Article 49. The Association’s Contracting of Intermediated Services and Liability for Their Payment

(1) An association’s administrator concludes each contract for the provision of intermediated services with the supplier following its approval by resolution of the general meeting. The same rule applies to the amendment of such contracts.
(2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), an association’s administrator concludes the contract for the provision of intermediated services with the supplier without the approval of the general meeting under the following conditions:
a) the owners, or some of them, need the respective service, and there is no general meeting resolution refusing it;
b) the contract corresponds to the template or type approved by the National Regulatory Authority for Energy (ANRE) or another competent authority; and
c) the cost of services is set as a tariff by ANRE or another competent authority.
(3) From the date of conclusion of a contract for the provision of intermediated services between the association and the supplier, the following legal effects are triggered:
a) the supplier provides the service to each unit owner, for as long as they are the owner, and to each adult possessor of the unit, for as long as they factually possess it (all together referred to in this article as intermediated service consumers);
b) each intermediated service consumer, although not having concluded a contract for the provision of intermediated services, is deemed, by virtue of this law, a party to the contract for the provision of intermediated services, as a service consumer, except for consumers who have an individual contract with the respective service provider under the law;
c) intermediated service consumers of a unit are jointly obligated to pay the supplier the cost of services allocated to the unit they own or possess, according to invoices issued by the supplier or other intermediaries contracted by the supplier or association;
d) the supplier is responsible for providing the service to the intermediated service consumer, including its reliability and quality, except for shortcomings caused by the condominium’s infrastructure, for which the association is responsible;
e) the association is not bound to pay the supplier for intermediated services provided to intermediated service consumers, and these services do not constitute expenses of the association;
f) the association is bound to provide the supplier with all necessary information it holds for invoicing regarding measurement equipment installed in the condominium and not in the units;
g) the association and each intermediated service consumer may bring claims against the supplier for breach of the contract for the provision of intermediated services, including in respect of its reliability and quality;
h) the association is not responsible for presenting the readings of measurement equipment installed in the unit by the intermediated service consumer;
i) subject to the normative acts, the supplier allocates to units the cost of all intermediated services and invoices them directly, including the cost allocated to:
– units disconnected from the service;
– units for which measurement equipment readings are not provided;
– units whose measurement equipment is no longer compliant with the law;
j) failure to pay by some intermediated service consumers may not serve as grounds for completely disconnecting the building from the electrical, thermal, gas networks, water supply and sewage systems, or limiting and stopping the provision of these services to those unit owners and their possessors who fulfill all their payment obligations as intermediated service consumers under the contract for the provision of intermediated services.
(4) This article does not apply to the allocation between the association and the supplier of expenses to repair the condominium’s infrastructure used in the provision of intermediated services.
(5) An owner may not terminate a contract for the provision of intermediated services. The resolution on the termination of an intermediated services provision contract is taken by the general meeting. From the date of termination or cessation on another legal basis of a contract for the provision of intermediated services, the intermediated service consumers cease to be a party to this contract.
(6) This Article applies regardless of the specific name of the contract with the supplier as long as its subject matter is intermediated services.
(7) Any term in a contract for the provision of intermediated services that deviates from a provision of this Article to the detriment of the association or the unit owners and possessors is null and void (subject to absolute nullity).