Checking your co-ownership's accounts, step by step
The general meeting has appointed you accounts auditor, or you want to check the figures yourself before voting. Start by asking the syndic for the general ledger, the bank statements and the invoices, then reconcile them in six checks, from the bank balance to the carrying forward of balances. Your conclusions fit on one page, handed to the syndic before the notice of meeting goes out.
Contents of this post
End of the meeting, last item on the agenda: an accounts auditor is needed for the financial year that is starting. Nobody raises a hand, then someone puts your name forward because you are ‘good with figures’. The vote goes through. In eleven months the meeting will expect a simple answer from you: are the accounts the syndic presents correct?
Good news: the task is within your reach. It calls for method more than accounting knowledge, and a little time set aside between the close of the financial year and the meeting. Here is ours, in six checks, valid in Flanders as in Brussels.
Who can check the accounts, and in what capacity?
The framework fits in one sentence. Each year the general meeting appoints an accounts auditorGlossaryPerson, whether or not a co-owner, appointed each year by the general meeting to check the accounts of the owners' association. Their powers and duties are set out in the house rules. See the glossary or a panel of auditors, ‘whether co-owners or not, who check the accounts of the owners' association’ (Art. 3.91 of the Civil Code, our translation). There is no unit threshold: a six-flat building is bound by it just like a hundred-flat tower.
The same article refers to the house rules (ROI)GlossaryRules drawn up by private agreement that set out at least how the general meeting operates, how the syndic is appointed and the fortnight in which the ordinary general meeting is held. They are kept at the association's registered office and can be consulted free of charge. See the glossary to set out your powers and duties. Open them before anything else. If they say nothing on the matter, your task is read from the text of the law: checking the accounts, no more and no less. You manage nothing, you pay nothing, you choose no supplier.
Two points of fact. The property manager (syndic) can never be the accounts auditor of the owners' association (VME/ACP) they manage (Art. 3.89, § 9). A member of the co-ownership council, on the other hand, may combine both roles: asked about this point in the Senate, the Minister of Justice replied on 7 March 2023 that no prohibition exists and that the 2018 legislator intended it that way (written question no. 7-1867). Our reading: in a small building, this combination is often the only way to find someone. In a large one, separating the roles provides a second pair of eyes, and we recommend it.
Which documents should you ask the syndic for?
Everything starts with a written request, sent as soon as the financial year closes. The syndic must in any case give access to the co-ownership's documents of a non-private nature (Art. 3.89, § 5), and your statutory task leaves no room for a refusal. Ask for copies, not a hurried look in an office.
| Document to request | What it lets you check | Warning sign |
|---|---|---|
| Trial balance and general ledger for the year | Every entry, item by item | A simple table of expenses instead |
| Bank statements for all the association's accounts at the closing date | The actual balances | An account in the syndic's name and not the association's |
| Invoices filed by date, with proof of payment | That expenses are real and their amounts | Payments without an invoice, or the reverse |
| Minutes of the meetings held during the year | Authorised extraordinary expenses | Works paid for without a decision |
| Statement of calls for funds and payments by unit | Amounts owed by each co-owner | Old arrears never chased |
| Balance sheet and statement for the previous year | Opening balances | A gap between yesterday's closing and today's opening |
If the building has fewer than twenty units, cellars, garages and parking spaces not counted, the syndic may keep simplified accountsGlossaryAccounting allowed in co-ownerships with fewer than twenty units, excluding cellars, garages and parking spaces. At a minimum it shows income and expenditure, cash position, the working capital and reserve funds, and the co-owners' receivables and debts. See the glossary. That does not make them a mere list of invoices: they must show at least income and expenditure, cash, the amount of the working capital fund and the reserve fund, and the co-owners' receivables and debts (Art. 3.89, § 5, 15°). From twenty units upwards, the Belgian standard chart of accounts (MAR/PCMN) is mandatory; the page co-ownership accounting explains how to read it.
How do you carry out the check, step by step?
Take a typical case, built for the purpose of illustration: a fourteen-unit building in Mechelen, a volunteer syndic, simplified accounts kept in a spreadsheet. The six checks below apply to it as they stand, and they work just as well for a professional syndic.
- Reconcile the bank balances. The balance of each account in the books must equal, to the cent, the balance on the bank statement at the closing date. A difference not explained by a payment in transit blocks everything else.
