Professional syndic: checking BIV/IPI accreditation, the contract and the mandate

A firm offers to take over the management of your building and its draft contract is waiting on the council's table. Or your professional syndic has been in place for years, and nobody really knows any more what can be demanded of them. In both cases the reflex is the same: check first, then keep watch.

A professional syndic manages co-ownerships as a paid activity, self-employed or within a company. In Belgium this is a regulated profession: the estate agent acting as property manager (syndic) must be accredited by the Professional Institute of Real Estate Agents (BIV/IPI) and comply with a code of ethics. Their duties are those of any syndic. Article 3.89 of the Civil Code makes no distinction between a volunteer co-owner and a professional. What changes are the guarantees attached to the status, and the means of pressure available to the co-ownership. For the overview, see the page the syndic.

How do you check that a professional syndic is accredited?

Start there, even before you read the price. The law of 11 February 2013 organising the profession of estate agent defines the syndic as a person who acts in the administration and preservation of the common parts of buildings. Nobody may practise this profession as a self-employed person, whether as a main or secondary occupation, without being entered on the roll of members of the profession or on the BIV/IPI list of trainees.

Two practical consequences. First, the title is protected: an unregistered manager who presents themselves as a professional syndic and invoices for their services is practising illegally. Second, accreditation can be checked in seconds in the BIV/IPI public search engine. Do it for the company and for the person who will actually manage your building.

The exception concerns people who manage property of which they are co-owners. This is what allows a co-owner to be a volunteer syndic without accreditation.

Two sets of rules for a single mandate

A professional syndic is bound both by the Civil Code and by the rules of their profession.

Obligations under the Civil Code

These are the sixteen duties of Article 3.89, § 5: carrying out the meeting's decisions, managing funds in separate accounts, keeping the accounts, preparing budgets, presenting several quotes above the threshold voted, handing over the file within thirty days at the end of the mandate. The annotated list is in syndic duties.

On top of these come the appointment rules: a mandate of three years at most, renewal by express decision of the general meeting, a public notice within eight days and registration of the mandate with the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises.

Ethical obligations

The BIV/IPI code of ethics was approved by the Royal Decree of 29 June 2018 and came into force on 30 December 2018. For the syndic, it requires in particular a written contract where the law requires one, a separate account for each 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 managed, financial transactions only on the basis of agreements, instructions or authorisations, and clear and detailed statements at least once a year.

The code also asks the syndic to remain strictly neutral in disputes between co-owners that do not directly concern the common management. And to cooperate with any provisional syndic the meeting might appoint alongside them.

What can you demand of a professional syndic?

Professional status should not make you passive. Let us follow a mandate from start to finish to see what the co-ownership is entitled to ask, and when.

Before the vote: accreditation and contract

Before voting, demand proof of BIV/IPI accreditation, which the law of 11 February 2013 makes compulsory. Also demand a written contract that separates the flat fee from the additional services, each with its rate (Art. 3.89, § 1, Civil Code). The syndic contract is the document that sets the price and the scope. A statutory duty does not become an extra through a play on words. The page syndic contract goes through the clauses, and the page syndic fees shows where the costs lie.

On taking office: insurance and accounts

From the handover, ask for proof of the liability insurance every syndic must take out (Art. 3.89, § 5, 8°, Civil Code). Then check that the accounts are opened in the association's name, with separate accounts for the working capital fund and the reserve fund (Art. 3.89, § 5, 3°, Civil Code). The code of ethics points the same way by requiring a separate account for each association managed.

During the mandate: documents, quotes and contracts

At any time you can access invoices, contracts and statements, in other words the co-ownership's non-private documents (Art. 3.89, § 5, 9°, Civil Code). Before any contract exceeding the threshold voted by the meeting, the syndic presents several quotes (Art. 3.89, § 5, 11°, Civil Code). At each ordinary meeting, the syndic submits a report evaluating the supply contracts (Art. 3.89, § 5, 12°, Civil Code). And before signing any contract with a related company, the syndic obtains the meeting's authorisation (Art. 3.89, § 5, 13°, Civil Code).

Ordinary oversight runs through the general meeting, the 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 and, in buildings of at least twenty units excluding cellars, garages and parking spaces, 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. The council makes sure the syndic carries out their duties properly. Prepare your questions in writing before the meeting: a professional syndic must be able to answer them with supporting documents.

In practice, three checks are often enough to spot things going wrong. Compare the voted budget with actual expenditure, item by item. Check that works above the tendering threshold were indeed the subject of several quotes. And reread the minutes of the last meeting to check that each decision has been carried out or that the delay is explained. If a point remains unanswered, put it on the agenda of the next meeting: the syndic's answer will then appear in the minutes.

At the end of the mandate: the file

When the mandate ends, the syndic hands the complete file over to their successor within thirty days (Art. 3.89, § 5, 7°, Civil Code). A professional knows this deadline: do not let it slip.

What should you do when the professional syndic is not satisfactory?

There are three routes, and they do not pursue the same goal.

The first is internal. The general meeting can always dismiss the syndic or appoint a provisional syndic alongside them for a fixed period or specific purposes (Art. 3.89, § 7). For the steps and the timetable, see changing your syndic and dismissal and resignation of the syndic.

The second is disciplinary. A complaint can be lodged with the BIV/IPI for a breach of the code of ethics. The Executive Chamber can sanction the agent, but it gives no legal opinions and awards no damages. If the syndic is not accredited, the BIV/IPI has a form for reporting illegal practice.

The third is judicial. To obtain compensation for harm, the owners' association goes to the ordinary courts. The question of fault and how to prove it is covered in syndic liability, and the role of the court in justice of the peace and disputes.

Our reading: accreditation guarantees a framework, not flawless management. We do not recommend complaining to the BIV/IPI when what you want is a refund, since the disciplinary route does not grant one. Choose the route according to the result you expect: changing manager, having a breach sanctioned, or obtaining compensation.

The rules are the same in Flanders, Brussels and Wallonia: the Civil Code, the 2013 law and the BIV/IPI code of ethics apply throughout the country. For orders of magnitude on prices, see syndic prices in Belgium.