Collective renovation decisions in multi-owned housing management: the case of public–private homeowners associations in Poland

Abstract

The increasing popularity of multi-owned housing in various parts of the world and the need to constantly maintain these stocks in good condition raises issues of collective renovation decisions made by groups of unit owners in this housing sector. The main aim of the study was to identify the exogenous factors influencing collective decision-making actions of public–private homeowners associations regarding common property renovations in the management of housing condominiums in Poland. To achieve this aim, an original multi-stage top-down research methodology was applied. As the dependent variable representing the success of collective decision-making actions on common property renovations, the renovation fund rate passed by homeowners associations was adopted. Empirical research was conducted on representative samples of public–private homeowners associations with the participation of the municipality of Olsztyn in Poland. The results showed that building age, the number of unit owners and the share of the municipality in the common property significantly influenced renovation fund rates, ceteris paribus, with the influence of the former factor being positive and the others negative. This confirmed the hypothesis that the municipalities tend to negatively influence the collective renovation decisions of public–private homeowners associations by their shares in common properties. This study contributes to collective action theory when public and private actors co-participate in group decision-making and has far-reaching policy and practical implications. Hence, further research on this topic in different markets and institutional arrangements is recommended.