GM minutes not received or incorrect: what now?
The syndic must send you the minutes within thirty days of the meeting. Once that deadline has passed, or if the document you received is incomplete, write to them straight away. The four-month time limit to challenge a decision runs from the date of the meeting, whether or not the minutes have arrived.
Contents of this post
Six weeks after the general meeting (GM), there is still nothing in your letterbox. Or the document has arrived, but it looks more like the summary of a discussion than minutes: no figures, no signatures, and your vote against has disappeared. Is that serious, and what can you do?
It can become serious. Not because the decisions would fall for lack of paperwork, but because the time to challenge them is already running.
Does the syndic have a deadline to send the minutes?
Yes, thirty days. The syndic (the building’s property manager) enters the meeting’s decisions in the register of decisionsGlossaryRegister kept at the association's registered office in which the syndic records the decisions of the general meeting within thirty days. Anyone with an interest may consult it on site free of charge. See the glossary within thirty days of the session, and sends them within the same period to every co-owner with voting rights (art. 3.87, § 12, of the Civil Code). The rule is the same in Flanders and in Brussels.
The thirty days run from the date of the meeting. Not from the signature, nor from the day the syndic found time to type up the text. And the document expected is the minutes themselves: the ones the syndic drew up during the session, read out at the end and then had signed by the chair, the secretary and the co-owners still present or their proxy holders (art. 3.87, § 10).
Let us take a typical case, built for the example. The meeting of a fourteen-unit building in Mechelen takes place on 6 May. The minutes must reach the co-owners by early June at the latest. On 20 June, nothing has arrived.
No minutes after thirty days: what to do, and in what order?
The Civil Code foresaw this case, and its answer fits in one line: if you have not received the minutes within the time limit, you inform the syndic in writing (art. 3.87, § 12). In our typical case, this is the order we recommend.
- On 20 June, a dated email to the syndic, recalling the date of the meeting and asking for a copy of the signed minutes. A registered letter is only justified if the syndic has already stopped replying.
- A copy to the co-ownership councilGlossaryBody made up of co-owners, mandatory in buildings with at least twenty units, excluding cellars, garages and parking spaces. It ensures that the syndic carries out their duties properly. See the glossary, if there is one: it oversees the proper performance of the syndic’s duties. It is only compulsory from twenty units, not counting cellars, garages and parking spaces, so the Mechelen building may not have one.
- A request to consult the register, which is done on site and free of charge (art. 3.93, § 4).
- A date entered in your diary straight away: 6 September.
Why that last date? Because it is the end of the time limit for a challenge, and it will not move.
Does the four-month time limit wait for the minutes?
No. The action for annulmentGlossaryLegal action by which a co-owner asks the court to annul or amend an irregular, fraudulent or abusive decision of the general meeting that causes them personal harm. It must be brought within four months of the date of the meeting. See the glossary of an irregular, fraudulent or abusive decision must be brought within four months of the date on which the general meeting took place (art. 3.92, § 3). Receipt of the minutes changes nothing.
The consequences are quickly worked out. Meeting on 6 May, end of the time limit on 6 September. Minutes received on the thirtieth day: you have a little over three months left to read them, check the majorities and decide. Minutes received at the end of July, after a reminder: you have barely five weeks left, in the middle of the holiday period.
Many answers you find online are written for France, where the time limit for a challenge starts when the minutes are notified. Applied in Belgium, that reasoning costs weeks, sometimes the whole time limit.
And if the minutes never arrive? The text provides for no extension. If the date is approaching without a document, consult a lawyer without waiting: they will look at what is still possible against the decision, and at what liability the syndic’s delay entails. The procedure itself is covered in the page on challenging a GM decision.
When are minutes ‘incorrect’?
Article 3.87, § 10, sets the minimum content. With the signatures at the end of the session, that gives four checks to make on receipt:
- each decision is written as it was voted, not summarised;
- each vote shows the majority obtained, ideally in votes for, against and abstentions;
- the co-owners who voted against or abstained are named, item by item;
- the signatures of the chair, the secretary and the co-owners still present appear on the document.
