Lift replacement in apartment buildings

Old shaft: will a larger car fit

Sometimes yes, and the site survey decides. At 164 Liubinska St. in Lviv, we installed a 630 kg lift with 900 mm doors in place of a 320 kg lift with 650 mm doors, in the same shaft. To do this, we used a cantilever lift with a gearless traction machine and widened and reinforced the door openings. Now a pushchair can be wheeled into the car and furniture carried in.

Whether this will work in your building depends on the space around the old car, the position of the counterweight and the door opening. If your entrance has only one lift, we recommend 630 kg: a pushchair does not fit into a 400 kg car. A typical shaft in an old multi-storey block is designed for 320 kg, so we check a larger car during the site survey.

What remains of the old lift

• Machine room. An old building usually already has a room above the shaft, and it is often better to keep it: the traction machine is easier to reach there during repairs. A machine-room-less lift is also possible if the pit depth and headroom are sufficient.
• Pit and top of the shaft. A shallow pit or low headroom is not in itself a reason to give up on a replacement: there are versions made for exactly such shafts. This has to be planned from the start, because the design of the lift depends on it.
• Door openings. Wider doors mean work on the openings on every floor: we widen and reinforce them.

Rated load, speed and drive types are compared on the passenger lifts page. The shaft dimensions to take before you talk to us are shown on the prices page, in the section "What we need for a quote".

What changes the cost estimate for a replacement

Older housing stock brings a few recurring surprises. It is better to know about them before the budget is approved.

Besides the equipment itself, the cost of a replacement covers removal of the old lift with disposal of the scrap metal, repair of the shaft walls and embedded anchors for the guide rails, electrical work, installation, testing and documentation, and remote monitoring if needed. All cost items are broken down on the "Lift prices" page. If the site survey shows that a full replacement is not needed and modernization will do, we will tell you so.

Who orders a lift replacement

In an apartment building, lift replacement is decided by the co-owners, that is, the owners of apartments and non-residential premises. How exactly they make the decision depends on whether the building has a homeowners association (OSBB).

• Building without an OSBB: decisions are made by the co-owners' meeting under Article 10 of the Law of Ukraine "On the Specifics of Exercising Ownership Rights in an Apartment Building" of 14.05.2015 No. 417-VIII. The law expressly includes among its powers "carrying out current and major repairs, reconstruction and restoration of the common property of an apartment building and selecting contractors to carry out such work". The general rule: a decision is adopted if it is voted for by the owners of apartments and non-residential premises whose combined area exceeds 50% of the total area of all apartments and non-residential premises in the building. For certain decisions the law requires more than 75%. The decision is recorded in minutes.
• Without an OSBB, a decision by one entrance: if certain common property is used by only some of the co-owners, for example the owners of apartments in one entrance, the co-owners' meeting may delegate the power to make decisions on that property to this group, provided this does not infringe the rights of the other co-owners. In that case a decision is adopted if it is voted for by the owners of apartments and non-residential premises whose combined area exceeds 75% of the total area of all apartments and non-residential premises in that entrance (part 29 of the same article).
• Building with an OSBB: meetings are held and decisions made under the law on associations of co-owners (part 1 of Article 10 of Law No. 417-VIII). Under Article 10 of the Law of Ukraine "On Associations of Co-owners of an Apartment Building" of 29.11.2001 No. 2866-III, "making a decision on the reconstruction and repair of the apartment building" is reserved solely to the general meeting of the association. A decision is adopted when it is voted for by co-owners who together hold more than half of the votes of all co-owners, unless the law or the OSBB's charter requires more.

From here there are two ways forward. The building can order the replacement itself and choose a contractor. Or, in Lviv, the building can take part in the city's co-financing programme, and then the roles are divided as follows:

• The building (in the programme it is the "programme participant"): the co-owners (including in housing cooperative buildings), the OSBB, the building manager or the housing services provider. The participant makes the decision and submits the application, raises its share of the funds and uses it to pay for the design and cost estimate documentation and its expert review, inspects the building together with the spending unit and draws up the design brief, and takes part in monitoring the works and in the readiness check.
• The key spending unit, hereafter simply the spending unit: for lifts, this is the district administration or the Department of Housing and Infrastructure of Lviv City Council. It reviews the application, surveys the building, draws up the title list, signs a cooperation agreement with the building, commissions the design and cost estimate documentation, runs the procurement of the works, signs the contract with the contractor and checks the readiness of the facility together with the building.
• The contractor: whoever wins the procurement. It carries out the works, prepares the completion certificates and hands over the facility. We have been carrying out such contracts with the district administrations and the department since 2017; the list is below.