- Check that the two funds are kept separate. The working capital fund and the reserve fundGlossaryTotal of the periodic contributions intended for non-recurring expenditure, such as replacing the heating system or the lift. It becomes mandatory no later than five years after provisional acceptance, with an annual contribution of at least 5% of the previous financial year's ordinary service charges, unless the general meeting decides otherwise by a four-fifths majority. See the glossary must be held in separate accounts in the association's name (Art. 3.86, § 3). Check that no running expense, heating or cleaning, was paid from the reserve fund account.
- Tick off the invoices. In a small building, take them all. In a large one, choose at least the largest and a few at random in each item. For each one: the addressee is indeed the association, the amount matches the payment, the service concerns the common parts.
- Compare expenses with decisions. Anything outside day-to-day management must find its decision in a set of minutes. Also look at contracts with the syndic, their relatives or companies linked to them: these require the prior authorisation of the meeting (Art. 3.89, § 5, 13°).
- Examine what co-owners owe. The sum of arrears unit by unit must match the amount shown on the balance sheet. Arrears that grow year after year without a reminder are a point to report, even if there is no calculation error.
- Check the carrying forward of balances. The opening balances of the year must be those of the previous closing, unaltered. This is the quickest check. A difference, however small, signals a correction made without explanation.
For the Mechelen case, a point of method: note each check on a sheet, with the date, the document examined and the result. That sheet will become your report.
One last reference point, if the accounts are kept under the standard chart: the Accounting Standards Board has published a complete financial year for a fictitious forty-unit co-ownership (CBN/CNC opinion 2012/14). It shows what accounts in good order look like, with the funds kept separate from start to finish.
What should you do when a figure does not add up?
Write to the syndic, quoting the document, the amount and your question. An input error is often corrected at this stage, without fuss. Give them a reasonable time to reply, and add their reply to your file.
If no answer comes or it does not convince, do not bury it: it goes into your report. The co-ownership council, if there is one, can also inspect and copy the management documents after notifying the syndic (Art. 3.90). Two sets of eyes on the same point carry more weight at the meeting.
Errors in the split between units, keys and meter readings belong to another document: see annual service charge statement.
A one-page report, before the notice of meeting
Your report has no statutory form. We recommend one factual page that states:
- which documents you received, and which are missing;
- the six checks carried out and their outcome;
- the anomalies found, with the syndic's reply;
- your conclusion: accounts to be approved, to be approved subject to a correction, or not to be approved as they stand.
Send it to the syndic before they send out the notice of meeting, at least fifteen days before the meeting. The notice must state how the documents relating to the agenda items can be consulted (Art. 3.87, § 3): your report belongs among them.
If the meeting nevertheless approves accounts you consider irregular, a co-owner who suffers personal harm as a result can go to the justice of the peace within four months of the date of the meeting (Art. 3.92, § 3). For following the two funds from one year to the next, the page working capital and reserve fund completes this route.
Frequently asked questions
Do you need to be an accountant to check a co-ownership's accounts?
No. Article 3.91 of the Civil Code sets no qualification requirement: the accounts auditor may be a co-owner or an outside person. In a large building, or when trust in the syndic has been damaged, the meeting may prefer a professional.
Can the syndic refuse to show me the invoices?
No. The syndic must give access to all documents or information of a non-private nature relating to the co-ownership (Art. 3.89, § 5, Civil Code). For the accounts auditor, whose statutory task is to check the accounts, a refusal has no basis at all. Make the request in writing and keep a record of it.
Can a member of the co-ownership council also be accounts auditor?
Yes. Only the syndic is excluded from both roles (Art. 3.89, § 9). In reply to written question no. 7-1867, the Minister of Justice pointed out on 7 March 2023 that the 2018 legislator had intended to allow this combination.
Who pays the accounts auditor when it is a professional?
The owners' association, since the task concerns its accounts. The Civil Code sets no fee. Ask for a written quote before the meeting, so that it decides knowing the price.
How long does a check take?
It depends on the size of the building and the quality of the documents provided. The Civil Code sets no deadline for the check itself. Above all, allow time to obtain the documents: request them as soon as the financial year closes, to keep some margin before the notice of meeting is sent.
Must my report be attached to the notice of meeting?
The Civil Code does not require it in those terms. The notice must, however, state how the documents relating to the agenda items can be consulted (Art. 3.87, § 3). Send your report to the syndic early enough for it to be among those documents, before the notice goes out at least fifteen days before the meeting.
- Civil Code, Book 3 ‘Property’, Art. 3.86, 3.89 and 3.91 (eJustice, in Dutch)
- Senate, written question no. 7-1867 of 26 January 2023 and reply from the Minister of Justice (in Dutch)
- Accounting Standards Board (CBN/CNC), opinion 2012/14: worked example of the standard chart of accounts for owners' associations (in French)