Volunteer syndic: does free come at a price?

The professional syndic's offer has just been read out at the general meeting. Someone does the sum out loud, someone else suggests: “If one of us takes it on, we save all of that.” Everyone nods. The vote looks simple.

The idea is only half right. An unpaid mandate removes the fees. It does not remove the insurance, the registration with the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises (CBE), the accounts that the Civil Code requires of every syndic, or the time spent. This post does not repeat the page on the volunteer syndic, which explains who can do the job and how to appoint them. It does the sums: what disappears, what remains, who pays. And it says what we think.

Free removes the fees, not the costs

Let us start with what really disappears. The Civil Code knows only one kind of property manager (syndic), professional or not, and it requires a written contract setting out the relationship with the owners' association (VME/ACP)GlossaryLegal entity that brings the co-owners together and whose sole purpose is the preservation and management of the building. It acquires legal personality as soon as a first unit is transferred, provided the deed of division and the co-ownership regulations have been transcribed. See the glossary, pay included (Art. 3.89, § 1). The same article expressly mentions the “unpaid mandate”. The FPS Justice brochure on co-ownership confirms it in one sentence: the role of syndic can be carried out free of charge.

When the mandate is unpaid, the fees line drops to zero. VAT included, and that detail matters: a professional charges fees with 21% VAT, which the association does not, in principle, recover. The gross saving therefore equals the VAT-inclusive amount of the offer you would have signed.

How much, in practice? We will not give an average, and we advise you to be wary of the ones that circulate. The Professional Institute of Estate Agents (BIV/IPI) points out that there are no recommended or compulsory rates for its members. The only figure that makes sense is that of the offers received for your building, converted into a total annual cost. How to get there is set out on the page on syndic prices.

So much for the gain. The rest of the reasoning concerns what being free does not touch. The tasks do not disappear with the fees: they change hands. And some costs appear in the association's budget where nobody saw them before.

Which costs remain with the association?

Here is our breakdown, item by item. Tool prices are public rates, recorded on 25.09.2026 on the publishers' websites. Where no amount is public, we say so rather than invent a range. The item most often forgotten is insurance: every syndic must take out liability insurance covering their role, and with an unpaid mandate, the association pays for it (Art. 3.89, § 5, 8°).

Two findings stand out.

The first: half the lines “cannot be costed”. That is not a gap in the table, it is the result. Nobody can tell you in advance what volunteer management will cost, because it depends on your insurance policy, your building and the volunteer.

The second: the tools cost little, provided you do the conversion. Take a hypothetical example, built for illustration: a building with eight apartments in Mechelen. At Syndic24, the Particulier plan comes to €2 × 8 units × 12 months, or €192 incl. VAT per year, with cellars and parking spaces not charged according to the publisher. At Konvivio, the price is per building: €15 × 12 months, or €180 excl. VAT per year, whatever the number of units. At SyndicIA, €3 × 8 × 12 gives €288 per year, with VAT not stated. Our detailed comparisons of the tools are gathered in the selection of software for volunteer syndics.

Before concluding that you will save money, have at least these lines costed for your building:

• the annual premium for liability insurance for the syndic, on a quote;
• the business counter's fee for registering the mandate with the CBEGlossaryFederal register of entities registered in Belgium, managed by the FPS Economy. The owners' association has a company number in it, which must appear on all its documents, and the syndic must be registered in it. See the glossary;
• the chosen tool, converted into an annual cost for your number of units;
• any help from an accountant or an expert, at least for the first year-end closing;
• the allowance the general meeting would be willing to vote, even if it is zero today.

What does the volunteer syndic pay out of their own pocket?

The table only shows the association's money. Another part of the bill is paid by the volunteer, in hours and in risk.

The hours first. Within eight days of being appointed, the syndic posts at the building entrance an extract stating their identity (Art. 3.89, § 2). They register their mandate with the CBE, open separate accounts for the working capital fund and the reserve fund in the association's name, and prepare the budgets every year. When a unit is sold, they reply to the notary within thirty days. At the end of the mandate, they hand the whole file over to their successor within the same period. A volunteer escapes none of these obligations.

