Syndic fees: how to read, compare and renegotiate them

You are rereading the annual statement, and someone asks at the general meeting (GM): "How much does the syndic really cost us?" Nobody has the exact answer. Syndic fees often appear in two stages: a "flat fee" line that hardly moves, then a series of amounts scattered across administrative costs. What counts is the sum of the two.

Our view: reducing the fees of a property manager (syndic) starts with that addition, before any discussion of price. Only then come comparing quotes and renegotiating, using the levers the law gives you. For orders of magnitude and the factors that make the price vary from one building to another, see the page on syndic prices in Belgium.

How are a syndic's fees structured?

Everything starts with the contract. The Civil Code requires a written contract between the syndic and the owners' association (VME/ACP), and it sets its minimum content:

“That contract includes in particular the list of services covered by the flat fee and the list of additional services and the fees attached to them. A service not mentioned cannot give rise to remuneration except by decision of the general meeting.”

Art. 3.89, § 1, Civil Code

So three blocks appear in almost every contract.

The base flat fee

It covers day-to-day management: bookkeeping, calls for funds, paying suppliers, organising the ordinary general meeting, following up maintenance contracts, routine management of the common parts. It is often expressed per unit or per building, per month or per year. What exactly is included varies a great deal from one contract to another: two identical flat fees can cover very different services.

Additional services

Everything outside day-to-day management: extraordinary general meetings, extra meetings of 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, supervision of major works, handling claims, debt recovery files, preparing grant applications, travel outside office hours. They are billed by the hour, per task or as a percentage of the cost of works. The law requires them to be listed with their fees.

Private costs

Some services concern a single co-owner and must be charged to him, not to the collective. The best-known example is the sale of a unit: the costs of providing information to the notary are borne by the outgoing co-owner, and the notary withholds them from the price (Article 3.95 of the Civil Code). Reminder and recovery costs follow the same logic where the contract and the articles provide for them. Check that these amounts do not slip into the common charges.

A professional syndic must be registered with the Professional Institute of Real Estate Agents (BIV/IPI). His fees are subject to VAT, which matters when comparing with a quote presented excluding VAT.

Why is comparing flat fees not enough?

Because the lowest flat fee can become the most expensive as soon as something happens in the building: a claim, a façade project, an extraordinary meeting. The only reliable comparison is the total annual cost for your building, calculated over a typical year.

To build this calculation, take the last two or three financial years and note what actually happened: number of meetings, works supervised, claims, units sold. Then ask each candidate to price that same scenario. The following table serves as a template.

Alongside it, add the factors that cannot be priced but weigh on quality: stated response time, online access to documents, number of buildings per manager, physical attendance at meetings, professional liability insurance.

Competitive tendering: what the law requires and what it allows

The general meeting decides by a two-thirds majority of the votes the amount of contracts above which competitive tenderingGlossaryObligation to compare several offers for contracts above the threshold set by the general meeting by a two-thirds majority. The syndic must then present several quotes. See the glossary is compulsory (Article 3.88, § 1, 1°, c), of the Civil Code). For contracts subject to such tendering, the syndic must "present several cost estimates, based on previously drawn-up specifications" (Article 3.89, § 5, 11°, of the Civil Code). If your co-ownership has never voted on this threshold, put the point on the agenda: it is a tool for controlling costs, for suppliers and service providers alike.

The syndic must also submit each year to the ordinary general meeting an evaluation report on contracts for regular supplies. That report is the right moment to raise the question of maintenance, insurance and energy contracts, which sometimes weigh more than the fees themselves. Any contract between the association and the syndic, his staff or his relatives also requires the general meeting's prior authorisation.

For the syndic's own contract, the timetable is dictated by the length of the mandate. It cannot exceed three years and is only renewed by express decision of the general meeting. The mere fact of not renewing the mandate cannot give rise to any compensation. Consulting several syndics before each expiry date, on the basis of specifications, is therefore the simplest way to test the market price. The typical content of the contract is set out in the page syndic contract.

Which levers can you use to renegotiate the current syndic's fees?

Changing syndic is not always desirable. A syndic who knows the building, its suppliers and its history has real value. We say it from the outset: renegotiation is often the best option, provided you come with concrete evidence.

1. Challenge services outside the contract. Any remuneration not provided for in the contract and not voted by the general meeting can be refused. Point it out in writing and ask for a refund.
2. Widen the flat fee: offer to include one extraordinary meeting a year, or the handling of small claims, in the flat fee in exchange for a stable overall price.
3. Cap percentages on works. An uncapped percentage on a large project produces fees bearing no relation to the work done. A fixed fee per phase or a cap can be negotiated.
4. Lighten the syndic's workload. An active co-ownership council, co-owners who accept notices by email, documents shared online: every task removed is an argument.
5. Set competing quotes side by side. Presenting the general meeting with a comparison table based on the typical year changes the nature of the discussion.

The agreement reached must be recorded in an amendment or a new contract, approved by the general meeting. If the negotiation fails, the procedure is described in the page changing your syndic, and the wider question of switching to a volunteer syndic is covered in the page on the volunteer syndic.

Finally, fees fit within the overall annual budget and are checked each year in the service charge statement. The full overview of the building's finances is on the page co-ownership service charges.