Co-financing in Lviv: budget up to 90%, residents at least 10%

In Lviv, the "Programme to support co-owners of apartment buildings, associations of co-owners of apartment buildings and co-owners of apartment buildings of housing construction cooperatives in carrying out urgent repairs, major repairs, reconstruction, and repair and restoration work on the common property of apartment buildings in the Lviv City Territorial Community for 2019-2030" is in force. It was approved by Lviv City Council resolution No. 4821 of 04.04.2019 and extended to 2030 by resolution No. 7313 of 18.12.2025. The sections on how to take part (section 4) and on the co-financing shares (section 5) were restated by resolution No. 3682 of 23.08.2023. The city council has published the current text with all amendments as an annex to resolution No. 4821 (a .doc file on the city council website). We checked the text and the list of amendments on 11.11.2026.

For "Replacement, modernization, major overhaul and remote monitoring of lifts", the programme sets: "Up to 90% from the budget of the Lviv City Territorial Community and at least 10% from the co-owners of the building". In other words, the community budget covers no more than 90% of the cost of the works, and the residents at least 10%. The programme gives this justification for these works: "Carrying out works in connection with the end of the 25-year service life and the expert inspection of the lift". The programme implementers for them are the Department of Housing and Infrastructure and the district administrations (clause 5.1 of the programme, row 9 of the table).

For another type of work, "Major overhaul and replacement of the main components of a lift", the proportion is different: the budget provides up to 50%, but no more than the cap set in the programme, and the co-owners at least 50%. The justification for such works is physical wear of a main lift component, based on an expert inspection. The only programme implementers for them are the district administrations (row 11 of the same table).

The programme names as participants the co-owners, OSBBs, building managers and housing services providers of buildings "that have been written off the balance sheets of Lviv municipal enterprises", as well as co-owners of housing cooperative buildings (programme passport, item 5). A building cannot take part for a type of work that has already been carried out with community budget funds since 1 January 2015 (clause 4.3).

How to take part: from the co-owners' decision to acceptance of the works

1. The co-owners decide on taking part in the programme and on the co-financing terms, record the decision in minutes and prepare an estimate of the expected cost of the works.
2. An authorised person submits the application to the spending unit through a territorial office of the Lviv Administrative Services Centre (TsNAP), together with the minutes and the estimate. It must be submitted within 14 calendar days after the development budget of the community budget for the year in question is adopted (clause 4.5).
3. Within 5 working days of the application being registered, the spending unit reviews it and publishes it in the Register of Processing of Programme Participants' Applications on the Lviv Open Data Portal, with its number, date and the address of the building (clause 4.6).
4. A commission inspects the building within 30 calendar days of the application being registered (clauses 4.7, 4.8).
5. The spending unit draws up a draft title list and notifies the participants. Approved title lists are published on the Lviv City Council website (clauses 4.9, 4.11, 4.12). How buildings are selected is explained below.
6. The building submits documents showing that it has the funds for its share of the approximate estimated cost of the works and, on the basis of a general meeting decision, signs a cooperation agreement with the spending unit. The agreement records the share from which the design and cost estimate documentation, its expert review and the advance to the contractor are paid (clauses 4.13, 4.14).
7. The spending unit inspects the building together with the programme participant and draws up the design brief, then selects who will prepare the design and cost estimate documentation and commissions it. The building pays for the documentation and its expert review from its share. If the cost of the works changes, a supplementary agreement to the cooperation agreement is signed (clauses 4.15-4.18).
8. The spending unit runs the procurement of the works and signs the contract with the winner. The contract allows the building to pay the contractor an advance equal to its share, less the cost of the documentation and the expert review, taking into account the price at which the tender was won (clauses 4.19, 4.20).
9. The contractor carries out the works. The programme provides for monitoring of the works with the mandatory involvement of the co-owners (clause 9.2).
10. After the works are completed, the spending unit and the building check that the facility is ready for operation. The check is carried out in accordance with executive committee decision No. 1191 of 29.12.2017 "On approval of the Regulation on the commission for determining the readiness (partial readiness) for operation of facilities financed from the development budget expenditure of the Lviv city budget..." (clause 4.21).

