Checking syndic management costs

[P-D de Rouffignac]

For those of us who live in co-ownership/condominium type properties (apartment, villa in gated estate with common services etc) it is around this time of year that the syndic (professional managers) invite the co-owners to the annual general meeting. Some friends have recently gone through this process and like many, alas, had not until this year taken time to look at the annual expenditure included in the report and agenda - and were shocked at what they found. Numerous examples of over expenditure on trivial items like changing lightbulbs, fixing the lock on the front doors (1000 euros!), cleaning services (600 euros per month for 2 hours per week!), trees cut down without consultation etc etc. The weakness in this case was that the so-called 'residents committee' consisted of just two people, who admitted they simply checked that the cheques paid out by the managers corresponded to the bills received.

At the AGM, my friends were applauded for their findings by a shell-shocked group of residents but personally attacked by th repesentative from the management company, who was allowed to chair the meeting but succeeded in digging himself into an ever deepening hole. The upshot is that the residents are now considering sacking the management company and managing the building themselves, having recognised that they have let things slide over the years - and are no faced with huge costs for both internal and expernal painting of their building (60 apartments over 8 floors).

The moral of the story is to get involved, in your own interests, by joining the residents committee, and at very least read and check the annual accounts, and attend the annual general meeting, insisting on being heard if you have something to say. Many local agencies who used to manage properties ('gestion de syndic') have been taken over by large conglomerates such as Foncia, Nexity, Lamy etc and it is essential to remain ever vigilant. After all, it's your money they are spending.....

P-D de R.

[nomoss]

We belonged to a copropriety where a few owners had not paid their annual quotas over some years. The debts were in the annual reports, everyone assumed the syndic was chasing them, but in fact nothing was being done at all.

Eventually some owners realised this, and the sydic was fired, but the debts were old, and none of the legal procedures had been followed to recover them.

Because of this, when a court judgement was finally made, and debts recovered through the sale of the relevant properties, no debts more than, I believe, 5 years old were allowed, so the owners sustained a loss of several thousand Euros.