SANTO DOMINGO.- Since 2018, lawyer Ana Suriel has been dedicated to the administration of condominiums and although she has to deal with the occasional delinquent owner, she says that in general terms her experience with collecting maintenance fees has not been traumatic.
Through his company, Célico Condominium Administration, Suriel is responsible for two towers, two apartment residential complexes and a house project in the Naco, Bella Vista, Mirador Sur and Arroyo Hondo sectors.
Of the cases he is currently handling, one involves a homeowner whose non-payment is not optional; he is unemployed and therefore finds it difficult to meet his obligations. A second case he mentions, which could potentially end up in court, is that of a foreigner residing in a building with shared gas service who refuses to pay the same rate as the other residents, arguing that his gas consumption is minimal.
“He says he doesn’t use gas and that’s why he doesn’t have to pay the same as everyone else, and that’s why he pays what he thinks is right.” This situation, she says, has been going on for about a year, and when they try to explain the consequences of his actions, he threatens to sue the neighbors.
Suriel maintains that the worst of the bad rent days are over and that there aren't as many "scoundrels" as before. He argues that the majority of cases occurred among tenants and that, because of this situation, landlords decided to combine the monthly rent and maintenance fees into a single payment.
It states that through the Condominium Law, a mortgage can be registered on the property and that the owner could even lose it if the person goes many years without fulfilling their maintenance payment.
He explains that the law also gives the administration the power to withdraw common services from bad payers if they fail to pay, excluding water because it is considered a "viable" service.
“For the purposes of good administration and enjoyment of common things and by the mere fact of the property being organized in the manner established by this law, all the owners of the floors, apartments, houses and premises of the building form, obligatorily and by right, a consortium, with legal personality, which in relation to third parties and the owners themselves will act as the legal representative of all the owners through an administrator,” says the Law.
Quota allocation
Suriel explains that the maintenance fee in buildings is determined through a survey that allows each resident to be assigned their corresponding amount. “Someone with a 200-square-meter apartment can’t pay the same as someone with 70 square meters; all of these things have to be taken into account,” he explains.
