Cyprus Property: An epidemic of badly maintained buildings

It is common knowledge, and an issue that has been raised several times by our Association, that the appearance and condition of many apartment buildings in our cities is dreadful.
Despite repeated efforts to amend current legislation, the situation of the maintenance and appearance of our buildings is getting worse.
This results in the loss of value of apartments and a depreciation of the owners’ investments. In case the owner wishes to sell, the bad condition of the building will decrease its sale price even if the interior of the apartment is well maintained or renovated. It also becomes increasingly difficult to find decent tenants when the building is not properly maintained. This forces owners to rent at a much lower rate than the apartment is really worth.
What are the most common problems in terms of the maintenance of buildings?
In most apartment buildings, owners only pay communal monthly charges for current expenses. Thus, they do not create a fund for unexpected costs. Therefore, whenever an extraordinary expense arises there are not enough funds to pay for it. Such expenses may include the need to insulate the roof, major repairs or replacing the elevator, sorting out humidity issues or painting the external walls, upgrading the lobby/entrance area, overhaul of the piping, etc.
When the required expense occurs, the owners of the building meet and after calculating the costs of the repair needed, allocate a share of the cost to each unit proportionally.
And here is where the problems begin. If only one of the tenants does not pay his share (not willing or unable to), then the repair is postponed and the operational problems in the building start or get worse.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that the situation reaches a point that certain apartment buildings have become dangerous to live in.
And this leads to a chain of effects. The building loses its value and the rent for the apartments is reduced considerably to attract tenants. Gradually, fewer people are willing to live in it and it slowly turns into a slum.
Here is an example to clarify the seriousness of the problem. In an unmaintained apartment building with 2-bedroomed apartments in central area Nicosia, the land value of each apartment is around 150.000 euros, but each apartment has a market value of about 100.000. Thus, if the owner wants to sell the apartment he stands to lose a considerable amount of money. Ultimately, it pays the owners to demolish the building if it is not well maintained. Of course, this is usually impossible as some owners object to a demolition, thus everybody gets stuck.
Our Association has taken the initiative to meet with all relevant state and municipal authorities who have an interest in the matter in order to improve the situation. The aim is to find ways, even if it means changing the legislation, so that the state enforces the proper maintenance of buildings.
In addition, a process should be found by which owners that deny payment of the communal charges are taken to court and decisions issued very quickly. Also, ways must be found to enable the Management Committee to impose financial penalties on owners who fail to pay their share of the communal maintenance charges.
Ultimately, what matters is for solutions to be found to end the unacceptable state of deteriorating buildings in Cyprus.