In apartment blocks and residential condominiums in Romania, the owners’ association (asociația de proprietari) manages the common parts of the building and many day-to-day issues: maintenance, utilities, repairs, upgrades and internal rules. Precisely because it concentrates so much power and money, conflicts between owners and the association are extremely common: contested service-charge lists, “inflated” penalties, rushed or abusive resolutions, or simply a lack of transparency.
This article explains, in practical terms, how the law regulates the main categories of disputes: service charges and penalties, general meeting resolutions, access to documents, non-payment of contributions and enforcement. It is aimed both at owners who want to understand their rights and at administrators or association presidents who want to avoid expensive and time-consuming court cases.
1. Legal framework for Romanian owners’ associations
Article 1 of Law 196/2018 states that the law regulates the legal, economic and technical aspects relating to the establishment, organisation and functioning of owners’ associations and the administration, maintenance and use of buildings and their common parts. It applies to condominiums with at least three separate units (flats or spaces with another destination than housing).
The law lays down, among other things:
- how an owners’ association is set up and registered;
- the rights and obligations of owners, tenants and the association itself;
- the roles of the president, executive committee, administrator and auditor/censors;
- rules on common charges and how they are allocated;
- rules on convening the general meeting and adopting resolutions;
- penalties, court actions and the legal mortgage and privilege in favour of the association.
Law 196/2018 is supplemented by the Civil Code (for example, on prescription periods, nullity of resolutions and general obligations law) and the Civil Procedure Code, which governs how lawsuits and enforcement proceedings are conducted.
2. Service charges: what they cover and how they should be allocated
2.1. What “common expenses” mean
Law 196/2018 defines the association’s expenses as all costs and financial obligations related to the operation, repair, maintenance, modernisation and rehabilitation of the common property, as well as the costs of services from which owners benefit but which are not billed to them individually (for example, lighting of the staircase).
In practice, the following categories are usually distinguished:
- per person charges – e.g. water, waste collection, staircase cleaning, where there is no metering at flat level;
- individual consumption based charges – e.g. heating with repartitors, metered cold or hot water, where meters or repartitors are installed;
- common-share based charges – structural repairs, roof, façade, lift, other common installations, based on each flat’s co-ownership share (cota-parte indiviză);
- beneficiary-based charges – specific services or works that concern only one staircase or a limited group of units.
The concrete allocation rules must respect the law and be reflected in the association’s internal regulations and general meeting resolutions. The association cannot arbitrarily invent discriminatory criteria that contradict Law 196/2018 or the Civil Code.
2.2. Service-charge lists and the right to explanations and corrections
Article 28 of Law 196/2018 gives owners a clear right to information about the association’s activity. Owners are entitled to be informed about all matters concerning the association, to request in writing and receive copies of any document and to obtain explanations regarding how their share of common expenses was calculated.
The same article states that owners may contest their share of common expenses in writing within 10 days from the date the list was posted. The president must reply in writing within 10 days of receiving the written complaint. If the president or administrator fails to take all necessary measures to facilitate access to accounting documents or any other association document, owners may escalate the issue to the specialised department within the local authority referred to in Article 10 of the law.
For court purposes it is crucial that the owner’s objection is made in writing and properly recorded (with an internal registration number or via registered mail). Mere verbal complaints on the staircase or in meetings are very difficult to prove later.
2.3. Penalties for late payment: strict legal limits
Law 196/2018 allows owners’ associations to set up a system of penalties for late payment, but Article 77 imposes strict limits. Penalties may not exceed 0.2% per day of the outstanding amount, they may be applied only after 30 days from the due date, and the total amount of penalties may not exceed the principal (the unpaid contribution itself).
For example, for a debt of 1,000 RON, the maximum penalty is 2 RON per day (0.2%), and the total penalties may never exceed 1,000 RON. Any system that applies larger daily rates, starts penalties earlier than 30 days after the list is posted, or allows penalties to exceed the principal is contrary to Law 196/2018 and can be challenged in court.
