Titles of ownership to TBS flats?

2010-03-01

The “Friendly State” Committee of the Lower House of the Polish Parliament is working on a draft of an amendment of the act on some forms of support for residential construction, which would permit the purchase of the title of ownership to dwellings in communal housing associations (TBS), Rzeczpospolita reported.
Pursuant to the draft amendment, a lessee would be able to buy out a flat from a TBS provided he repays the loan contracted for the flat’s construction. Persons contributing towards the costs of construction of the flats usual pay approximately 30% of the value of the flats and in exchange have the option of leasing it. Under the amendment, the contributor would come to co-own the dwelling proportionally to the financial contribution made to the flat’s construction. This means that in event of the TBS going bankrupt, the funds that have been paid in would not be part of the bankrupt estate. The draft also provides that the lessee-contributor would be able to purchase a flat from the TBS in line with the buy-out procedure effective in cooperative housing associations. Yet, he would also have to repay part of the construction costs, in an amount proportionate to a given dwelling, and could be delinquent in payment of rent. The deposit and financial contribution in the building costs would be counted towards a building down payment for the flat.
The legislators have also proposed that if a TBS does go bankrupt, the lessees-contributors would have the pre-emptive right to purchase the flats for a price equivalent to the cost of their construction, less the paid in deposit and financial contribution. Lessees-contributors would also have to right to have a say in the on-going TBS administration and to monitor the financial condition of the dwelling they’ve leased from the association.

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