Capacity of Professional Specialists in Residential Housing Management in Latvia

The issue of residential housing management, depending on the chosen form of the residential housing administration, is topical both from the perspective of residential building apartment owners, if apartment owners have chosen to manage the building themselves, and from the residential house manager’s point of view, if the management of the residential building has been entrusted to a professional manager. This is justified by the fact that the process of residential housing maintenance and management is based on knowledge, experience and financial resources; besides, it should be carried out by meeting the existing legislative requirements of the European Union and the Republic of Latvia, as well as the interests of the apartment owners.

In Latvia, in order to manage a residential building, the administrator is required to have appropriate professional education, which, according to the Law of Residential Housing Management, should be at least the 4^th level of Professional Qualification accepted in Latvia (the 5^th level of European Qualifications Framework, EQK, and Latvian Qualifications Framework, LQK).

The topicality of the study is related to the fact that in Latvia the law stipulates that a residential housing manager should have vocational education, which can be obtained at a number of public educational institutions. In the management process owners can choose their preferred management model, but right now the Register of the Ministry of Economics does not provide full information about the professionalism of an administrator. The goal of the study is determined by the topicality of the theme - to explore the existing models of residential housing management in the Latvian market and professional capacity of specialists involved in management. Within the framework of the study, statistical, qualitative and analytical methods have been used.

As at present in Latvia there is no unified system for the accounting of housing management education in the market, the research results will contribute to its development and creation.