Why look beyond the apartment?
A viewing makes it possible to assess the rooms, the light and the apparent condition of the dwelling. It says much less about the roof, the lift, the boiler room, the accounts or the decisions already taken.
After the sale, the purchaser does not become the owner of their apartment alone. They also receive a share in the common parts and enter into the operation of the syndicate of co-owners. A façade in need of renovation or insufficient cash reserves may therefore matter as much as a kitchen to be replaced.
The aim is not to find a building with no expenses. It is to know which co-ownership you are entering.
Which documents describe the lot exactly?
The title deed, the descriptive table of division, the plans and the co-ownership regulations make it possible to identify the apartment and its annexes: cellar, garage, space or other premises.
These documents must be compared with what is shown during the viewing. A cellar used for years is not necessarily attached to the lot being sold. A parking space must correspond to a clear designation in the deeds.
The co-ownership shares set by the descriptive table of division then make it possible to understand the weight of the lot in certain charges and decisions. Knowing the surface area of the apartment is not enough.
The regulations and each of their amending deeds must also have been transcribed to be enforceable against the purchaser. The provision of a copy therefore does not, on its own, prove that the chain of deeds has been duly published.
What do the minutes of the general meeting reveal?
The minutes show the real life of the building. They indicate the works discussed or voted, the contracts contested, the unpaid amounts, the losses and the decisions that remain to be carried out.
It is useful to read several financial years. A roof may have been mentioned for two years without a contract yet having been voted. A damp problem may reappear under different wordings.
One must distinguish what has been decided, what is merely contemplated and what has already been carried out. A notified decision may be challenged by a dissenting or defaulting co-owner only within a period of two months from the notification of the minutes.
How to examine the accounts without being an accountant?
Start by comparing the current budget and the actual expenses. A one-off increase does not have the same meaning as a budget that is durably underestimated.
Then examine the works fund, the exceptional calls for funds, the debts to suppliers and the co-owners' unpaid amounts. A high bank balance is not sufficient if it corresponds to sums already allocated.
Finally, ask whether any contracts have been voted without yet being invoiced. The accounts closed at a given date do not always show all the commitments already made.
In a collectively heated building, also ask where the co-ownership stands with its individual-metering obligations. Devices installed before the entry into force of the Law of 28 November 2024 must be made remotely readable, or replaced by remotely readable devices, by 1 January 2027 at the latest, unless that is technically impossible or entails disproportionate costs (Article 6). The deadline concerns making devices already in place remotely readable, not the installation of the meters themselves. This is a dated collective expense that does not always appear in the budget.
What do you take over with the lot?
The contributions paid to the works fund are attached to the lot and definitively acquired by the syndicate. They are not reimbursed to the seller. A person who has declared their interest in the acquisition must be able to consult the balance built up for the lot.
The purchaser is also jointly and severally liable with the seller for the charges still owed in respect of the closed financial year and the months of the current financial year. An old arrears must therefore not be treated as a matter purely personal to the seller.
Finally, if the seller does not present to the notary a certificate from the syndic dated less than one month attesting that they are free of any obligation towards the syndicate, the transfer must be notified to the syndic in the forms provided for by law. The syndic then has eight days from receipt of the notice to object to the payment of the funds up to the amounts owed.
What questions to ask before signing?
The question "how much do the charges cost?" is too general. One must ask what they include, which equipment is collective, which works are foreseeable and according to which key the expenses are distributed.
A clear answer must link the lot in the deeds, the co-ownership shares in the regulations, the decisions in the minutes and the amounts in the accounts.
Reference texts
- Law of 16 May 1975 establishing the statute of co-ownership of built property (Mémorial A No 28 of 23 May 1975), in particular Articles 10 (co-ownership regulations and their transcription, as amended by the Law of 22 April 1985, Mémorial A No 22 of 9 May 1985), 11bis (works fund, inserted by the Law of 30 June 2022, Mémorial A No 347 of 11 July 2022), 25 paragraph 2 (joint liability of the purchaser, added by the Law of 22 April 1985) and 34
- Guichet.lu, descriptive table of division