Summary

The legal status of apartment associations as non-profit associations of apartment owners is regulated by the Apartment Ownership Act in Estonia. However, several legal problems have arisen in the implementation of this Act. The issue whether joining an apartment association is compulsory is not resolved unequivocally by the legislation. Nevertheless, based on the principles of the Law of Property Act, it is clear that an apartment owner as a co-owner of a dwelling is required to make expenses according to the share belonging to him or her. In other words, an apartment association binds, from the point of view of the law of obligations, persons who are also bound pursuant to the law of property. To secure a right of claim for an apartment association, the law prescribes the obligation of an apartment owner to establish a mortgage for the benefit of the apartment association in the first vacant ranking. However, unlike the corresponding German law, the Estonian law does not amend the procedure prescribed by the Law of Property Act for establishment of a mortgage on an apartment. To establish a mortgage on an apartment, the expression of intention by an apartment owner is required.