The installation of elevators in refugee neighborhoods is being driven into new adventures after the opinion of the Legal Service that the consent of all the owners of the building is required.
Before the issuance and granting of title deeds, the state had proceeded to install elevators in a number of apartment buildings since consent was not required.
Later the issue stumbled with the relevant authorities being asked to resolve a huge spat in a large number of cases where owners, mostly of ground floor housing, did not give the go-ahead because they would lose part of the land. The result is that a large number of elderly citizens, people with mobility problems or chronic illnesses who have to go to doctors very often are inconvenienced.
The issue is not a current one and has been discussed countless times in the Refugee Committee, which requested an opinion from the Legal Service, which was communicated to it on Tuesday.
The opinion says consent is required, however a window of hope remains open as, as a representative of the Land Registry told the meeting, it may be possible to interpret a relevant section of the legislation and translate consent into a general meeting resolution.
In this case each owner has a vote in proportion to the area of his/her flat, but it must be ensured that the decision of the meeting, which may resolve the problem, will be binding.
At the meeting a representative of the planning department said that the plan is to install lifts in 368 existing blocks of flats. So far they have been installed in 115 and work is underway on another 130 for which contracts have been advertised or bids are being invited.
He said that in most apartment buildings there are titles of ownership and therefore consent is needed. The owners, he said, refuse because they feel they are not affected or lose some of their privileges. The NYC opinion, she said, explicitly states that any encroachment on common property requires consent from everyone.
The department spokeswoman cited the many difficulties her department faces in locating owners for consent and described the process as extremely lengthy.
She said that in 42 apartment buildings only one-third of the owners consented.
She said her department approached people who were elderly or with mobility or other problems and asked them to submit requests for an assessment of their needs and for programming to be prioritized, either to move to another apartment or to build another home in vacant spaces in apartment buildings.
But he said that even in these cases problems are encountered as they cannot find contractors for construction or the tender may be cancelled and re-tendered, a process that takes some months.
On behalf of the Land Registry, it was said at the meeting that a solution might be for a decision to be taken by majority vote at a general meeting which would perhaps remove the problems of consent. The representative noted that the committee could look at this possibility with an amendment which would however interpret the law for everyone and not just for government settlements.
Refugee Committee Chairman Nikos Ketteros said after the meeting that there was perhaps a window of hope for removing the problems and added that the committee would study the issue in detail for an amendment, reflect thoroughly and come back.
DISY MP Rita Superman asked in which cases disabled or elderly people were staying to get the answer that it was the majority of those staying.
DIKO MP Christos Senekis said in the meeting that there is a question of dignity for elderly people or people with mobility problems or other illnesses who live on higher floors and are inconvenienced on a daily basis.
The meeting was told that 193 lifts are currently being maintained in government housing estates at a cost of €200,000 per year. The maintenance department also bears the utilities (electricity and water) at a cost of around 50,000 euros per year.
It was said that for a paraplegic woman, whose case also saw the light of day, if a house on the ground floor becomes vacant, she will be moved there, but this approach cannot be general because all houses now have title deeds and there are very few permits.
It was also stated by a representative of the electromechanical service that there is an audit on installation and maintenance and co-ordinating officers are appointed as contractors with specific responsibilities.
It was said by a representative of the Fire Service that it is a long standing position to install lifts in all buildings and this helps both the residents and the services that come to help. It was mentioned that the Fire Department receives calls over time for transporting patients, transporting overweight people, etc.
To submit to the Commission a structural study for unrepairable apartment buildings and inform the stakeholders
The issue of 43 apartment buildings for which there is a structural study from 2019 that defines them as unrepairable was raised again at the meeting.
It was said by a representative of the Land Registry that the structural adequacy of these buildings is no different from others built in the same period with the same materials and that most of them were erected when the seismic code had not been implemented by law.
According to the information submitted to the Commission, there is a budget of EUR 140 million for reconstructions and that four projects are under way in Strovolos 2, Agios Mamas, Agioi Anargyros and Agios Athanasios. The representative of the department also mentioned problems in cases where houses have title and are mortgaged, erected on T/C land or where there is a question of consent due to many heirs.
It was also mentioned that although after the granting of title and the lapse of five years the state is not responsible for repairs, it does so because there is a question of safety and health of the residents.
Committee Chairman Nikos Kettiros said that this structural study should finally be submitted to the Parliament and communicated to the stakeholders as well.
Update of the committee on the delay in the payment of the monthly honorary allowance to the fallen - prisoners of war
On the above issue, the committee asked for an update as the honorary allowance has not yet been paid. The Chairman of the committee said that the allowance amounts to 2,000 euros per year and will be paid in 2 semesters (1,000 euros each time)
He said that it will be paid to those who are registered in a special register of the Ministry of Labour and urged those who are not registered to do so immediately. The Ministry of Finance said the first instalment would be paid by the end of July.
Christos Senekis expressed his discomfort because, he said, the issue was in the preconditions for DIKO to pass the budget with an additional 1.5 million budget for these allowances.
Update on delay in granting financial sponsorship to refugee clubs
On the issue of non-payment of financial sponsorship to the clubs Ethnikos Achnas and Nea Salamina for repairs to their stadiums, the committee was told that this issue does not concern the Ministry of Finance but the COA.
MPs expressed displeasure because, as they said at a previous meeting, a representative of the Ministry of Finance had requested the submission of invoices for the expenses and now something completely different is being said, namely that the issue concerns the CMO.
In the committee it was mentioned by a representative of the Ministry of Finance that the Ministry of Education is responsible for such grants, and that if the CTO, with a budget of 41 million, convinces the Ministry of Finance that it cannot pay them , "then we will see, but in any case it concerns the CTO."
Source: CNA
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