Apartment building oversight to move to EOAs under new plan

Supervision of jointly owned apartment buildings is expected to move to district local government organisations (EOAs), after the interior ministry and the organisations reached an understanding on the plan at the House committee on Thursday. The transfer will depend on the EOAs’ conditions being met and would create a new system for overseeing apartment buildings and their management committees. Interior ministry local government director Antonis Economides said the meeting had been “very constructive” and that there was a common understanding on the government’s bill. For the first time, the new system would create a supervisory authority and a register for jointly owned buildings and would give the authorities a formal role in supervising management committees. The EOAs have asked for several conditions to be met before taking on the responsibility.

These include an online platform where management committees can register and manage their affairs as well as state funding for the initial costs. Limassol EOA president Yiannis Tsouloftas said the organisations were prepared to take on the role if their conditions were met. “We are honoured that the state considers the EOAs to be the most appropriate bodies,” he remarked. He warned that the transfer should not repeat previous cases where responsibilities were given to local authorities without the necessary legal powers or financial support. The interior ministry said it would pay for the software platform needed for the new system. The platform will draw information from land registry databases and connect with the ‘Ippodamos’ (Hippodamus) planning system. A transition period of up to two years is planned, during which the government would cover certain costs and help establish the new service. Economides said he would…