ZGRADONAČELNIK Dolores Sorić

Guest Dolores OrićHosted by Tin BašićMay 3, 2026

Dolores Orić

About this episode

What you'll hear in this conversation

Croatia's new draft law on building management promises to redefine the roles of managers and co-owners, introducing legal personality for buildings and mandatory annual plans. But as Dolores Orić, Director of Labin Stan, points out, clarity often comes with new complexities. While the legislation addresses long-standing issues, it also brings 'a lot of headaches,' as she puts it, for those on the ground. Orić's company, Labin Stan, manages nearly 600 buildings and has overseen the renovation of a hundred of them, often cited by peers as a model for energy efficiency projects. Her perspective is shaped by 25 years in the trenches, navigating both regulatory shifts and the often-skeptical views of co-owners. This conversation delves into the specifics of the new law – its strengths and its contradictions – and uncovers what it truly takes to drive large-scale community improvements, beyond just good intentions or legal frameworks.

Insights from the conversation

What to take from this episode

The new law's provision for a register of co-owner communities, granting buildings legal personality, resolves many past administrative hurdles. When a property can act as its own legal entity, it streamlines processes that previously bogged down management.

Managers often spend significant time developing annual maintenance plans, only for co-owners to ignore or fail to return them signed. The new law making these plans mandatory for acceptance forces co-owners to engage with their property's needs, transforming a neglected document into a tool for accountability.

The current minimum reserve fund for buildings is notoriously insufficient, often barely covering basic needs. By tying the new minimum to the benchmark value of socially-subsidized housing, the law takes a step towards more realistic funding, even if it still lags market rates.

A manager is required by law to address urgent repairs, like a fire or major water leak, within three hours. Yet, the new draft law demands consent from either a co-owner representative or 20% of co-owners for these same urgent interventions. When speed is critical, a bureaucratic approval step can turn a solvable problem into a larger disaster.

The definition of an urgent repair hinges on assessment by an 'expert person' to determine immediate danger. However, the law fails to specify whether this expert is an internal manager, an external consultant, or someone else entirely. Without clear roles, even well-intentioned processes can stall in confusion.

The new law imposes higher fines on legal entities than on physical persons for committing the same infraction. If the goal is compliance, then the penalty should reflect the offense, not the corporate structure of the entity carrying it out.

Other building managers often describe Labin Stan's energy renovation projects as 'working wonders.' Dolores Orić clarifies that they 'just did our job.' What often appears extraordinary from the outside is, from the inside, simply the result of consistent, diligent execution of core responsibilities over a long period.

Dolores Orić insists that 'the key to success is always the co-owners,' not the managing company itself. Even the most dedicated manager cannot drive large-scale improvements without a group of property owners who understand their long-term responsibility and actively pursue it.

Many co-owners perceive building managers as an unnecessary burden. Orić's motivation to pursue co-financed renovation projects was to directly counter this perception and prove that managers 'can be useful.' When faced with skepticism, the most effective response is to deliver visible, undeniable value.

Labin Stan's renovation success wasn't solely internal; it relied on strong support from the City of Labin and a local network of skilled contractors and architects. When 'everything was done in Labin,' as Orić notes, it shows how large-scale community projects thrive not just on internal dedication, but on a cohesive local ecosystem of partners.

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