Then the risk. The Civil Code is clear: “The syndic is solely responsible for their management” (Art. 3.89, § 6, unofficial translation). Getting help from an accountant or a tool does not transfer that responsibility. A missed deadline, a claim not reported, funds not properly separated: any of these can come back on them. The compulsory insurance covers this risk within the limits of the policy, hence the value of reading it before signing.

That leaves the allowance. The general meeting sometimes wants to compensate the syndic who spends their evenings on it. That is allowed, provided the amount is in the written contract and voted by the general meeting, without the syndic taking part in the vote on their own role (Art. 3.87). Two consequences are often overlooked. Pay for time spent is income for the person who receives it, with tax and social security treatment that depends on their situation. And as soon as the mandate is no longer unpaid, the law no longer says who pays for the insurance. These choices are detailed on the page on volunteer syndic pay.

The serious objection: in a small building, the saving is real

It would be dishonest to stop there. The strongest objection to our argument fits into one sentence: in a small building, the remaining costs are modest and the obligations are manageable.

It rests on facts. Part of a professional syndic's work does not depend on the number of units: accounts, general meeting, insurance, contracts. In a building with only a few units, this base is shared among few co-owners, and the price per unit is often higher than in a large co-ownership. That is exactly where the saving from an unpaid mandate shows most.

The accounting obligations also lighten below the threshold. A co-ownership with fewer than twenty units, cellars, garages and parking spaces excluded, may keep simplified accounts. These must still show income and expenditure, cash, the amount of each fund and the co-owners' receivables and debts. It is demanding, but within reach of a careful co-owner, especially with a tool.

And the tools, as it happens, ruin nobody. Syndic24 publishes the example of a small co-ownership of three apartments: €6 incl. VAT per month, or €72 per year. OpenACP offers a free plan. In a building of three to six units, with no lift or collective heating and no major works in sight, free does come at a price, but it is small compared with the professional offer in front of you.

We admit it plainly: in that case, the objection wins on financial grounds.

Where is the line between the two?

No legal rule sets a maximum size for a volunteer syndic. The line is therefore drawn building by building, using three criteria.

Size first. From twenty units, excluding cellars, garages and parking spaces, two things change at once: double-entry bookkeeping under the Belgian standard chart of accounts (MAR/PCMN)GlossaryChart of accounts that owners' associations with at least twenty units, excluding cellars, garages and parking spaces, must follow. It was laid down for owners' associations by the Royal Decree of 12 July 2012. See the glossary set by the Royal Decree of 12 July 2012 becomes compulsory, and a co-ownership council must be set up. It is not a wall, but it is a step.

Activity next. A lift, collective heating, a facade to renovate, frequent sales or unpaid charges multiply the contracts, quotes, claims and replies to notaries. In an active building, the visible costs stay roughly the same; it is the volunteer's time that explodes.

The volunteer, finally. Do they have free evenings for three years, the maximum length of a mandate? Are they comfortable with accounts that must be kept “in a clear, precise and detailed manner”? Can someone replace them if they move? Will 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, appointed every year by the general meeting, really check their work?

Our reading is as follows. Below twenty units, in a quiet building, with an available candidate and an identified stand-in, we recommend the volunteer mandate: the saving is real and the obligations remain on a human scale. Above twenty units, or with a heavy works programme, we advise against taking it on without a budget for support. The saving exists on paper, but the cost shifts onto a single co-owner, who alone bears responsibility for the management. If nobody meets the third condition, the question does not even arise.

Our position

Free comes at a price, and it is almost never zero. For a small building with no history, it amounts to a few budget lines and hours well spent. For a large, active building, you pay it in time, in risk and often in outside help.

The mistake is not choosing a volunteer syndic. It is voting for one while saying “it won't cost anything”. Instead, present the general meeting with a full budget: the insurance, the CBE registration, the tool, the audit of the accounts, any allowance. If the total stays well below the professional offer, and the volunteer is up to it, you have your answer. If not, you have it too.