Can the property company sue the owner for breach of contract?

It is a long-standing problem for the owners of residential quarters to decorate and build illegally. Whether the property company can sue these owners as plaintiffs and get the support of the court in the lawsuit has become a difficult problem in judicial practice. The author believes that this problem cannot be generalized, but depends on the specific stage of property management.

In the early stage of property management, the property company can act as the plaintiff to sue the owner of the default decoration. In the residential area managed by a property company, the owner violated the behavior expressly prohibited in the House Use Convention signed when entering the house, and sealed his balcony with frameless glass windows without authorization. The property management company's repeated work was invalid, so it had to sue to the court as a plaintiff. Cases range from summary courts to collegiate benches. After three court trials, the property company finally got the support of the court. In its reply to the property management lawsuit, the Municipal Higher People's Court held a positive attitude towards the lawsuit filed by the property management company because some owners violated the residential use convention during the early property management period.

After the establishment of the community industry Committee, the situation is different. In the residential area managed by a property company, the owner violated the behavior expressly prohibited by the signed "House Use Convention" when entering the house, and closed the balcony with frameless glass windows. The property company sued the court as a plaintiff, but it was rejected. The basis of the owner's (defendant's) agency is the "two terminations" in Article 48 of the Regulations of Shanghai Municipality on Residential Property Management, that is, "when the owners' convention deliberated and adopted by the owners' assembly or the owners' congress comes into effect, the residential use convention is terminated. When the property management service contract signed by the owners' committee and the property management enterprise selected by the owners' committee comes into effect, the previous property management service contract is terminated. "... As the residential use convention signed by the property management company and the owners in the early stage terminated with the entry into force of the owners' convention deliberated and adopted by the owners' congress or the owners' congress, it is inevitable that the property management company will be rejected as a plaintiff in the court.

After the establishment of the industry committee, if the property management company wants to bring a lawsuit against the owners who violate the contract, it can only take the actions of specific owners who violate the explicit prohibition in the owners' convention adopted by the owners' assembly, and in the name of the owners' committee. It is clear in the answer of the Municipal Higher People's Court on handling property management litigation that after the establishment of the owners' committee, if some owners violate the owners' convention, the owners' committee may bring a civil lawsuit against a specific owner on the grounds of violating the owners' convention.

It is worth noting that in judicial practice, there is no clear agreement in the owners' convention on the decoration and illegal construction of the owners. Unless all the owners of the community agree to file a lawsuit, it is difficult to get the support of the court.