2025-01-09
The first line on your monthly apartment bill is the “Management Fee.” Many associate this fee with cleaning the building and surrounding areas or routine maintenance tasks, like replacing light bulbs, fixing stairwell door locks, cleaning rain gutters, or similar daily services. In practice, however, the management fee encompasses much broader responsibilities for maintaining the building and ensuring residents’ convenience.
Beyond day-to-day maintenance, property management involves the work of consultants, financial experts, legal advisors, IT professionals, engineers, construction specialists, and others.
A key task is planning for the building’s technical upkeep. Once a year, a property manager and technical specialist inspect the building and prepare a list of necessary repairs and cost estimates for the next three years. These repairs are funded from the building’s savings.
Clients of Rīgas namu pārvaldnieks have access to comprehensive support every day. This includes communication and information via the e-parvaldnieks.lv portal, the RNP mobile app, or the free information hotline at 8900. Each building is assigned a specific property manager as a contact person. For emergencies, residents can receive assistance 24/7 by calling the toll-free number 8000 8989.
Managing a building also means ensuring safe and professional financial operations. Payments for utilities are forwarded to service providers immediately, so residents don’t need to sign contracts or pay providers individually—all services are consolidated into one convenient bill.
Building savings are securely stored in term deposits with the State Treasury and distributed across major Latvian commercial banks for maximum safety. If banks pay interest on the deposited funds, it is added to the building’s savings.
In cases where apartments accumulate debt, the property manager acts in the owners’ best interests, ranging from sending reminders and warnings to pursuing debt recovery in court.
Additionally, the property manager assists in decision-making for the building. This includes organizing and leading apartment owner meetings and preparing documentation to help owners make informed decisions about their property’s development.
The management fee also covers other essential tasks, such as regular safety checks for elevators or quarterly pest prevention services in every building.
Management fees vary by building and are set individually, based on the specific needs of each property. Factors influencing costs include:
Every October, the property manager publishes the planned repairs and their costs for each building, along with the management fee for the upcoming year.
The fee may change if the costs of related services, resources, or labor in Latvia increase or decrease. Since there were no significant changes in these factors this year, the management fee has generally remained stable.
That said, some buildings have seen slight adjustments in their fees—either increases or decreases. Why? Certain tasks, such as tree and shrub maintenance or basement cleaning, aren’t needed every year. If such tasks are planned for the year, they slightly raise the fee. Conversely, if these tasks were completed in the previous year, the current fee may be lower.
Read more: My Home Savings: What You Need to Know
