Nikad, as you say, the contract can agree to anything that is not against the law, but the contract is specifically void in the places where it is not in accordance with the law (civil code). I was doing some research as to what the law is, and the law itself does state a difference between expenses ordinarias and expenses extraordinarias, that the renter pays ordinary and the owner pays extraordinary.
But I do think you are correct - Serafina should probably get a real opinion about all of these things from someone who really knows how to tell the difference between what expenses fall into what category and can testify to this, as you suggested.
The specific expenses are not defined, but the type of expenses are:
1) A los inquilinos, les corresponde pagar las llamadas “expensas de administración” o “expensas ordinarias” que son aquellas que hacen posible usar de los bienes comunes a los ocupantes del inmueble, por ejemplo: portería, service ascensores, limpieza, iluminación, honorarios del administrador. Incluso el locatario deberá pagar las “expensas de conservación y de reparación ordinaria” por el mantenimiento de las cosas comunes.
2) En cambio no corresponderá pagar a los inquilinos las expensas extraordinarias de innovaciones o mejoras en el edificio, que se hubieran resuelto por asamblea de propietarios y en mayoría.
Todo ésto porque estas expensas importan “mejoras” que quedan incorporadas al inmueble, y enriquecen el valor del inmueble del propietario. Así como por ejemplo la renovación de todo el revestimiento del hall del edificio, el cambio de un ascensor por otro más moderno, las mejoras en la fachada del edificio, o incluso los gastos de reconstrucción de partes en ruina del edificio.
En conclusión: no corresponde al inquilino el pago de expensas que importen mejoras y por tanto incremento del valor del inmueble. Sí en cambio le corresponderán las de mantenimiento y conservación.
[from
http://www.orientaci...os.com/?p=1050]
Granted this isn't directly from the civil code, but a website that is talking about various issues related to the civil code, including rights of owners and renters.
And I could see how it would be very difficult at times to determine what should be the "extraordinary" expenses. For example, according the the quote above, a broken elevator that requires a lot of service would seem to fall under the renter's obligation and not the owners, because that is not a remolding or bettering of the property itself, but rather repairing something that everyone on a daily basis uses. However, removing the elevator and replacing it with a modern one would definitely be something that is the owner's responsibility.
But at what point does something cease to be maintenance and starts increasig the value of the property? For example, the elevator I mention above - sometimes just fixing a crappy old elevator can improve significantly how others perceive the value of living in that building.
There are also definitions of what the owner should pay as far as maintenance of the property and what the renter should pay. Owners should pay for anything that relates to the value and operation of the property itself, while the owners should pay for normal wear and tear.
It's a no-brainer that an owner should pay to fix broken water pipes (that are not due to some stupidity on the part of the renter), structural problems, etc. Renters should have to fix things like an appliance that breaks or needs cleaning (like an oven) or cupboard doors that fall off (something I have problems with all of the time because of the horribly cheap construction used).
When I lived in Garin (near Pilar), the owner wanted me to pay to have his wooden eaves replaced because they hadn't been stained and sealed in years (I was there for just one two year contract). We argued about that incessantly. That is not regular wear and tear caused by living in the house - it was preventative maintenance the owner is supposed to do.
Having said all this, all of the laws in the world don't make a bit of difference if the owner doesn't agree to what is what. Then you have to go to some kind of mediation or civil lawsuit to get justice, and I'm not so sure that that will turn out well either, particularly between an Argentine landlord and a foreigner renter. I have seen various civil lawsuits and not one of them has returned justice, even when the finding is for the plaintiff. One still has to enforce a finding. One example is my sister-in-law (wife's oldest sister), who is still waiting for nearly $200K pesos that was found against her ex-employer for him firing her the day after she told him she was pregnant. Two years and counting...
As far as the expenses Serafina mentions for an accident - not sure what the accident was, nor truly who is responsible for that.
But the state of the apartment for fixing the heating and such, definitely falls under the owner's obligations.
Serafina, I completely sympathize with you. I have never had much luck with any of my 4 different long-term landlords as far as getting things fixed quickly and without some kind of fuss.
We were unable to use the water in the front half of our current apartment which included the kitchen and two bathrooms (well, one a 3/4 and the other a 1/2 bath). My kitchen floor is still in rubble in about a third of the kitchen, has been for nearly two months, and we can't get anyone to move on finishing the work - after all, the leak that was impacting the owner below us was fixed and we're just renters that apparently are expected to live with something an owner wouldn't probably live with in his or her own apartment.
