- In Armenia the remaining public stock is scattered. Likely more than 5 percent of the stock is located in buildings with mixed public-private unit ownership. By 2002 more than 40 percent of urban apartments were in condominiums; however, only half of these are reported to be active in management.<sup>27</sup> At least one-third of Armenian housing stock must thus be considered to be in buildings without clear ownership of common areas and land. Reinforcing the perception of continued public quasi-ownership, only a small part of the former public maintenance companies in Armenia has been privatized; in either form they continue to monopolize the maintenance market and provide poor services. Maintenance fees are low and usually set by local governments, which often bow to political pressure from the remaining public tenants and privatized owners.<sup>28</sup>

- In Lithuania the share of housing stock in buildings with mixed public-private apartment ownership resulting from privatization is unknown. In our judgment, it is likely higher than 10 percent. Only about 15 percent of the privatized units in M-F stock are in buildings that have a condominium form; for the remainder ownership of common areas and land is unclear. Many of these units are reported to be under-maintained and frequently require urgent rehabilitation - especially for energy savings, given the country’s severe winters. They continue to be serviced entirely by local governments and public utilities, with the exception of district heating, which has been outsourced under a national management contract in the capital city and few other cities. The limited modernization and rehabilitation programs are heavily subsidized.<sup>29</sup>

- Poland is the only studied country where the issue of unclear common area ownership is of less critical relevance, because it was obligatory to form condominium-style homeowners’ associations (HOA) at the moment apartments were privatized. The limited privatization activity during transition has led to a heterogeneous ownership structure, including a large municipal and cooperative sector. Legislation also strengthened the incentives to transfer the management of apartment buildings from municipalities to professional property managers.<sup>30</sup> The under-pricing of municipal management /maintenance services has been reduced with the privatization of many municipally owned housing servicing companies.

- In Romania, according to government estimates, 34 percent of M-F buildings and 42 percent of high-rise units are reported as having mixed public-private individual apartment ownership.<sup>31</sup> About half of the apartment stock is organized in condominiums. This leaves at least 20 percent of the housing stock without clear ownership structure for common areas and surrounding grounds. The lack of professional management and low maintenance contributions by owners is a bid problem. Maintenance of private

- 27  See Hamilton and Vecvagare (2003) and Desilets and Vanoyan (2003).

- 28  See UN-ECE (2004c).

- 29  See Morkunaite et al. (2003).

> 30  In 1997 Poland introduced a state licensing system for property managers employed in managing residential properties. Other legislation constrained the voting rights of municipalities in condominiums in which they still owned units, thus facilitating a change in property management.

- 31  See UN-ECE (2001).

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