In this article 6 topics
Every apartment has its own key, its own life and its own residents. Even so, you still live in a shared building, so it is important that you can do so as pleasantly as possible. Why is it important to create clear rules of conduct? Why is it worth enforcing them, and how do you do it right? Our experts break down one of the most important issues in life in a shared building, and it will help you live together in harmony. Let's get started.
First things first: getting organized
Residents of a shared building have rights and obligations, and to establish real order between them, house rules are created. But what exactly are these house rules? Here are a few important terms that will help us later on as well. If no specific rules, also called "agreed bylaws," have been drafted with clauses that relate specifically to your property, the property will be governed by the "standard bylaws": a set of general rules concerning the shared committee (including appointing a residents' committee, running residents' meetings, carrying out repairs and more). All of this is subject to the Land Law.
Everyone knows their place
A forgotten cigarette butt? A bag of trash that never made it to the building's bin and was left outside the front door? When there are clear house rules that all the building's residents know and are aware of, these "troubles" are significantly reduced. As in any organization, company or group with a common goal, when everyone knows their place it is much easier to get along. Nobody has to guess, there is no need to wonder whether a certain behavior is acceptable or not, and life in the shared property runs smoothly. And if not? That brings us to the next section.
Without house rules, sanctions are impossible
You are not the police, and it is not your job to patrol the building checking for disturbances in the shared property. But if there are house rules and some residents do not comply with them, especially when the violations are repeated, you have every right to enforce what is written in them. For example, if some residents hold loud parties into the small (or large) hours of the night and this disturbs the other residents, without house rules all you can do is draw their attention to it and appeal to them. In practice, you will not be able to do anything more. Once there are clear, structured house rules and all the residents know what is expected of them, you can also act: give firmer warnings and impose fines for various violations when necessary. Of course, all of this must be clear and defined in advance. Residents need to understand what is expected of them and what happens if the house rules are broken. Unlike commercial properties, where there will usually be an office building management company responsible for the day-to-day operation and maintenance of the commercial complex, in a private building there will usually be no one responsible for enforcement, so the responsibility lies first and foremost with the residents, unless it is a luxury tower.
Want to protect the property? This is the way to do it
When it comes to office building management and commercial complexes, the house rules of a shared building are meant to keep day-to-day conduct in the property in order, but they also help protect the property and even increase its value. A building that is not maintained, that suffers from neglect, and whose occupants do not bother to look after it through the set of rules laid down in the house rules, will probably be less attractive. Want to increase the property's value and be a magnet for new residents when the time comes? Create shared house rules. This is the way to do it.
Not burdening the shared budget
Suppose residents of the shared property flush paper towels and other items down the toilet, leading to frequent calls to the plumber and other professionals. What does that cause? Besides the hassle involved, the project's shared budget is drained. When you enforce clear rules of conduct, you do not burden the shared budget with unnecessary expenses. A double saving!
A word from us
Experience has taught us that in many cases, when we start managing a project at a property, the house rules and the rules of conduct have been neglected. This shows up in many ways, from chaos in which residents do not really understand what is expected of them, through a building that is not properly maintained because residents feel no personal responsibility for what happens in it, to repeated violations of the rules even when house rules have been drafted. In our experience, even after the house rules are put into effect, and even after all the residents approve them (and are even involved in drafting some of the details), it takes a few months for the process to truly take shape and for all the residents to manage to apply what they say.
That is why we strongly recommend establishing agreed house rules, of whatever kind, as long as they are acceptable to all the building's residents. It will pay off for you, in every way imaginable.
