Troubles With Building Administration

[jantango]

There were months during the current administration that our paper liquidations were delivered as late as the 12th of the month, when the first expiration date for payment was the 10th. The one who calls herself the administration council is likely the one who decided that the consorcio needed printed liquidations so she still had the responsibility of distributing them. It was just another unnecessary expense. Finally, she gave the okay to send the liquidations by email beginning with the June liquidation. Our previous administration used email and paper.

The September liquidation arrived in our inboxes on Sept. 28th, unusually early. However, I noticed that mine from PagoMiExpensa had only the boleto de pago without the liquidation or the state of account. Was it an oversight or intentional? I immediately sent an email asking for the liquidation. No response. It was intentional.

I decided to share the debt information that is always omitted from the liquidations, so I compiled a list and posted it on my door today. There are residents who don't have any idea about our debt. They will find out soon enough when they notice a large increase in the monthly contribution.

 

[jantango]

The consorcio had an unpaid payment to AFIP for the employee from November 2020, which was noted on the liquidation "due to lack of funds." The administrator simply forgot about it. The debt was estimated to be around $600,000 as of July 2021. Today is must be over a million or two. AFIP will only provide information to the administrator, so I notified him of it.

AFIP does not notify the administration nor the consorcio about the debt which accrues interest. My conclusion is that is how the government can take advantage of the situation and extract more money. That's what I call un gran estafa against its citizens.

 

[PaulBee]

The consorcio had an unpaid payment to AFIP for the employee from November 2020, which was noted on the liquidation "due to lack of funds." The administrator simply forgot about it. The debt was estimated to be around $600,000 as of July 2021. Today is must be over a million or two. AFIP will only provide information to the administrator, so I notified him of it.

AFIP does not notify the administration nor the consorcio about the debt which accrues interest. My conclusion is that is how the government can take advantage of the situation and extract more money. That's what I call un gran estafa against its citizens.

Thanks for all your info !

 

[jantango]

An Argentine friend and I meet regularly for conversation. We share what is going on with our respective consorcio finances, administrators, and building problems. Yesterday, he shared the October liquidation for his building with me. In only a few minutes of review, I concluded that the administrator is robbing the consorcio blind. That is so easy to do when the administrator gets chummy with the owners council and determines who is ripe for corruption. The owners don't care as long as they are being rewarded for their collusion. Most owners don't read or even receive the liquidations if they live in another building, so they are oblivious to the financial situation. Administrators have free reign.

My friend's unit is 28m. His monthly contribution for expenses is $32.680.
My unit is 47m. My monthly contribution for expenses is $15.360 as of October 2023.

My friend's building has 26 units. My building has 16 units.
My friend's building is 50 years old. My building is 55 years old. Both have stairways and no elevators.

His consorcio administrator receives honorarios monthly in the amount of $100.000. (I thought it was a typo.)
Our consorcio administrator receives $16.000. He manages (I use that word loosely) 30 consorcios and increases the amount when he feels like it without consorcio approval. The corrupt are silent.

His consorcio has a debt of $1.9M with an employed female owner who ignores her responsibility to the consorcio. Legal action is finally in progress, an added expense to the consorcio.
Our consorcio has a debt of $1.5M to AySA, plus an estimated $1-2M to AFIP as detailed in post #32 above.

His consorcio encargada (who is a unit owner in the building) cost the consorcio $390.412 or 36.83% of expenses.
Our consorcio cleaning lady (who doesn't know how to clean) cost the consorcio over $97K or 60.47% of expenses for the Sept salary and contributions payment.

His consorcio bank account with ICBC charges were $29.152 or 2.75% of Oct expenses.
Our consorcio bank account with Banco Itau charges were $3.869,51 or 2.40% of Oct expenses. Most of the time, only the impuestos of 0.6% required by law are detailed on our liquidation. At one time, the consorcio paid $5.000 per month on the Itau account.

Banking is an easy source of fraud against consorcios without any accountability to the owners by providing copies of the monthly statements. My attempts to convince the owners council and administrators that we could save money on bank fees with a free account with Banco Ciudad have never received comment. That tells me they are getting a piece of the action for their silence.

Comparing our liquidations was an eyeopener for me. I highly recommend it unless you receive thorough documentation for accountability and transparency from the administration. It's time to formulate another carta documento to send to our administrator, reminding of his written promise for accountability and complete transparency to us two years ago.