Specialised commentary by practitioners and legal authors confirms this interpretation; several guides for owners underline that associations often miscalculate or misapply penalties and that such errors can be corrected through internal complaints or, if necessary, judicial review.
3. The general meeting and its resolutions
3.1. Role and typical agenda
The general meeting is the supreme decision-making body of the association. It approves the budget of income and expenditure, major repairs and modernisation works, the condominium rules, the election and dismissal of the president, executive committee and auditor, and the level of remunerations for the association’s staff.
Many of the disputes that end up in court are triggered by how decisions are made in the general meeting: insufficient or defective notice, unclear agenda, incorrect quorum or voting, or resolutions that go beyond what the law allows.
3.2. Quorum and voting rules
Law 196/2018 provides that resolutions are normally adopted if the majority of owners who are members of the association are present, either in person or through duly authorised representatives. For certain important decisions (for example, major capital works or the conclusion of bank loans), the law requires qualified majorities, such as two thirds of all owners, not only of those present.
Resolutions must be recorded in minutes (proces-verbal), signed and posted on the association’s notice board within 7 days. Once posted, they become binding not only on owners who attended the meeting but on all owners, including those absent, as long as they are lawful.
3.3. Resolutions that are often challenged
Owners commonly challenge resolutions that:
- approve expensive works (e.g. façade or roof rehabilitation, replacement of lifts) without a proper quorum or without clear information on costs and financing;
- introduce excessive rules in the condominium regulations (for example, disproportionate restrictions on pets, use of common spaces or visiting hours);
- set penalties or charges that breach the law (e.g. penalties above 0.2% per day or retroactive charges);
- target only a small group of owners (for instance, commercial units) in a discriminatory way.
Under Article 52 of Law 196/2018, if a general meeting resolution is contrary to the law, the association’s statute or the association agreement, or if it prejudices the legitimate interests of owners, any owner or any person who considers themselves harmed in one of their rights may bring an action in court to have the resolution annulled.
4. How to contest service-charge lists and resolutions
4.1. Internal complaint regarding the service-charge list
For service-charge lists, the first step is always an internal complaint. A practical approach is:
- Check the list as soon as it is posted and identify specific items you consider incorrect.
- Within 10 days from the posting, submit a written complaint to the president (and, optionally, to the administrator), describing what you contest and why, and requesting supporting documents (invoices, contracts, breakdowns).
- Ask for an internal registration number or send the complaint by registered mail with acknowledgement of receipt.
- Wait for the written reply (the president has 10 days to respond, according to Article 28(3)).
- If there is no reply or if you consider the reply unsatisfactory, raise the issue with the auditor/censors and with the specialised department for owners’ associations within the town hall (Article 28(4)).
If, after these steps, the problem persists, you can consider going to court to challenge the calculation method or to request the correction of the list and, where appropriate, repayment of amounts unduly collected.
4.2. Court actions concerning service charges
Disputes about service charges are typically monetary claims based on the association’s alleged miscalculation or misallocation of costs. In such cases, the ordinary rules of the Civil Code regarding obligations and the general three-year prescription period apply. The three-year limitation period, set by Article 2517 of the Civil Code, usually runs from the moment the owner knew or should have known of the incorrect charge (for example, from the posting of the list or from the refusal to correct it).
Owners should keep copies of the lists, their written complaints, any replies from the association and expert reports (if they commissioned an independent accountant or engineer). These documents are often crucial in court.
4.3. Court actions against general meeting resolutions
As already mentioned, Article 52 of Law 196/2018 allows any owner or person whose right has been harmed to challenge a general meeting resolution that breaches the law, the statute or the association agreement, or that prejudices their legitimate interests. The law no longer contains a short, special time limit (such as the old 45-day limit in the former law), so the general prescription rules of the Civil Code apply.
