify their so-called "sphere of interest".

Tofiqli admits that utilities have responsibilities municipalities should not interfere in. It is therefore necessary to carry out reforms in the sphere of housing - to create new organizations to serve the housing stock. This could be done by condominiums. Incidentally, the issue of their establishment has repeatedly been discussed at the level of public organizations in Azerbaijan. In fact, some buildings in Baku have carried out pilot projects which have produced good results. Such condominiums which co-own apartment blocks exist in many countries of the CIS and Europe. For example, first condominiums appeared in Ukraine 18 years ago when the privatization of apartments began. Today there are more than 1,500 condominiums. Owners of a building decide themselves what contracts should be concluded and with whom. After all, municipalities do not have to deal with all these issues. The creation of condominiums is beneficial for apartment owners because there is a real manager who must defend the interests of apartment owners in court, monitor the effectiveness of the use of funds intended for maintenance, etc. As a result, there is order in the building, while rates may be the same as in the housing department.

So this is the reality today. Housing administrations should be abolished and new institutions established that would be interested in solving people's problems in apartment blocks.