Study title

Limited Liability Housing Companies Act's Functionality and Impact 2013: Property Managers

Dataset ID Number

FSD2939

Persistent identifiers

https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2939
https://doi.org/10.60686/t-fsd2939

Data Type

Quantitative

Authors

• Ministry of Justice

Other Identification/Acknowledgements

• Finnish Real Estate Federation
• Finnish Real Estate Management Federation
• Central Federation of Finnish Real Estate Agencies

Abstract

The survey investigated how the new Limited Liability Housing Companies Act 2010 (Asunto-osakeyhtiölaki) functioned in Finland, what its impact had been and how it had been implemented. Separate surveys were conducted for shareholders of limited liability housing companies, members of governing boards, property managers and estate agents. This dataset contains the responses of property managers.

Relating to management, the respondents were asked about the number of members in and frequency of meeting of the boards of their client companies, average time spent on a meeting, change in the time spent on meetings after 2010, division of labour within the boards, documents drawn up to guide the work of the boards, composition of the boards, and remuneration received by board members. Increase in demand for property management services was charted as well as documents in which the duties of the property manager had been set out by client companies, increase in the workload of the property manager, improvement in the management of client companies, increase in training provided for property managers, and the need for allowing a property management company to assume the tasks of a property manager.

Concerning auditing, topics included person/people responsible for financial/performance audit in client companies, differences in opinions about the duties of a performance auditor, and benefit of the performance audit to client companies.

Views were charted on information and communication by client companies, for instance, by asking whether invitations to meetings were sent out early enough, whether board members and chair answered shareholders' questions in the meetings, and whether shareholders were notified early enough about important decisions and plans made by the board. Further questions charting communication probed improvement/decline in communication by the board and property manager to shareholders after 2010, the property management company's means of communicating to shareholders, issues the property management company should notify the shareholders about (e.g. the company's financial situation, renovating and maintenance instructions), and whether an Act should be in place that lays down provisions on communication during the fiscal year.

Concerning building maintenance, views were charted on the boards' knowledge of the law and regulations relating to responsibilities of housing companies and shareholders in maintenance issues, and disputes between companies and shareholders about the division of maintenance costs. Relating to the maintenance needs report (which is required by law in cases when planned maintenance significantly affects the use of an apartment, company charges, or other costs incurred by the use of an apartment), questions charted, among others, discussion about the report in the meetings of client companies, shareholders' opportunities to go over the report before the meetings, things that should be included in the report (e.g. cost estimate, maintenance schedule), and the frequency of updating the report. Plans of building lifts in the buildings owned by client companies were surveyed as well as confusion caused by the division of costs of the lifts, and increase/decrease in the number of lifts built after 2010. Further questions studied reimbursements awarded to shareholders for making the renovations planned by the companies by themselves, and the equal distribution of maintenance costs.

Relating to renovations done by shareholders, questions examined rules set out for renovation notices by client companies, whether the respondents processed renovation notices, increase in the number of notices after 2010, and shareholders' neglect to file notices. Further questions about renovations investigated disputes resulting from the neglect to file a notice, processing fees for renovation notices, processing time of renovation notices, expert help hired by companies to assess renovation notices, supervision of and conditions set for the renovation by companies, and the effects of notices and supervision on the number of accidents related to renovations.

Perceptions of disputes and dispute resolution were surveyed. Increase or decrease in disputes between companies and shareholders after 2010 was studied as well as primary actors in resolving disputes. Finally, the respondents were asked, among other things, what the average waiting time for a property manager's certificate (isännöitsijäntodistus) was, whether the waiting time had increased or decreased, whether the cost of the certificate had been increased, and whether the property management company gave shareholders the certificate if they needed it for renting out their property.

Background variables included, among others, the respondent's gender, age, education, work experience in property management as well as the number of housing companies as clients, and the decade when buildings of the client companies had mainly been constructed.

Keywords

alternative dispute resolution; building maintenance; companies; conflict resolution; home ownership; housing; maintenance; real property law

Topic Classification

• Social sciences (Fields of Science Classification)
• Housing (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Legislation and legal systems (CESSDA Topic Classification)

Series

Individual datasets

Distributor

Finnish Social Science Data Archive

Access

The dataset is (A) openly available for all users without registration (CC BY 4.0).

Data Collector

• Ministry of Justice

Time Period Covered

2013

Collection Dates

2013-11-01 – 2013-12-18

Nation

Finland

Geographical Coverage

Finland

Analysis/Observation Unit Type

Individual

Organization/Institution

Event/Process/Activity

Universe

Property managers of limited liability housing companies

Time Method

Cross-section

Sampling Procedure

Non-probability: Availability

The data were collected through an online survey which was available on the otakantaa.fi website - a forum for citizens provided by the Ministry of Justice. Link to the survey was also distributed by the organisations participating in conducting the survey, that is, the Finnish Real Estate Federation, the Finnish Real Estate Management Federation and the Central Federation of Finnish Real Estate Agencies. The organisations notified their clients about the survey by email, on websites and in publications for members. In total, 720 property managers responded to the survey.

Collection Mode

Self-administered questionnaire: Web-based (CAWI)

Research Instrument

Structured questionnaire

Data File Language

Downloaded data package may contain different language versions of the same files.

The data files of this dataset are available in the following languages: Finnish.

FSD translates quantitative data into English on request, free of charge. More information on ordering data translation.

Data Version

1.0

Related Datasets

FSD2937 Limited Liability Housing Companies Act's Functionality and Impact 2013: Shareholders

FSD2938 Limited Liability Housing Companies Act's Functionality and Impact 2013: Board Members

FSD2940 Limited Liability Housing Companies Act's Functionality and Impact 2013: Estate Agents

Weighting

There are no weight variables in the data.

Citation Requirement

The data and its creators shall be cited in all publications and presentations for which the data have been used. The bibliographic citation may be in the form suggested by the archive or in the form required by the publication.

Bibliographical Citation

Ministry of Justice: Limited Liability Housing Companies Act's Functionality and Impact 2013: Property Managers [dataset]. Version 1.0 (2014-05-20). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2939

Deposit Requirement

Notify FSD of all publications where you have used the data by sending the citation information to user-services.fsd@tuni.fi.

Disclaimer

The original data creators and the archive bear no responsibility for any results or interpretations arising from the reuse of the data.

Related Materials

Tervonen, Markus (2014). Vuoden 2010 asunto-osakeyhtiölain toimivuus, vaikutukset ja muutostarve: Yhteenveto syksyn 2013 kyselyiden palautteesta. Helsinki: Oikeusministeriö. Oikeusministeriön julkaisuja 20/2014. urn:isbn:978-952-259-371-9

Related Publications

Tervonen, Markus (2014). Vuoden 2010 asunto-osakeyhtiölain toimivuus, vaikutukset ja muutostarve: Yhteenveto syksyn 2013 kyselyiden palautteesta. Helsinki: Oikeusministeriö. Oikeusministeriön julkaisuja 20/2014. urn:isbn:978-952-259-371-9