How buildings are selected

The programme describes the main selection criterion as follows: participation in co-financing, the unsatisfactory condition of the building and the size of the co-financing share (clause 4.10). Draft title lists are drawn up in the order in which applications are received, taking into account budget allocations and the co-financing share (clause 4.9). Points are awarded for the condition of the building: "Satisfactory" 1, "Unsatisfactory" 2, "Dilapidated" 3. And for the size of the share: "Meets the requirements of this Programme" 1, "10%-15% above the level provided for by the Programme" 2, "15% or more above the level provided for by the Programme" 3. So a larger residents' share earns the building more points.

Which documents the building needs to provide

• minutes of the co-owners' decision on taking part in the programme and on the co-financing terms;
• an estimate of the expected cost of the works;
• an application to the spending unit, submitted through a territorial office of the Administrative Services Centre (TsNAP);
• after the title list is approved: documents showing the funds for the building's share and the general meeting decision, on the basis of which the cooperation agreement is signed;
• the cooperation agreement with the spending unit and, if the cost of the works changes, a supplementary agreement to it.

This list is based on the text of the programme. We did not find a separate information sheet from the Administrative Services Centre (TsNAP) for this programme, so before applying, check the list with the centre, the district administration or the Department of Housing and Infrastructure.

Who runs the procurement

The procurement of the works is run by the spending unit, that is, the district administration or the Department of Housing and Infrastructure of Lviv City Council (clause 4.19 of the programme). It also signs the contract with the winning bidder, so the contractor is whoever wins the procurement (clause 4.20). The procurements in which we became the contractor in 2025-2026 were run by the district administrations and the department in Prozorro as open tenders.

Our replacement contracts in residential buildings

The 2026 contracts in Lviv are in the open Prozorro register. Each number links to the procurement page, which shows the contracting authority, the subject, the date and the amount.

Earlier in Lviv we replaced a 14-stop passenger lift at 12 Mykolaichuka St. (2019 contract) and carried out a modernization with lift replacement at 1 Vyhovskoho St. (2021 contract). The Shevchenkivskyi and Zaliznychnyi district administrations sent reference letters about this work; the Shevchenkivskyi administration's letter says: "no complaints". The letter numbers are on the "About us" page, and the other Lviv addresses on the "Lifts in Lviv" page.

What it looks like in practice

In 2025 the district administrations signed tripartite contracts with us. In them, the district administration is "Client-1" ("spending unit"), the building's OSBB is "Client-2" ("programme participant"), and both clients "undertake to accept and pay for the completed works" in accordance with the programme approved by resolution No. 4821. This is how the contracts of the Shevchenkivskyi District Administration at 45 Chornovola Ave. (entrance 7) and the Zaliznychnyi District Administration at 164 Liubinska St. (entrance 2) are drawn up.

The 2026 contracts at 78 Stryiska St. (with the Department of Housing and Infrastructure) and at 5b Kniahyni Olhy St. (with the Frankivskyi District Administration) are bilateral: the client and the contractor. The residents' share is recorded in them as a separate line of the contract price. In supplementary agreement No. 1 to the contract at 5b Kniahyni Olhy St., this is "The cost of works financed by the co-owners of the building's apartments as a shared contribution", and next to it, separately, the cost of works funded from the community development budget. In the department's procurement notices for 78 Stryiska St., 27 Patona St., 45 A. Linkolna St. and 29 A. Linkolna St., the source of funding is stated directly: "city budget funds - 90%; funds of co-owners of apartment buildings - 10%".

Under the 2026 contract at 78 Stryiska St., interim payments are made against certificates of completed work (form KB-2v) and a statement of the cost of completed work (form KB-3), and the final payment after the certificate of the facility's readiness for operation is signed.

Below are all our lift contracts in Lviv where the contracting authority was a district administration or the Department of Housing and Infrastructure, excluding lifts in the district administrations' own buildings: 58 with district administrations and 8 with the department, according to the open Prozorro register as of 11.11.2026. Almost all of them are in residential buildings. The subject of the contracts varies: lift replacement, modernization with replacement of lift equipment, major overhaul of a lift or of individual components. The exact name of the works is shown on the procurement page that each address links to. The residents' share is directly visible in the procurement and contract documents for 2025-2026; for older contracts we do not state the source of funding here.

