Co-ownership Trustee: Obligations and Fees

The co-ownership trustee is the central player in the management of a co-ownership building. Appointed by the general assembly of co-owners, he assumes legal, administrative, financial and technical responsibilities governed by the law of July 10, 1965 and its implementing decree of March 17, 1967. Understanding his obligations and the structure of his fees allows co-owners to better control the management of their real estate assets and to avoid budgetary excesses frequently observed in collective buildings.

The legal obligations of the trustee

The trustee is required to execute the decisions of the general meeting and administer the building in accordance with the co-ownership regulations. Its mandatory missions, reinforced by the ALUR law of March 24, 2014, include:

• Maintaining the maintenance logof the building (article L.721-1 of the CCH), mandatory document retracing the work carried out and current maintenance contracts.
• Opening a separate bank accountin the name of the union of co-owners (ALUR law), unless an exemption is voted in the AGM for small co-ownerships of less than 16 lots.
• Provision of a secure extranetallowing co-owners to consult the co-ownership documents (ELAN law 2018).
• Annual convocation of the general meetingwithin six months following the close of the financial year.
• Taking out professional liability insuranceand holding a financial guarantee.

The trustee must also register the co-ownership in the national register maintained by the ANAH, an obligation established by the ALUR law to improve the transparency of the French real estate stock.

The structure of trustee fees

Since the decree of March 26, 2015, the trustee's fees have been regulated by astandard contractwhich clearly distinguishes two categories of services:

The annual packagecovers routine tasks: accounting, administrative management, convening the annual general meeting, maintaining the extranet, establishing fundraising appeals, etc. This package generally varies between €150 and €300 per lot per year depending on the size of the building and the region.

Special servicesare subject to additional invoicing: organization of additional general meetings, claims management, monitoring of major works, delivery of documents for a transfer (dated statement invoiced maximum €380 including tax according to the 2020 decree), litigation recovery, etc.

Co-owners must be vigilant about theabusive fees: any service not listed in the package must appear explicitly in the contract to be billable.

Control of the trustee by the co-owners

The union council, elected by the general assembly, plays a determining role in controlling the trustee. He examines the accounts, verifies the quotes and can request the communication of any document relating to management. In the event of a serious breach, the AG can dismiss the trustee by an absolute majority (article 25 of the 1965 law) and incur civil or even criminal liability for breach of trust or misappropriation of funds.

Competition every three years, established by the ALUR law, also makes it possible to regularly challenge the prices and quality of services.