Regulation in progress to curb soaring maintenance costs

ISTANBUL

Three ministries are working on a regulation to prevent the imposition of exorbitant maintenance fees in residential complexes and will soon present it to the parliament, a sector representative has said.

According to daily Milliyet, citing claims from real estate expert Mustafa Hakan Özelmacıklı, the Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Ministry, as well as the Justice and Interior ministries, are prioritizing addressing the rise in maintenance fees in a joint regulation that will enforce further changes related to the management of residential complexes.

"Both the increase in the minimum wage and inflation inadvertently lead to periodic maintenance fee hikes in many residential complexes. Unfortunately, unlike in Europe, our facilities and complexes that were constructed in recent years have excessively high common area costs. Large pools, recreational spaces, landscape expenses, and perhaps many additional facilities that are not used effectively have unfortunately been included in the complex, resulting in some of the sites having maintenance costs that compete with rent prices,” Özelmacıklı said.

Under the forthcoming regulation set to be presented to the parliament soon, only certified facility management companies will be authorized to manage the complex, he said.

A professional definition of the management of the complexes will be identified, as certain standards to be able to handle the task will be introduced.

The Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Ministry will audit these management companies together with independent auditors. Site budgets, expenditures and fees collected will be audited every year, as unfair and exorbitant fee increases will also be prohibited.

On the other hand, Özelmacıklı also stated that the sector does not expect the ministries to impose a cap on house maintenance.

Reminding that in Türkiye, there are 3,800 facility management companies, Özelmacıklı noted that these companies will be required to provide field experience, criminal record checks and financial documents. Companies unable to obtain these documents will be closed down, he added.