Shevchenkivskyi District Administration: 25 contracts

• 2017: 47 Linkolna St. (entrance 3).
• 2018: 338 Shevchenka St. (entrance 3); 6-b Hrinchenka St. (entrance 1); 26 Sosnova St. (entrance 1); 23 Mazepy St. (entrance 4); 21 Tychyny St.; 99 Chornovola Ave.; 4 Velychkovskoho St. (entrance 2); 392a Shevchenka St. (entrance 1); 32 Mykolaichuka St. (entrance 2); 269 B. Khmelnytskoho St. (entrance 1).
• 2019: 243 B. Khmelnytskoho St. (entrance 1); 267 B. Khmelnytskoho St. (entrance 2); 12 Mykolaichuka St. (entrance 1); 99 Chornovola Ave.
• 2020: 64 Varshavska St. (entrance 2); 318 Shevchenka St. (entrance 2); 4 Velychkovskoho St. (entrance 3); 9b Mazepy St. (entrance 2); 64 Varshavska St. (entrance 1); 6 Mykolaichuka St. (entrance 1).
• 2021: 14 Tvorcha St. (entrance 3); 5 Hrinchenka St. (entrance 1); 6 Mykolaichuka St. (entrance 2).
• 2025: 45 Chornovola Ave. (entrance 7).

Frankivskyi District Administration: 15 contracts

• 2019: 145/2 Kulparkivska St.; 12/2 Aivazovskoho St.; 26 Volodymyra Velykoho St.
• 2020: 117 Volodymyra Velykoho St.; 32 Puliuia St.; 121 Kulparkivska St. (entrance 3); 47 Volodymyra Velykoho St.; 47-a Volodymyra Velykoho St.
• 2021: 2 Puliuia St.; 21/2 Naukova St.; 23/1 Naukova St.
• 2023: 29 Puliuia St. and additional works at the same address; 10a Naukova St. (entrance 1).
• 2026: 5b Kniahyni Olhy St. (entrance 1).

Zaliznychnyi District Administration: 9 contracts

• 2018: 68 Shyroka St.
• 2019: 48 Dorobok St.; 29 Shyroka St. (entrance 3).
• 2020: 33 Roksoliany St.; 12 Planerna St.; 81 Shyroka St.
• 2021: 87 Vyhovskoho St. (entrance 2); 1 Vyhovskoho St.
• 2025: 164 Liubinska St. (entrance 2).

Lychakivskyi District Administration: 8 contracts

• 2019: 161b Hlynianskyi Trakt St. (entrance 2).
• 2020: 18 Kytaiska St. (entrance 1); 161b Hlynianskyi Trakt St. (entrance 3).
• 2021: 161a Hlynianskyi Trakt St. (entrance 2); 6 Lysenytska St.; 161a Hlynianskyi Trakt St. (entrance 1); 161b Hlynianskyi Trakt St. (entrance 1).
• 2023: 16 Shafaryka St. (entrance 3).

Halytskyi District Administration: 1 contract

• 2020: 3 Hnatiuka St.

Department of Housing and Infrastructure: 8 contracts

• 2024, emergency works: 56 H. Khotkevycha St. (entrances 1 and 2), the building was damaged by a missile strike on 29.12.2023. The funds were allocated from the reserve fund by executive committee decision No. 344 of 08.03.2024 "On the allocation of funds from the reserve fund of the budget of the Lviv City Territorial Community", so this is not the co-financing programme.
• 2024: 13A Mazepy St. (entrance 4); 45 Chornovola Ave. (entrance 3); 1 Doroha Kryvchytska St.
• 2026: 78 Stryiska St. (entrance 5); 27 Patona St. (entrance 4); 45 A. Linkolna St. (entrance 3); 29 A. Linkolna St. (block B).

Timing, documents, maintenance

The timeframe depends on the condition of the shaft, the scope of building work and whether the lift is the only one in the entrance. We give it after the site survey and write it into the contract. Handover is most often delayed by the inspection body's schedule, which our crew cannot influence, so it is best to build some slack into the plan from the start.

The new lift undergoes conformity assessment under the Technical Regulation on Lifts (Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 438) and testing to DSTU EN 81-20. After start-up we hand the lift passports over to the client and take the lift on for maintenance. Our permits and certificates, with their numbers, are collected on the "Certificates" page. The warranty terms are set out in the contract.

Frequently asked questions

All questions about lift replacement