New co-owner: what to do after the deed

You signed the deed a few days ago, the keys are in your pocket, and one question is still hanging: who tells the building that the apartment has changed hands? Nobody gives you a manual as you leave the notary's office. The first letter from the property manager (syndic) is often a call for fundsGlossaryRequest for payment sent by the syndic to the co-owners to top up the working capital fund or the reserve fund. With each call for funds, the syndic states which portion will go to the reserve fund. See the glossary whose amount looks nothing like what you expected.

Being a new co-owner starts with good news. You are already a co-owner in the full sense: from the transfer of ownership, you are a member of the owners' association (VME/ACP) and of its general meeting (GM), with no joining procedure and no form. The surprises come from elsewhere, and almost always from the building's past. Decisions were taken before you arrived, and some of them bind you.

The syndic has to learn that you exist, and telling him is not your job

The law gives this task to the notary. Within thirty days of the signing of the notarial deed, he informs the syndic of the date of the deed, the unit concerned, your identity and your addresses, and those of any proxy holder you have (Art. 3.94, § 3 of the Civil Code, Book 3). The syndic does not have to work out your name from the letterbox.

We still advise you not to rely on this entirely. An email sent in the week after the deed, with your name, your unit number, the date of the deed and the address at which you want to receive the co-ownership's post, takes five minutes and saves you from discovering a general meeting after it has taken place. This matters if you let the apartment: you, the owner, are the one invited, and the notice will not find its own way to your home if the syndic has kept the unit's address.

Another detail that regularly ends up in the wrong place: the fees the syndic charges for gathering and passing on the sale information and documents are borne by the outgoing co-owner (Art. 3.94, § 4). If they appear on your first statement, they do not belong there.

Which charges move onto you, and from when?

Two regimes exist side by side, and confusing them is the source of most disputes between seller and buyer.

Ordinary charges are those that recur at regular intervals: heating, water, lighting of the common parts, cleaning, lift maintenance, the syndic's fees, caretaker. They are yours from the moment you actually use the common parts, which in the great majority of sales means the date of the notarial deed (Notaire.be, in French).

Extraordinary charges follow a different logic, and this one surprises people. Expenses for conservation, maintenance, repair or renewal decided by the general meeting before the transfer of ownership, but whose payment the syndic only requests afterwards, are borne by the incoming co-owner, unless the parties agree otherwise (Art. 3.94, § 2). The roof voted in June and invoiced in November is therefore yours if you bought in September and your preliminary agreement says nothing about it.

This is why the notary questions the syndic by registered post before the deed is signed, and why the syndic has thirty days to give him the expenses decided, the position of approved calls for funds, the cost of any acquisitions of common parts and the established debts arising from pending disputes. That letter is the most useful document in your purchase file. Reread it and keep it: it tells you whether a ten-thousand-euro invoice could still land. What the syndic must provide, and when, is covered in documents required for a sale.

One last scenario, common when several months separate the preliminary agreement from the deed: a general meeting was held in between. If you were represented there by proxy, the extraordinary charges and calls for funds decided at it are yours, even though you were not yet the owner. Without a proxy, the split depends on what the parties wrote down, and it is one of the points on which we see the most disagreement afterwards: have it settled in the preliminary agreement, in one sentence.

Working capital, reserve fund: what you pay in and what the seller does not get back

The first call for funds you receive is probably not a charge. The syndic draws up the statement of the seller's share of the working capital fund for the period during which he no longer uses the common parts, refunds it to him, and asks you for the same sum so that the fund stays at the level voted by the general meeting (Art. 3.94, § 5). You are paying an advance, not an expense.

The reserve fund does not move in the same way: the seller's share remains the property of the owners' association. He does not get it back and you do not buy it from him, unless your preliminary agreement expressly provides for a refund between you. Such a clause exists in some sales, and it is raised when the price is being negotiated. How the two funds work, their amounts and how they are topped up are dealt with in working capital and reserve fund.

Your rights do not start at the first general meeting

You do not have to wait until you have voted once to count in the building. Three rights are useful from the first few weeks.

The first is access to documents. The syndic must let you consult the non-private documents and information of the co-ownership, in the way set by the house rules or by the general meeting (Art. 3.89, § 5, 9°). Articles, minutes, approved balance sheet, maintenance contracts: ask for them in writing, in a single list, rather than piecemeal. The register in which the syndic records the general meeting's decisions is kept at the association's registered office, where any interested party can consult it on site and free of charge (Art. 3.93, § 4).

The second is the right to force a meeting. One or more co-owners holding at least one fifth of the shares (quotités)GlossaryFraction of the common parts attached to each unit, set in the deed of division according to the respective value of the private parts. Shares determine the number of votes at the general meeting and can only be changed with the unanimous agreement of all co-owners. See the glossary together can require the syndic to call a general meeting (Art. 3.87, § 2). On your own, with one apartment out of twelve, you will not manage it: you need to convince other owners, and that often goes through the co-ownership council.

The third is the right to challenge. A decision that causes you personal loss and is irregular, fraudulent or abusive can be brought before the justice of the peace, within four months of the general meeting (Art. 3.92, § 3). That period also runs for a meeting held shortly before your deed, and the page challenging a GM decision explains how it is calculated.

That leaves the question of timing. The ordinary general meeting is held each year during a fifteen-day period set by the house rules (Art. 3.85, § 3, 3°). It is one of the first things to look up in the house rules (ROI) you received: it tells you at what point in the year your presence really counts.

What if the syndic does not reply?

The syndic's silence is the most common source of friction for a newcomer, and it is not always bad faith: a firm managing several dozen buildings deals with changes of ownership in batches.

Go step by step. A dated written reminder that restates your request as a numbered list resolves many cases and leaves a trail. If nothing comes, turn to the co-ownership council if there is one, then put the point on the agenda of the next general meeting. The syndic's role and the extent of his obligations are described in role and duties of the syndic.

If you remain blocked on information you are entitled to, the justice of the peace has jurisdiction over co-ownership disputes, and bringing a case is less cumbersome than people imagine. The page justice of the peace and disputes describes how it works. Our view: in a small building, keep this route for matters involving money or safety, because proceedings leave marks on neighbourly relations that last for years.

For what comes next, the section buying and selling in a co-ownership brings together the steps before and after your purchase, and the page buying an apartment in a co-ownership covers the checks to make before signing, useful if you are already thinking about a second property.