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In the summer of 2019, after tearing down the wall of a five-story building in Kaunas to evacuate one of the stairs, residents returned home in January last year. As it turned out, major repairs have already been made, but the environment has yet to be fixed. However, the population is open and their shoulders already have much higher bills.
Every month – a few hundred euros
Jadvyga, who lives in a block of flats at 11 Biržišku Street, interviewed by the kauno.diena.lt portal, said that she is not afraid of her house: the walls are not cracked, but they have had to pay more than one hundred euros each month for some time the snow, falling through the mud.
“The air has already warmed up a bit, it could take care of the environment. I pay almost two hundred euros a month for the repairs. I can barely pay one, another bill is coming. There were very large sums. I try, I always give… I have already paid about 800 euros, I still have 200 euros of the last installment left, but I don’t know if maybe everything is not here yet, maybe it will come again… ”the open interlocutor.
It wouldn’t work if I didn’t have this invoice for the repairs. I went back to work to earn a little more because I couldn’t live on my pension.
A woman of retirement age who lives in a two-bedroom apartment added that Būsto valda pays almost 300 euros to the apartment management company every month, along with taxes on utilities. “I wouldn’t be working without this repair bill. I went back to work to earn a little more, because I would not be able to live on the pension I received ”, Jadvyga did not hide.
Legal procedures
In July 2019, when neighbors on one of the stairs in this apartment building were evacuated through a few inches of cracks in the building’s exterior walls and briefly hiding with relatives or at the Family Crisis Center, the problem was said to made the staircase unusable.The owner of the apartment on the first floor of the house made arbitrary repairs a few years ago: he demolished one of the retaining walls.
Photo by Vilmantas Raupelis
When asked about a neighbor, the woman said that she had sold her apartment and moved elsewhere. “They sued him, but I don’t know what it will be like,” Jadvyga said, adding that most of the people who lived on the stairs were just tenants.
Rūta Šimkaitytė-Kudarauskė, Head of the Legal and Advisory Department of the Kaunas City Municipality, also confirmed the ongoing legal proceedings to journalists on the portal. “A pre-trial investigation is underway on destruction of property, violation of building legislation and breach of obligations. There is also a civil case to recover damages from guilty persons. It was initiated by some residents of that house, ”he said.
Financial responsibility
“There were three stages of work: fixing the walls, strengthening the stairs and strengthening the foundation. After the first two stages, in January last year, the residents of the first stair returned to their apartments and now the third stage has been completed: the strengthening of the foundations. All the construction work has been done, the contractor assured that he would fix the environment by the end of April: he would flood the land, replant the grass and the like ”, said Rokas Drąsutavičius, director of Būsto valda .
All the construction work has been done, the contractor has ensured that by the end of April he will clean the environment: flood the land, replant the lawn and the like.
According to him, the experts approved the final partial act of the works (in addition to the landscaping works – Aut. Past ..) and confirmed that everything was fixed. Asked how much the contractors made for the repair work carried out in the apartment building on Biržišku 11 street, the interlocutor mentioned that with the value added tax (VAT) it amounts to about 240 thousand euros. 15 percent of these amounts must be reimbursed by the Kaunas City Municipality.
There are 60 apartments in the house, according to the preliminary calculations of R. Drąsutavičius, each of them had about 4 thousand. the financial burden for the work performed by the contractors in the apartment building, for which residents must pay in equal installments over a twelve-month period.
“The house was in very bad condition, arbitrary construction work on the apartments. The expert found that the bearing wall of one of the apartments had been demolished. We presented all the documents to the court. The court will clarify the circumstances and take a decision. There will be another meeting in March, after which there may be appeals and the like, “said the head of the Housing Holding.
Photo by Justina Lasauskaitė
When asked if it could be that the financial burden of the residents for the construction works would be reduced once the court ruled, the interlocutor said that it was not yet clear, as the process could take time.
“We cannot name the exact amount (how much the residents will have to pay – Aut. Past), because the square footage of each apartment is different. You must calculate how much the municipality pays, there will be a lawsuit, it will be clarified who is at fault. No I know how much, who will have to pay, it is still not clear. But basically we, not a bank, do not provide credit to the population. We simply look for an opportunity to help people pay with our own funds. The accountant calculates the participation of each apartment for each stage of the work performed. This is the amount that is set up to facilitate payments, “said a representative from Būsto Valda.
Photo by Justina Lasauskaitė
According to him, some residents pay the amount immediately, others – in installments. However, according to the interlocutor, it is said that some residents of this apartment building are insolvent and already owe a significant amount of money.
Photo by Justina Lasauskaitė
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