This summer, many provinces in China experienced heavy rains, which damaged many residents' houses. In the face of water leakage and damage to houses, many people think of housing maintenance funds. What should I do with this money?

What is the residential special maintenance fund?

Residential special maintenance funds refer to the funds specially used for the maintenance, renewal and transformation of residential parts and facilities after the warranty period expires, which is popularly called "money for treating diseases" of houses. According to China's Property Law, the maintenance funds of buildings and their ancillary facilities belong to the owners, and can be used for local maintenance of elevators and water tanks with the consent of the owners.

According to the Measures for the Administration of Residential Special Maintenance Funds, commercial residential and non-residential owners should deposit residential special maintenance funds according to the construction area of their own property, and the amount of the first-phase residential special maintenance funds per square meter of construction area is 5% to 8% of the cost per square meter of local residential construction and installation projects. The competent departments of construction (real estate) of the people's governments of municipalities directly under the central government, cities and counties shall make timely adjustments according to local conditions.

It is not easy to use the maintenance fund.

Literally, residential special maintenance funds are enjoyed by the owners, but in practice, the use of funds is not easy. According to the provisions of the Property Law, the decision to raise and use funds for the maintenance of buildings and their ancillary facilities should be approved by the owners whose exclusive parts account for more than 2/3 of the total building area and more than 2/3 of the total number of owners. "Two 2/3 indicators are difficult to operate. Some owners are not enthusiastic about participating in public affairs, and the phenomenon of' having nothing to do with themselves' is more prominent. There are also some owners who don't live in the local area, so it is difficult to sign and vote in writing.

In addition, the special maintenance funds belong to the property of the owners. The property management company should start the mechanism of the owners' committee and hold the owners' meeting in accordance with the regulations to ensure the transparency of information and further gain the trust and consent of the owners. But in fact, at present, many residential quarters have not set up owners' committees, which leads to opaque use of funds. Many owners are worried that money will be misappropriated, which increases the resistance to the use of funds.

A number of policies have improved the difficulty of using funds.

In order to solve the problems of low utilization rate and poor extraction of special maintenance funds for residential buildings, many cities across the country have specially formulated emergency policies. For example, Beijing has formulated a policy on emergency use of special maintenance funds for residential buildings, which stipulates that six kinds of emergencies, such as elevator failure endangering personal safety, do not require the consent of two-thirds of the owners, and the maintenance funds will arrive in the account as soon as 48 hours, but the owners should be informed in advance; Zhejiang Province has issued relevant regulations. After the house maintenance plan is publicized, as long as the owners who do not exceed 1/3 in the building raise objections in writing, it will be deemed as publicity consent.

However, to fundamentally strengthen the use and management of maintenance funds, the key is to promote the establishment of owners' committees as soon as possible in the community and realize owners' autonomy. The property management company shall start the mechanism of the owners' committee and owners' assembly as needed. On the one hand, it is conducive to communication between owners through an open and transparent platform, on the other hand, it is convenient for owners to supervise the relevant work of property management companies and ensure that the special maintenance funds for residential buildings are not misappropriated.

(The above answers were published on 20 16-08- 19. Please refer to the actual situation for the current purchase policy. )

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