Earmarked contributions of OSBB residents: procedure, shares, reserve fund
Author: Svitlo-Lux editorial team. Published , updated . Review (legal): approved (Project owner).
Facts on this page were checked against official sources as of ; next check by . Terms change: open the official source before making a decision.
Earmarked contributions of an OSBB (condominium association) for backup power are not introduced by the chair at will. The procedure, list and amounts of contributions are determined by the general meeting, and the law sets the rule for splitting shares by area. Here is what that means in practice.
Who sets the contributions
Determining the procedure for paying, and the list and amounts of, co-owners’ contributions and payments is within the exclusive competence of the general meeting. The article on OSBB funds repeats the same: the procedure, list and amounts of contributions and payments, including transfers to the reserve and repair funds, are set by the meeting in accordance with the law and the charter. For a decision to set or change the amounts of contributions, the threshold in the charter may not exceed 67% of the votes of all co-owners.
Contributions, funds and outside income
The law lists the sources of OSBB funds: contributions and payments of co-owners, voluntary contributions of individuals and legal entities, loan or credit funds, and funds from the state or local budgets under co-financing. So in the project cost estimate it is worth separating mandatory contributions under a meeting decision, voluntary receipts and possible program funding, which has its own operator conditions.
- mandatory contributions under a meeting decision and by area;
- transfers to the reserve or repair fund, if the meeting so decided;
- voluntary contributions, which do not replace mandatory ones;
- program or loan funds, which have their own conditions.
Debtors and exemption from contributions
The board monitors timely payment of contributions and takes measures to recover debt in accordance with legislation. Whether individual co-owners can be exempted from contributions, and on what grounds, is determined by the law and the charter. The decision on contributions belongs to the exclusive competence of the meeting, so the board does not formalize such exemptions on its own, and a lawyer’s advice is needed before the vote.
How to keep records of contributions
The board keeps records management, accounting and reporting, so it is worth starting a separate statement for the project. It is convenient to have these fields: premises number, area, share of the total area, amount charged under the meeting decision, payment date and amount, balance. The statement is shown publicly in anonymized form.
- Charging. After the meeting decision, the board calculates the amounts for each premises by area.
- Notification. Residents receive the rate, the deadline and the details of the OSBB account.
- Receipts. The board matches payments against the bank statement.
- Reminder. Those who did not pay on time are sent a reminder under the charter’s procedure.
- Going to court. The recovery steps are defined by legislation; agree the statement and any claim with a lawyer.
How to explain contributions to residents
- show what exactly the money will be spent on, by cost estimate item;
- explain why the share is calculated by area and not by the number of apartments;
- state that the platform does not accept money and the account belongs to the OSBB;
- announce when and where the report will be;
- describe separately how an exemption from contributions will work for individual co-owners, if the meeting adopted one.
When you cannot do without a lawyer
- if the charter provides a different voting procedure than the general one;
- if some of the premises belong to legal entities;
- if the meeting plans different contributions for different groups of co-owners;
- if a debt needs to be written off or someone exempted from contributions;
- if contributions are combined with a loan or a program.
Do not mix different money flows
One of the most frequent problems is a single account that receives monthly payments, project contributions and voluntary donations. Even if there is one account, the records must separate the flows: by purpose, by source and by meeting decision. Then the report can be built without manually sorting through the statement, and residents see that their contribution went to the stated purpose and not to the building’s running needs.
Frequently asked questions
- Can the meeting set contributions of different sizes for different apartments?
- The law requires a co-owner’s share to be determined in proportion to the area of their premises. Other approaches are risky, so agree them with the OSBB lawyer.
- Are voluntary donations part of OSBB contributions?
- The law names voluntary contributions separately among the sources of OSBB funds, meaning they differ from the mandatory payments of co-owners. They should be accounted for separately.
Next steps
Calculate the approximate costCalculate the per-apartment contribution by area
Sources
- Law of Ukraine “On Associations of Co-owners of a Multi-apartment Building” (No. 2866-III, current version), Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (official source), accessed
- Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine Regarding the Simplification of Management of Multi-apartment Buildings” (No. 3270-IX), Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (official source), accessed
This material is for general information only and is not a power supply design, legal or financial advice. Calculations are indicative; installation and protection selection must be done by qualified specialists only. The platform does not accept or hold funds.