Homebuyers can spend months looking for the right development in the right place at the right price. Once the search is over though, they often spend little or no time in researching property details that could affect every day of their lives in their new home. This can turn out to be a very expensive mistake, as any person who buys a property needs to identify not only its condition but also the ownership regulations to avoid potentially nasty shocks. A person who pays an average of $70,000 for a home needs to know his rights, limits and duties with respect to such a deal - especially if the family dog is indispensable in a building that forbids pets.

Enforcing ownership regulations
The real estate contract to be signed between buyer and seller includes an article that binds the new resident to the articles of the building's ownership regulations. Their enforcement is administered through a building committee established according to those same regulations. The main aim of this body is to bring together the residents of a building to discuss common issues related to the overall project, to organize and fund maintenance, and to resolve disputes. The tasks the committee handles are matters such as electricity, back-up generators, gardens, maintenance, cleaning, and other details that keep the building in good condition.

Electing a president
The holder of the biggest number of shares in the block, whose identity is defined in the records of ownership regulations, is entitled to invite the other shareholders to the first general meeting, which is held mainly to elect a president and a committee. Very often the developer will take the initiative in helping to form the first building committee. Some articles concerning this process stipulate that the meeting be held on the premises of the project and that notification be made ten days before the specified date. The identity of the newly formed committee and its head may be registered at the property department, which is part of the property court, to give it legal status. This costs around LL30,000 per signature per owner, and provides the committee with the right to act on behalf of all owners, or to take legal action against an individual owner if the need arises. In practice, this step is very often ignored.

Who pays what?
The contribution made by each owner toward the general maintenance expenses, normally depends on the nature of the expense and the percentage of shares specified for each unit in the ownership regulations. Sometimes just one owner benefits from an item of expenditure. In such a case, the ownership regulations may specify that other owners need not share the cost. Lower floors may have fewer shares than those at the top and consequently pay a smaller percentage toward shared expenses. This is justified, for example, by saying that a ground-floor owner makes little or no use of the elevator.
However, this is not necessarily the situation in every case and increasingly, for simplicity's sake, shares are divided equally. At one project in Deek El Mehdi, there is a mathematical formula to allot a proportion of communal expenses. In Block C, the total expense is said to be the equivalent of 1,000 units. Eight apartment-owners each have responsibility for 111 of those units. The remaining 112 are held by the owner of a warehouse. In Block D, a completely different set of calculations has been made to apportion responsibility for maintenance and repairs. Here, the same nominal 1,000 units are divided with the owner of the top floor paying 153, and the apartments below being responsible for the rest equally.

Levying taxes
The president of a building may levy regular payments in advance to cover general or emergency expenses if the ownership regulations permit. This saves the president from perpetually following the owners around asking for payment. The ownership regulation of a building in Antelias states that the head of the committee is entitled to carry only a certain sum of cash - usually specified by the committee. The remaining amount collected is deposited in a bank account under the committee's name and may require a single signature to withdraw it, or any number of the members, up to the entire committee.

How much per month?
The levied amount varies according to the cost of regular expenses and the number of residents in the building. Twelve owners of one project in Jal El Dib pay $20 per month for costs of electricity in the corridors, the elevator, fuel for the generator, and so on. The same services cost the 10 residents of a Zalka project $50 per month, although they get a watchman and a garden thrown in as well. They also have the benefit of continuity at their meetings - the same man has been president of the building committee for the past 15 years.

When problems arise
But good intentions often fade where financial issues are involved. Money is one of the basic factors that generate or resolve disputes. According to a survey published by the Central Bureau of Statistics, 60.9 percent of families earn less than $800 per month. Where does this fact place building committee expenditure? Definitely not a priority. Installing a door for the parking area is set to cost the committee of a building in Zalka $1,100. This means that each resident of the 22 units will have to pay $50.
While one resident found this an unacceptable burden, her neighbor was asking for a more expensive door with remote control. Yet another resident considered $1,100 too expensive, claiming that a door should not cost more than $800.
So what was the outcome? The remote control suggestion was not even considered. The person who lobbed in the $800 'estimate' failed to follow up and provide evidence of his belief and the question is in limbo. What is certain is that if there is going to be a door, no one save the residents themselves will be paying for it.
On the other side of the coin, each of the 10 residents of the Chartouni building in Dhour Zalka agreed without a murmur to pay their share of an agreed $2,000 to stock a garden round their building. However, in yet another building, three of its nine residents are asking for a watchman, three more are opposed, and the remaining three appear not to care because they are not living in their apartments. Every time the first group hires someone, the second group fires him. One of the third group noted that the building seemed to remain intact without a watchman.

Extreme measures
Sometimes good intentions do a complete disappearing act when it comes to solving a problem, especially if one owner refuses to pay his share of the general expenses. However, pressure can be brought to bear on the recalcitrant.
It is part of the function of the president of the committee to send a first notice to the non-payer. If this does not work and the person still refuses to cooperate, the president can present the case in court and get a legal ruling.
The results, though, can be mixed. One shareholder's possessions were sold at auction to retrieve the money for his unpaid bills. Feeling the heat of impending legal action, one owner rationalized and finally paid his dues after receiving three written warnings.