I've had issues with electricity in my previous apartment where there was a short due to a slow water leak in the ceiling that was definitely the administration's problem, that never did get fixed properly. It would knock out half of the circuitry in the apartment when it got wet, including my office. I had to buy extension cords to run from our bedroom into my office just so I could work, often for weeks at a time. I called out an electrician on three different occasions and the guy always told me to get the admin to fix the issues with the water, and he even talked to the encargado a couple of times to tell him from a professional point of view what the problem was. Didn't matter - we were renters.
Most of these things I end up getting fixed myself and occasionally I've been able to negotiate something with the owners, but it's like pulling teeth. It seems that a large number (if not percentage) of Argentine landlords want their money but don't want to put any effort whatsoever into the maintenance of the apartments.
There is a process that should be spelled out in the contract, and is defined in the civil code, about how to handle the process of taking care of disputes related to things that are the owner's obligations that are not taken care of, yet paid by the renter. It involves giving the owner notice of the problem, notifying the owner you are going to fix it if the owner doesn't act, and then presenting the receipts and all to prove expenses. I believe that the notifications have some large time requirements, like 30 or 60 days before you can act, although in the case of livability it may be less stringent. But I don't believe there is going to be much satisfaction out of this anyway. Also, if there are issues with livability or inaction on the part of the owner, I believe you can leave the contract without paying the penalties normally required.
I've lived mostly in buildings around 30-40 years old. I expect some issues like that in the older buildings, just not the way things are handled between the owners/administration and renters. But neither does it surprise me to hear that even new buildings have similar problems. I've seen both the plumbing and electrical work that are done by builders and quite frankly it mostly sucks excrement. Hell, you can hardly even find wire nuts here (I've looked and never have, anyway) and I've never even seen a wire nut used anywhere. When splicing wires, just apply some tape (and not often electrical tape either) and that sits there for decades sometimes and causes problems. Not to mention bizarre circuit layouts and overloads, etc.
Also, Serafina you mentioned that you were paying significantly more than the previous renter was paying. The difference you mention was just a bit over 20%, which isn't unreasonable. It's possible that the owners hadn't adjusted their rent in some time and with all the "recent" inflation began to do so with you. I know that was the case in my previous apartment, with myself on the renewal of our third contract. The owner wanted to raise our rate from $1200 USD a month to $2000 USD because he hadn't realized how bad inflation was (he works for the Argentina consular service and was located overseas for the first three years of our stay). I told him to go fly a kite and after more than a year his apartment is still empty. Heh.
Also, that increase can be negotiable. I've never paid more than 20% per year - but I also try to make a deal that somehow involves dollars and removes the inflationary requirement. I paid in dollars in my last apartment and in my current situation I'm paying a hybrid. I like a win-win situation and the way the blue rate was going, if I paid in pesos at a fixed rate, even at 30% per year increase, it looked like I was going to win big and maybe leave the owners unsatisfied. So I made a deal with the current owners to pay the first year in dollars equal to the amount of rent in pesos at the blue rate (as of our contract signing) and if the owners wanted to they could change over to receive pesos at a 20% increase after the first year (I would have gone for 30% in that case, but they were fine with 20%) as per usual. I thought the rate would stabilize at somewhere around 15-to-1, but I was wrong. So I'm paying in pesos now, with a 20% increase, and it's not that much more expensive for me - yet the owners are happy.
Welcome to Argentina. These are the kinds of things that people who are only here for a month don't see, until they try to immerse themselves a bit deeper into the quagmire and these are things that I fight nearly on a monthly basis. I suppose some people don't have these issues anyway - I tend to live in older buildings because I need a lot of space (there are 5 of us and I need an office) and new buildings are either too expensive or don't have the amount of space I need. But just about everyone I know has ongoing issues with their landlords.
And whoever said that a light bulb lasts for more than the two year contract (don't remember the context) - I haven't found it so! I spend a fortune on light bulbs due to the horrible current fluctuations!!! I'm lucky to get a month or two, and the new halogen bulbs required by law (wonderful global warming scare impacts) are not only expensive but don't last any longer than the old filament types.