 

[jantango]

I found helpful information where you can calculate the suggested honorarios for your administrator based on the category of your building and number of units. https://caphai.com.ar/honorarios/

New tool to calculate administrator fees
We put at your disposal a new calculation tool, through which managers of horizontal property buildings will be able to make their quotes based on the values suggested by the Argentine Chamber of Horizontal Property and Real Estate Activities (CAPHyAI).
We suggest using this tool that we have designed especially for you.
Note: The fees stated here will not vary depending on the area in which the building is located within the same city.

A consorcio like ours with common services and fewer than 20 functional units should pay $99.000 for administration honorarios.

Tipología: consorcios con servicios comunes.
Mínimo hasta 20 Unidades Funcionales $ 99.000
De 21 a 40 U. F. $ 4.570
De 41 a 50 U.F. $ 3.750
De 51 a 60 U.F. $ 3.300
De 61 a 70 U.F. $ 2.950
De 71 a 80 U.F. $ 2.750
De 81 a 100 U.F. $ 2.500
De 101 U.F. en adelante $ 2.050

How does your administration's honorarios compare with the online "suggested" calculations for the various classes and number of functional units? Or does your administration find creative ways by juggling the numbers to increase honorarios?

 

[jantango]

The mailman left a delivery notice in our mailbox for the Consorcio de los Propietarios de (address). I went to the post office location indicated on the notice. I was told that "only the administrator can receive the carta documento after presenting the Libro de Actas of the consorcio as its legal representative." Considering our enormous debt with AySA, I assume the carta document is about initiating legal action and taking control of our bank account, so the notice can only be received by the administration.

This was a first for our consorcio. Obviously the sender wants the administration notified, so a carta documento is the standard procedure. FYI.

 

[jantango]

I attempted to get the owners and renters in the building to participate in a self-convened meeting last November to discuss the administrator and our enormous debt. Only one owner showed up. She is the same person who called another self-convened meeting a week ago. Attendance was four owners and four renters for an hour. The hallway isn't the best place to hold meetings since no one listens to others and everyone talks loudly. I don't understand a word of what they say. The members of the owners council were notably absent, proving they are in total agreement with the administrator and are rewarded for their silence. One is his soccer buddy -- a conflict of interest -- who appointed him. The council does nothing for the owners or the building. No action was or could be taken after this meeting. We'll try again.

I am waiting for the Defensa al Consumidor lawyers to review all the documents I filed with a complaint against the administrator regarding the lack of compliance with obligations set forth by law. Hopefully there will be some strong action taken against him, either sanction or removal from the registry. He has gotten away with ignoring his obligations for nine years and manages 30 consorcios. There is a new lawyer in charge as of January 2024, Dra. Rosa Barbera, who I happened to meet at the plaza on a Sunday morning when the Defensa al Consumidor was handing our brochures and saying that "things are going to change." I sat down for a long talk with Dr. Barbera and she took notes. The next day I received an email from her saying the case was being reviewed and the legal staff has a backlog of cases. Administrators take advantage of every opportunity to scam the consorcios, so they keep us busy with denuncias.

The mandate expired and the administrator hasn't bothered to call a meeting. The consorcio is free to hold a self-convened meeting at any time to terminate the administration, especially when the one year mandate has expired. It requires only 5% of owners to vote to terminate the administrator who then had TEN DAYS in which to turn over all of the consorcio documents (bills, policies, minute book, signature book, etc to the consorcio). Our current administrator began 12/-01/2021 and never bothered to retrieve consorcio documents from the previous admin. even when I sent a carta documento asking for copies, etc.

The building requires total renovation from top to bottom, but we can't do anything without funds. The accountant doesn't know how to consider the bills and calculate the monthly contributions to cover the expenses. AySA debt will reach three million pesos very soon. There are many outstanding bills to pay that are intentionally omitted from the monthly liquidation. This administrator is a real winner who hasn't learned anything in nine years.

I know there are other corrupt administrators that scam consorcios with the help of the owners council. It continues in the city because the fines and actions of the lawyers permit so many of these unscrupulous people to continue robbing the consorcios for their own benefit.

 

[jantango]

The administration gave us two-weeks notice by email of the assembly for April 23, 2024, that will be via ZOOM. More owners could possibly attend that way, but there is very little interest in knowing anything about the state of our finances and building. It was suggested that we insist on holding the assembly in the building which is always a shouting match that accomplishes nothing. The administrator expects the mandate to be renewed for another year, but he has done nothing in almost two and a half years that warrants another mandate. He has ignored calling assemblies before his mandate expires twice already. He gave us no notification for why the bank account was changed without consorcio approval and charges high fees for the account. It will be interesting to see how many owners show up for the meeting, whether online or in person.