According to legal analysis and practice, if the claimant invokes an irregularity that affects mainly private interests (for example, improper notice, breach of internal procedural rules, certain abuses of the majority), the case is usually treated as relative nullity, subject to the three-year limitation period. If, however, the resolution breaches mandatory rules of public order (such as a minimum quorum expressly required by law), courts may treat it as absolute nullity, for which the right to action is, in principle, not subject to prescription.
Even when the law allows an imprescriptible action, it is highly advisable to act promptly, before the resolution produces irreversible effects (for example, when works have already been carried out and paid).
5. Non-payment of contributions and enforcement
5.1. From arrears to court proceedings
If an owner accumulates arrears and does not react to the association’s notices, the president may bring a claim in court to recover the debt after the time limits laid down by the law and internal regulations have expired. Law 196/2018 provides that such actions for recovery of common charges are exempt from judicial stamp duty, which makes them easier for associations to bring.
Once the association has obtained a judgment, this can be enforced by any standard enforcement measure provided by the Civil Procedure Code: attachment of wages or bank accounts, seizure and sale of movable property, or, in extreme cases, enforcement against the flat itself.
5.2. Legal mortgage and general privilege in favour of the association
Article 80 of Law 196/2018 establishes a legal mortgage in favour of the owners’ association over all apartments and other individual units in the condominium, as well as a general privilege over all movable goods of owners, to secure payment of the amounts due as common charges. The mortgage is registered in the land register at the request of the association’s president, on the basis of the outstanding service-charge lists, and registration is exempt from land-registry fees.
This legal security significantly increases the association’s leverage in enforcing payment. From the owner’s perspective, it means that long-term non-payment can, in extreme cases, lead to an enforced sale of the flat.
6. Transparency, access to documents and sanctions
6.1. Owners’ right of access to documents
Law 196/2018 places great emphasis on transparency. Article 28(1) states that owners have the right to be informed about all matters concerning the association’s activity and to request in writing and receive copies of any document of the association, bearing only the multiplication costs.
In practice, this means that owners can request, for example:
- copies of contracts with service providers (administration companies, cleaning, security, maintenance);
- utility bills and other invoices;
- bank statements for the association’s accounts;
- minutes of general meetings and executive committee meetings;
- documents relating to tenders or quotations for works.
If the president or administrator consistently refuses to provide access, owners may escalate the matter to the auditor/censors, to the local authority’s specialised department, and ultimately to the courts, seeking an order compelling the association to provide the documents and, where appropriate, compensating any loss suffered.
6.2. Contraventions and fines
Article 102 of Law 196/2018 lists a number of acts that constitute contraventions if they are not serious enough to be criminal offences. These include, among others, the failure by the association, president or executive committee to take necessary measures to repair and maintain the building, non-compliance with the association’s statute and internal rules, failure to set up repair or working capital funds, or failure by owners to carry out necessary repairs to their units when this endangers the building or other units. The law provides for fines in a wide range (for example, from 2,500 to 10,000 RON for some breaches).
Local authorities (through their dedicated departments) and, in some cases, other competent bodies, may impose these fines. At the same time, the same acts can form the basis of civil liability claims against those responsible if owners suffer actual damage (for example, flooding caused by neglected repairs).
7. Common categories of disputes
On the basis of case law and practical experience, the most frequent disputes between owners and associations include:
- Disputes over service charges – alleged misallocation of costs, improper counting of persons, charges for services not actually provided, or incorrect individual meter readings.
- Disputes over penalties – penalties calculated contrary to Article 77 (over 0.2% per day, applied from day one, or exceeding the principal).
- Challenges to general meeting resolutions – works approved without proper quorum, restrictive regulations, or decisions perceived as discriminatory.
- Lack of transparency – refusal to provide contracts, invoices or minutes, or hiding the real financial situation of the association.
- Non-payment of contributions – owners opposing payment, sometimes as a “protest” against perceived mismanagement, leading to court cases and enforcement.
8. Practical advice for owners
Many disputes can be prevented if owners exercise their rights proactively and keep proper records. Some practical tips:
- Check the service-charge list every month and keep copies; photograph the notice board if necessary.
