20 15, 10, 17 On June 7, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and the Ministry of Finance jointly issued the Notice on Further Giving Full Play to the Supporting Role of Residential Special Maintenance Funds in the Renovation of Old Residential Areas and Elevators (No.52 issued by the Ministry of Construction [2015]). Under the framework of current policies and regulations, the Notice explores the establishment of a multi-party financing mechanism for the renovation of old residential areas and elevators by clarifying the scope and target focus of maintenance funds, refining the emergency use system, and innovating the voting rules of owners.

In view of the problem that old residential areas and elevators are in urgent need of renovation but face insufficient funds, the Notice encourages owners to use maintenance funds to renovate old residential areas that are in disrepair, lack of supporting facilities, inadequate thermal insulation and energy conservation, and dirty environment, mainly including the houses themselves and supporting facilities. Owners can also use the maintenance funds to repair and replace old elevators that have been in operation for more than 15 years, install elevators and facilities, and help the elderly in old houses without elevators. Taking into account the actual situation in various places, the specific standards and contents of the transformation of old residential quarters and elevators shall be determined by the notified authorized places according to the actual situation.

In order to solve the problem that it is difficult for owners to vote by "double two-thirds" on the use of maintenance funds, the Notice puts forward four voting methods, one is the entrusted voting method in which owners entrust their voting rights to the owners' committee or owners' representatives to exercise on their behalf, the other is the collective voting method in which funds are used in batches, the third is the default voting method in which the voting rights of owners who did not participate in the voting are counted as affirmative votes, and the fourth is the opposition voting method in which owners holding "double one-third" or less are regarded as voting, but

In order to solve the problem that maintenance funds cannot be allocated and used in time in an emergency, the Notice clarifies that in case of elevator failure, fire-fighting facilities failure, roof external wall leakage, interruption of secondary water supply pump operation, blockage and bursting of drainage facilities, and danger of falling off the facade of the building, you can directly apply for the use of maintenance funds without the consent of the owner's "two-thirds" vote. There are no owners' committees, property service enterprises and other communities that apply for maintenance funds. Community neighborhood committees may apply for repairs organized by the housing construction department or subdistrict offices (township people's governments), and the repair costs shall be charged from the maintenance fund account. The notice also requires that the audit department must make an audit decision within 3 working days after receiving the application, and organize the maintenance unit to publicize the use of maintenance funds in a prominent position in the community.

In view of the lack of openness and transparency of maintenance fund information, the Notice requires all localities to make full use of modern network information technologies such as mobile Internet, big data and cloud computing, and build an electronic platform for owners to participate in the decision-making of the same affairs in the community through electronic tools such as computers and mobile phones. The notice also requires local maintenance fund management departments to establish a maintenance fund announcement system, and announce the deposit, expenditure, value-added and balance of annual maintenance funds in the local area on local government websites, newspapers and other media. The owners' committee and the realty service enterprise shall establish a maintenance fund publicity system, and publicize the basic situation of the maintenance fund of this community in a prominent position.

In view of the problems existing in the practice of maintenance fund management, the circular requires all localities to increase the support of maintenance funds for the renovation of old residential areas and elevators. At the same time, it is problem-oriented and draws lessons from advanced experience at home and abroad, and actively explores institutional innovations such as introducing commercial insurance into the use of maintenance funds and introducing market competition mechanism into the selection of professional banks, so as to further play the positive role of maintenance funds in ensuring the normal use of housing.