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...
Management of Redeveloped Industrial Areas with Mixed Use in The Netherlands
This paper, on the use of apartment rights for management of areas with mixed residential and commercial use in The Netherlands, presents the first results of a research project that started in 2008. Our conclusions so far are based on literature research and a limited number of interviews. The redevelopment of industrial areas involves two tasks: Development and management. On the one hand, apartment rights offer a very flexible system that may be adapted to suit various circumstances. On the other hand, it proved to be an inflexible instrument: Once the deed of division has been registered, it is rather difficult to change the complex and the charter determining the rights and duties of the apartment owners. We stress that lawyers should be involved in mixed use and multiple use of space projects from an early stage, in order to reach an optimal solution in the combination of both the physical and legal design and construction of the project. This is the concept of “juritecture.”
Major legal systems in the world today: An introduction to the comparative study of law
Introduction: Romano-Germanic system. Socialist legal systems. The common law. Other conceptions of law and the social order.