- Submit complaints in writing within the 10-day deadline and request a registration number.
- Attend general meetings and make sure your objections are recorded in the minutes.
- Regularly request copies of key contracts and financial statements; this is your statutory right under Article 28.
- If you suspect serious irregularities, consider commissioning an independent accounting or technical expert and consult a lawyer specialised in property/condominium law.
- Avoid allowing arrears to accumulate; if you have financial difficulties, try to agree on an instalment plan with the association.
9. Practical advice for administrators and association presidents
For presidents and administrators, the key words are transparency and compliance:
- Follow closely the procedural rules in Law 196/2018 for convening and conducting general meetings; defective procedures are a common ground for nullity actions.
- Ensure that service-charge lists and penalties are calculated strictly within the limits of Article 77 and that the calculation method is clearly explained to owners.
- Provide access to documents without unnecessary obstacles; owners’ right to copies is clearly set out in Article 28 and widely recognised in doctrine and practice.
- Work closely with the auditor/censors and with the local authority’s specialised department; they can help identify and correct problems before they escalate.
- When in doubt about the legality of a resolution or contract, seek legal advice in advance rather than defending a lawsuit later.
10. Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
1. How long do I have to challenge a general meeting resolution?
Law 196/2018 no longer contains a short, special time limit (such as 15 or 45 days). Article 52 simply states that any owner or person who considers that one of their rights has been harmed may bring an action in court if the resolution breaches the law, the statute or the association agreement, or if it prejudices owners’ interests. Legal commentary indicates that, in the absence of a special time limit, the general three-year limitation period in the Civil Code applies to actions for relative nullity, while actions for absolute nullity (breach of mandatory rules) are in principle not subject to prescription.
2. What can I do if I disagree with the service-charge list?
You have 10 days from the date the list is posted to lodge a written complaint with the association, requesting explanations and, where appropriate, supporting documents. The president must reply in writing within 10 days. If the problem is not resolved, you can address the auditor/censors and the specialised department of the town hall. Ultimately, you can bring a court action to challenge the calculation and request correction and repayment of any amounts unduly charged.
3. Can the association cut off my water or heating if I have arrears?
Law 196/2018 does not give associations a general unilateral right to cut off utilities to individual flats. The law allows them to apply penalties, to sue in court and to enforce judgments (for example, through attachment or enforcement against the flat), but interruption of water, heating or other utilities is governed primarily by sector-specific legislation and contracts with utility providers, not by a simple resolution of the association. Any attempt to “disconnect” an individual owner without respecting that specific framework can itself be unlawful.
4. Can I be forced to pay for the lift if I live on the ground floor?
As a rule, no owner is exempt from contributing to common expenses simply because they say they do not use part of the common property. However, Law 196/2018 allows general meetings, under certain conditions, to exempt owners living at the basement, mezzanine or ground floor (and sometimes first floor) from paying certain lift-related energy costs. If no valid resolution granting such an exemption exists, the general rule of contribution to common expenses applies.
5. What can I do if the administrator refuses to show me the association’s documents?
Under Article 28(1), owners have the right to be informed about all aspects of the association’s activity and to request in writing and receive copies of any document, bearing only the copying costs. If the administrator or president refuses, you can escalate to the executive committee and the auditor/censors, and, if the situation persists, to the specialised department of the town hall and the courts. Repeated refusal may also constitute a contravention under Article 102, exposing those responsible to fines.
6. Can I be subject to enforcement for unpaid service charges and what protection do I have?
Yes. If arrears exceed the deadlines laid down by the law and internal regulations and remain unpaid despite notices, the association may sue you for the outstanding amount. The claim is exempt from court fees and, once the association obtains a final judgment, it can enforce it through attachment of income or even enforcement against your flat, supported by the legal mortgage and general privilege established by Article 80. Your main protections are the legal limits on penalties (maximum 0.2% per day, not exceeding the principal), the right to contest the calculation of the debt and procedures in court, and, in practice, the possibility to negotiate instalments before enforcement reaches this stage.