Rental and Management Policy of Municipal Residential Buildings: Housing Policy. Case Study of Riga (Part One)

The present scientific article is the first part of two publications, where the authors obtain results from the scientific research for municipal residential property legal aspects and housing policy, as well as risks in the maintenance of the housing stock. To ensure the fulfillment of the functions prescribed by law in relation to the provision of living space, each municipality owns a number of rental apartments. Some municipalities even build special dwellings aimed to fulfil this function. Housing management involves the implementation of a specific process prescribed by both the law and the principles of good governance. However, all management processes are subject to risks that can endanger the implementation of the entire management process. To ensure efficient and high-quality maintenance of the management process, risk assessment is required. In order to successfully implement all these activities, first of all, there is a need for a legal framework that will stipulate the obligations, responsibilities, rights of the persons involved, as well as a series of measures that determine the actions to be taken to ensure the successful maintenance of the housing stock. The aim of the article is to investigate and analyse the regulation of the rent of the legal relations of the municipal property that is used as rental apartments, the management processes of municipal residential property and their compliance with regulatory enactments, as well as to define risks that prevent the efficient and high-quality maintenance of the housing stock.