Two further checks are not among the legal requirements for minutes, but they help on the day of a dispute: was each item voted on included in the agenda of the notice of meeting, and did the number of people present and represented at the opening allow the meeting to deliberate?
The names of those who voted against are no detail. The notaries’ brochure for co-owners states that those present who voted in favour cannot challenge the decision (Fednot). If your vote against has disappeared from the minutes, your evidence disappears with it.
Our reading: incorrect minutes do not make the decisions void. A defect in the document and an irregularity in the decision are two separate problems. A missing name is corrected; a majority that was too small is challenged. To redo the calculation, remember that abstentions, spoilt and blank votes do not count as votes cast (art. 3.87, § 8), and take the thresholds from the page on voting rules and majorities.
Six situations, six answers
| Situation | The rule | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Nothing received thirty days after the meeting | Sent within thirty days (art. 3.87, § 12) | Write to the syndic, consult the register, note the four-month deadline |
| A ‘report’ written afterwards, without signatures | Signed at the end of the session, after being read out (art. 3.87, § 10) | Ask for a copy of the signed minutes |
| Decisions recorded as ‘adopted’, without figures | Majorities obtained compulsory (art. 3.87, § 10) | Ask for the breakdown of votes and check the majority required |
| Your vote against or abstention does not appear | Names of those against and abstaining compulsory | Write to the syndic, then have the correction recorded at the next meeting |
| A decision recorded differently from what was voted | The minutes record the decisions taken | Write to the syndic and, if the decision itself is irregular, act within the four months |
| The four-month limit is approaching, still without minutes | Starting point on the date of the meeting (art. 3.92, § 3) | Consult a lawyer without waiting for the document |
Should you sign minutes you disagree with?
That is what the reading at the end of the session is for: ask for the correction before you sign. If the chair refuses, have your remark recorded in the minutes themselves, then sign. The Civil Code provides no specific sanction for refusing to sign, and co-owners who left before the end do not sign without the text losing its validity.
Our position is simple. A written remark in the minutes is worth more than a refused signature, because it leaves a trace that the justice of the peace (vrederechter / juge de paix) can read. Co-ownership disputes all fall within their jurisdiction, as the page on the justice of the peace and disputes explains, and the page on general meeting minutes gives the complete model of the document, from the outline prepared before the session to the register.
Frequently asked questions
Are the decisions valid if I never received the minutes?
The Civil Code does not make the validity of decisions depend on the minutes being sent. The delay is a failure by the syndic under article 3.87, § 12, not in itself a ground for annulment. A decision taken in due form is therefore binding, and only an action for annulment, within four months of the meeting, can call it into question.
Does an unsigned report count as minutes?
No. The minutes are read out and signed at the end of the session by the chair, the secretary and the co-owners still present (art. 3.87, § 10, Civil Code). If you receive a summary written afterwards, ask the syndic for a copy of the signed text.
I was absent from the meeting: does the four-month time limit run for me too?
Yes. For a co-owner, present or absent, the action must be brought within four months of the date on which the general meeting took place (art. 3.92, § 3, Civil Code). Absence does not move the starting point.
Where can I read the decisions if the syndic does not reply?
In the register of decisions, kept at the registered office of the owners’ association, which any interested party can consult on site and free of charge (art. 3.93, § 4, Civil Code). The co-ownership council, if there is one, can also chase the syndic.
Can the syndic change the minutes after the session?
Changing on their own a text that has already been read out and signed is best avoided. For a wrong figure or a missing name, the safest route is to write to the syndic and then have the correction recorded by the next meeting, by asking for the item to be put on the agenda.
What if the syndic does not answer any letter?
Keep a dated copy of every request and take the matter to the general meeting, which supervises the syndic. If the syndic fails or wrongly refuses to call a meeting, any co-owner can ask the justice of the peace to order that it be called (art. 3.92, § 4, Civil Code).