Legal challenges in ensuring regular maintenance and repairs of owner‐occupied apartment blocks
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to compare different apartment ownership systems and analyze how to enhance the regular maintenance and repair of owner‐occupied apartment buildings. The dwellings themselves are often in fairly good condition, but the common parts (e.g. walls, roofs, stairwells, and technical installations) are often poorly maintained.Design/methodology/approach – Apartment ownership systems in ten European countries (Austria, England, Finland, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland) are analyzed, along with Canada, China, Russia, and the USA, and some of the main findings from each country are presented. The material studied is primary legal sources together with the relevant literature.Findings – It seems that there are severe obstacles in the legislation of many countries. Some of these obstacles are: the non‐existence of a proper decision‐making body (e.g. homeowners' association); the wide use of a qualified majority, or even the use of consensu...
Effect of Residents’ Participation in Management Works on Satisfaction in Multi-Storey Housing
Abstract Multi-storey housing projects are a new orientation in Gaza, Palestine resulting from the increase of residents and limitation and high prices of lands. Residents’ participation is essential for implementing maintenance works to prolong the housing structures’ life and to delay the need for new structure redevelopment. Five levels of participation are used in this study begin with a leader who defines objectives and tasks and ends with a nonparticipant resident. This paper aims to investigate the effect of residents’ participation in management and maintenance works on residents’ satisfaction in new multi-storey housing projects in Gaza, Palestine. The data were obtained from random samples of an 80-resident pilot study. The result of the analysis shows a significant relation between the level of the residents’ participation and their satisfaction. Accordingly, recommendations for responsible authorities are to monitor and follow up on the ability of residents to acclimatize.
INITIATIVES TOWARD A 3D GIS-RELATED MULTI-LAYER DIGITAL CADASTRE IN ISRAEL
The northern half of Israel, where land is highly utilized, is today one of the most densely populated areas of the world. To enable continued extensive land development, new options need to be found for urban development through more effective utilization of space both above and below the ground surface (as well as beneath the sea). The Survey of Israel (SOI) and the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology initiated in 1996 a joint research and development project, aimed primarily at analyzing the 3D cadastre as a technology base for spatial management and registration of the real estate properties. The rationale of this R&D project was that above and below the ground planning and development activities can be considerably accelerated by guaranteeing the property rights of the owners. At an early stage of investigation, an ad-hoc forum was founded with participation of representatives from both the government and public sectors, as well as from the private sector. Principal activities and field experiments were designated, and a pilot project was completed. A typical test area in the pilot project was composed of built-up facilities situated on the ground, above the ground, and below the ground, all of which were measured in three dimensions. Concurrently, basic geometric and geodetic principles of a three-dimensional cadastre were consolidated, and approval was obtained for the tenet that a thorough and authentic legal investigation is indispensable to this process.