The responsibility for maintaining and repairing common balconies of apartment buildings is borne by the manager of the association or of dwellers’ cooperative. As the dwellers do not show interest, the managers often neglect this responsibility, the deputy head of the Chisinau General Housing and Amenities Division Gennady Dubița has told IPN. A visual inspection carried out a year ago in the capital city identified over 30 damaged balconies, with crumbling plaster or rusty metal elements.

Gennady Dubița said the specialized examination of apartment buildings is not within the Division’s remit. “What we saw is that we have many balconies in a bad state. Given that a balcony collapsed earlier, we informed the managers that they are obliged to ensure maintenance works are carried out,” he stated.

Where there is no manager, the block dwellers who are apartment owners must convoke the General Assembly, found an association, take over the management of the block and assume the maintenance of common use spaces, including common balconies. “The damaging of balconies, common use spaces, roofs, networks and basements has a direct impact on the general state of the block. The better we maintain an apartment building, the more valuable the person’s apartment will be. The owners are directly interested in the organization of the correct management of the block. Regrettably, many persons do not realize this and shirk their responsibilities,” stated Gennady Dubița.

As to the balconies of apartments, each apartment owner is responsible for the state of these.

The balustrade of a balcony of an eighth-floor apartment located on Decebeal St in Chisinau collapsed in 2020. In 2014, two men suffered injuries when a sixth-floor balcony on Coca St in Buiucani district on which they stood caved in. After this incident, the Buiucani district head’s office constituted an inspection commission, while the managers were obliged to examine the balconies of all the apartment buildings.