Management and maintenance of multi-family buildings in Croatia: perspective of co-owners’ representatives

Abstract

The paper deals with maintenance and management problems in multi-family buildings in Zagreb and other Croatian cities from the perspective of co-owners’ representatives. After 1990, when there was intensive privatization of housing, the responsibility for the maintenance of the housing stock shifted to private owners and management companies. Apartment owners have been given the obligation to maintain multi-family buildings and have faced problems and challenges in maintaining and managing common property. The empirical research was conducted on a convenience sample of co-owners' representatives (N = 353) using the survey method. The results are analysed according to three construction periods of multi-family buildings: built before 1945, during the socialist period (from 1945 to 1990) and the post-socialist period (after 1991). The results show that in all three construction periods there are certain bigger or smaller shortcomings regarding the building quality, and then the maintenance. The paper concludes that insufficient financial and organisational resources, insufficient engagement of managers, inadequate collaboration between representatives and managers, and weak energy renovation of multi-family buildings are some of the most important problems faced by co-owners’ representatives.