Volunteer syndic insurance: who takes it out, who pays, what it covers

The general meeting (GM) appointed you three weeks ago, you have been keeping the building's accounts since, and the co-owner on the second floor asks for your insurance certificate. You do not have one. Nobody mentioned it to you, and the previous syndic, also a neighbour, did not have one either. The question deserves more than a shrug, because it concerns the only insurance the Civil Code imposes in a co-ownership: volunteer syndic insurance, or more precisely the syndic's liability insurance.

This cover is not an optional extra for a cautious syndic, and the premium is not yours to pay when you do the job for free. Here is what the law requires exactly, who signs, who pays, what the cover really does, and how to prove it every year without having to think about it.

The syndic's insurance is the only one the Civil Code imposes

The articles on the compulsory co-ownership of buildings do not require the owners' association (VME/ACP) to take out any policy for the building. Only one insurance appears in them, and it concerns the person who manages:

“to take out liability insurance covering the performance of his duties and to provide proof of that insurance; in the case of an unpaid mandate, that insurance is taken out at the expense of the owners' association”

Art. 3.89, § 5, 8°, Civil Code

This sentence reads in two steps. The obligation applies to every syndic, professional or volunteerGlossarySyndic who does not carry out the role on a professional basis, usually a co-owner in the building. They are subject to the same legal obligations as a professional syndic. See the glossary, with no size threshold and no possible exemption for a building of six units. Then the second part settles the question of money: the fact that the mandate is unpaid does not remove the obligation, it shifts the cost to the owners' associationGlossaryLegal 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 (Civil Code, Book 3, Arts. 3.78 to 3.100).

The difference with a professional syndic lies elsewhere. Anyone who works as a syndic on a self-employed basis is entered on the roll of the BIV/IPI (the professional institute for estate agents), and the Institute runs a collective professional liability insurance scheme for these agents (BIV/IPI, collective insurance scheme). A co-owner who manages his building as a volunteer falls under none of these mechanisms. Nobody will check on his behalf that he is covered, which leaves that check to the general meeting.

Who signs the policy, and in whose name?

The text is precise about the act: the syndic takes out the insurance, and the association pays when the mandate is unpaid. The policy therefore follows the role, not the building. Three practical consequences follow.

First, the clause naming the insured must cover the syndic in the performance of his duties. A building policy in which he appears nowhere does not meet the obligation, even if the building is perfectly insured. Second, a change of syndic creates a break point: the outgoing syndic's cover ends with his mandate, and the successor's must begin on the same day. The handover is covered in changing your syndic. Finally, the building's insurer is not necessarily the one who will cover the syndic. Ask before looking elsewhere: some covers are added to an existing contract, others require a separate policy.

The expense itself goes through the general meeting. The premium is a common chargeGlossaryCosts relating to the common parts and the running of the co-ownership, such as maintenance, repairs, insurance or syndic fees. They are divided between the units according to the criteria set in the co-ownership regulations. See the glossary, split between the units according to the allocation keys in the co-ownership regulations, and it appears in the budget like the other recurring items. If its amount exceeds the competitive tendering threshold set by a two-thirds majority, the syndic presents several quotes based on a specification (Art. 3.88, § 1, 1°, c), and Art. 3.89, § 5, 11°). Below that threshold, nothing stops you from asking for two quotes anyway.

What does this policy really cover?

The law imposes the insurance without defining its content, and the content varies from one insurer to another. The finding comes from the FPS Economy itself: the notion of professional liability is not defined uniformly in Belgium, even for compulsory insurance, and a policy of this type may cover contractual liability, non-contractual liability, operating liability or directors' liability (FPS Economy, professional liability insurance). In other words, the title tells you nothing: it is the special and general conditions that define the cover.

Four points deserve to be read line by line before signing. The first is what happens to purely financial losses. A syndic's mistakes rarely make a hole in a wall, and often make a hole in an account: a forgotten call for funds, an unpaid premium that leaves the building uninsured, a missed deadline that makes a debt unrecoverable. If the policy only covers property damage and personal injury, it leaves out most of the real risk. The second point is the limit per claim and per year, to be set against the budget you manage. The third is the excess, which remains payable and is hard to settle when nobody has planned where the money would come from. The fourth is the duration, which we come back to below.

One limit cannot be negotiated; it applies to all liability insurance. Notwithstanding any agreement to the contrary, the insurer cannot be required to provide cover to anyone who intentionally caused the loss (Art. 62 of the Act of 4 April 2014 on insurance). Gross negligence follows a different regime: it stays covered unless the contract lists it precisely as excluded. An exclusion clause in vague terms therefore does not hold, and a clause listing ten precise behaviours holds very well. Our reading: that list is the first thing to ask the insurer for, even before the price.

Proving the insurance, year after year

Taking out the policy is not enough. The law also requires proof of that insurance to be provided, and this obligation has no legal timetable. The simplest practice is to attach it to a meeting that already exists: the ordinary general meeting, held during the annual fifteen-day period set by the house rules (ROI) (Art. 3.85, § 3, 3°). The current certificate is produced on that occasion, and the minutes record it. A co-owner who asks for it at another time is entitled to it, since the syndic must give access to all non-private documents relating to the co-ownership (Art. 3.89, § 5, 9°).

Read the certificate rather than filing it away. Three entries decide its value: the name of the insured and his capacity, the period of validity, and the nature of the cover. A certificate that covers the past financial year proves nothing about the current one. 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, where the building has one, is well placed to carry out this check without making it personal.

And if the volunteer syndic is not insured?

The risk is not theoretical, and it turns first against the syndic himself. The Civil Code states that the syndic is solely responsible for his management (Art. 3.89, § 6). Without a policy, his personal assets answer for the consequences of a mistake, and the lack of insurance is in itself a failure to perform one of his legal duties. The full mechanism of holding him liable, fault, damage and the link between the two, is set out in syndic liability.

On the association's side, the approach is gradual. A co-owner who finds no certificate first asks for the documents, then has the item put on the agenda of the next meeting, with two costed proposals if possible. The association has standing to bring and defend legal proceedings, including on matters relating to the management of the common parts (Art. 3.92, § 1). That route costs money and time; a policy approved at the meeting costs much less. If the deadlock sets in and the discussion turns personal, disputes between co-owners sets out the ways out, including conciliation before the justice of the peace.

That leaves a common misunderstanding, best cleared up straight away: paying this premium is not paying the syndic. The law puts the expense on the association precisely because the mandate is unpaid, and it opens no right to remuneration. What a volunteer syndic can and cannot claim back is covered in volunteer syndic pay. For what the building's policy covers on its side, see co-ownership insurance, and for the most common claim, water damage and leaks. All the situations of day-to-day life in the building are gathered in the section day-to-day living.