REAL ESTATE MANGEMENT AND MAINTENANCE IN THE FINNISH HOUSING COMPANY

What is Management and Maintenance With Regard to a Housing Company?

There are approximately 1200 companies specialaised in real estate management in Finland. Real Estate management companies provide their services to housing companies' boards of directors and shareholders with regards to everyday needs or/and major refurbishment projects.

The board of directors of a housing company chooses a management company (isännöinti), which in its turn appoints a manager (isännöitsijä). This manager then plays a role of the operative director for the housing company.

The management company  oversees the administration, accounting, finances and maintenance of the housing company based on the guidelines and stipulations of the board of directors and attends to the daily affairs of the building as per the instructions of the board.

Management company ensures that decisions made by a housing company meet the law, that the board has sufficient information and bases its decisions on expert knowledge. Management company attends to the organisations of board meetings and General Meetings and delivers the notice for the meetings.

Real estate management produces the budget for the following financial year based on the housing company's strategy. The real estate management company and the board of directors manage the housing company within the framework of the budget.

The manager may represent the housing company in contract issues and coordinates, for example, maintenance activities, provided by the property maintenance company, chosen by the board of directors and where necessary monitors that any maintenance operations are attended to cost-efficiently and as planned.

The property maintenance company responsible for any routine maintenance work in the housing company. This includes courtyard maintenance, such as lawn mowing, snow clearance and gritting the yards as well as any small repairs in the property. Unlike the manager, the maintenance company is available 24-hours per day. The maintenance company is also on duty in case of unexpected faults.

It is not obligatory for a housing company to have contracts with Real estate management or/and maintenance companies.

Based on materials provided by Finnish Real Estate Management Federation and Realia Isännöinti