Wohnen im Eigentum and BfW – Bank für Wohnungswirtschaft AG start cooperation
Wohnen im Eigentum, the nationwide consumer protection association for private property owners, rounds off its offer for self-managed homeowners’ associations (WEG) through a cooperation with BfW – Bank für Wohnungswirtschaft AG. The bank, which specialises in the housing industry, offers self-managed owners’ associations an uncomplicated way to open joint accounts.
More and more HOAs are opting for self-administration. One of the challenges here is opening a condominium account, as many banks are not sufficiently familiar with the specifics of condominiums. The nationwide consumer protection association for private property owners, Wohnen im Eigentum (WiE), now also supports self-managed condominiums in opening accounts in cooperation with BfW – Bank für Wohnungswirtschaft AG. This offers both a clearing account for current payment transactions and a fixed-term deposit or call money account for the investment of reserves with attractive interest rates.
“We are very pleased to be able to further expand our offer for self-managed condominiums and to be able to provide concrete support in the often challenging account opening,” says Dr. Sandra von Möller, CEO of WiE. “With BfW – Bank für Wohnungswirtschaft, we have found a very experienced cooperation partner who is very familiar with the special features and needs of WEG, especially of self-governing communities, and has aligned its business model accordingly.”
As part of the new cooperation with the BfW – Bank für Wohnungswirtschaft, WiE members from self-managed condominiums receive the clearing account for the condominium free of charge for three months, thus saving on monthly fees during this period. The offer also includes a free fixed-term deposit or call money account for investing the condominium reserves.
The consumer protection association supports apartment owners both in the decision for self-administration and in its legally compliant establishment and in everyday life. The offer includes legal advice, working materials, checklists, sample templates, training courses and exchange formats that are specially tailored to the needs of self-managed condominiums. Many of these offers are free of charge for members. At the same time, the association is politically committed to greater legal recognition and better framework conditions for self-governing owners’ associations.
“We want to make it as easy as possible for self-managed condominiums to open an account in their name,” explains Sandra Mummert, sales expert at BfW – Bank für Wohnungswirtschaft. “The cooperation also takes into account market developments in the medium and long term with a view to the increasing number of self-managed condominiums,” Mummert continues. The BfW – Bank für Wohnungswirtschaft specialises in homeowners’ associations. In addition to condominium accounts, it also offers condominium loans and rental deposits.
No legal entitlement to a condominium account
Many banks have limited experience in dealing with self-managed condominiums and therefore either offer no account solutions or no suitable account solutions. Since there is no legal entitlement to a condominium account, banks are not obliged to provide condominium accounts. Many institutions fear an increased administrative burden – for example, due to changing contact persons within the community or due to a lack of professional experience on the part of the apartment owners involved.
Condominium own account is essential
Some self-managed condominiums therefore make do with a private account in the name of an individual apartment owner – which is just as legally impermissible as an account in the name of the administrator. “The account holder must always be the WEG,” emphasizes Mummert. This is because, according to case law, only a condominium account, also known as an open third-party account, complies with the principles of proper administration. Such an account enables the strict separation between private finances and condominium funds, thus ensuring the greatest possible transparency within the community. Accounts in the name of individual owners or the management, on the other hand, carry considerable risks: they can be seized by creditors in the event of personal claims against the person concerned. According to case law, even an account expressly managed as an escrow account does not offer sufficient protection for the condominium funds.
Background
There are around 9.3 million condominiums in Germany. According to estimates by the German government, around 10 percent of these are self-managed – and the trend is rising.