Today I looked out my window that overlooks the patio that was full of debris from the crumbling building wall that has been ignored for years. That's how this consorcio operates. The owners council does nothing about anything. I wonder why we even have one. The administrator controls the assemblies when an owner should act as president of the meeting on behalf of the owners.

Last night when I wanted to boil water for tea, I realized my gas meter had been turned off. I waited until today to ask an owner to open the door so I could investigate. Sure enough, the lever of my meter was in a different position from all the other meters. This was intentional. Gradually I figured out when, who, and why I was without gas.

Our consorcio has a tenant of many years who never cleans anything and collects junk, so the apartment and the garden are sources of cockroach and rat infestations for decades. The owners council wants to let things remain the way they are rather than improve living conditions. A week ago I sent the owner of the unit a carta documento which the renter heard about. He decided he was going to do something. So when his neighbor who has a key to the basement returned from vacation, he got access and turned off my gas connection yesterday around 8pm. She was complicit. When I knocked on his door today for help with the gas meter situation, he refused and let me know that he knew about the carta document. That was confirmation that he was the one who intentionally turned off my meter. I entered the gas meter room and turned the lever. This was the first time I touched a gas meter, because I wanted to get back to my normal life of cooking and bathing.

People don't take responsibility for the unhealthy and unsafe conditions they cause for not only residents in a building, but for neighbors on the block. They don't want to invest in maintaining the property so that it increases in value. Administrators are responsible for the preservation of buildings they manage. Ours has never taken the time to tour our disaster. I live in a building that looks like it's in a war zone. Yes, it's that bad.

 

[jantango]

Our consorcio has not one, but two assemblies scheduled tomorrow at the same time. One is convened by the administrator on Zoom, and the other is a self-convened meeting by the owners in the building, to terminate the administrator whose mandate expired at the end of November.

The administrator's agenda is as follows:
1.- Legal constitution of the assembly.
2.- Appointment of president of minutes. (an owner should be in charge, not the administrator)
3.- Appointment of secretary of minutes and two owners to sign it. (all owners present have the right to read the minutes and sign them after the meeting. This is never done by this administration who keeps tight control.)
4.- Annual budget 2023-2024. (receipts available to all owners in the
administration offices)
5.- Renewal of the administration mandate
6.- Owners' council renewal.
7.- Financial status of the consortium, debts. (the liquidations never include debts pending payment as they should.)
8.- Procedure used in a dependency relationship of the consortium. (?)
9.- Debtors, judicial summons.

The self-convened in-person agenda is:
(prepared by the tenant who lives in the junkyard, ineligible to vote)
1. designation of new administration
(first there should be a vote by an absolute majority of owners (50% plus one) and a review of potential administration proposals submitted)
2. increase in the monthly contribution for expenses (it's about time)
3. legal action against owners who have debt to consorcio (I am one of them)
4. consorcio financial situation (a disaster)
5. AySA debt (which is more than $3.1 million pesos plus others)
6. other proposals (it's going to be a long meeting without much direction)

I will check the Zoom call just to see who is attending it, if anyone. The members of the owners council are standing with the administrator and his corruption. This has to be the most interesting time during my 22 years in the building. No one understands or care to know the laws pertaining to administrations, so it's up for grabs tomorrow. If it's not run according to law, the administrator could make things more complicated for us just to keep his position. The owners council has done nothing in years as each administrator is more corrupt than the previous one. The current one tops them all with his soccer buddy/owner who supports everything he does.

 

[jantango]

Well, I checked the Zoom call to see if it was being held. It was. All six owners who live in the building were on the call, so I stayed to make it 7. I decided not to speak so I could stay as calm as possible. I didn't understand a word because no one listens and continuously interrupts the person speaking. The call ended at 10:15, and I hear the discussion in the hallway. Once I voted to remove the administrator, I left the call at 9;20pm. The vote was 5 to 2, against his renewal. His loyal members of the owners' council were outvoted. I was so relieved. Now we have the huge responsibility of finding a new administrator who can handle the task of getting the consorcio back to normal which will take years. Our debt is in the millions of pesos.

Ah, there is silence as I finish the post.