Are you about to buy a condominium? Remember to consult the rules before checking out
Do you have a real estate acquisition project, for housing or to make a rental investment with a view to receiving monthly rents? Before you start looking for the property to acquire, you need to decide whether you want to become an owner or co-owner.
Attached to the term property, this little prefix co changes everything and means that you are an owner, of course, but within a community and not individually. Which legally speaking is not the same thing. From this fundamental difference sometimes arise misunderstandings because your rights are different depending on whether you are the owner or co-owner.
Co-ownership, a broad concept
The status of co-ownership applies to any built building or group of built buildings whose ownership is distributed in batches between several people. Taking into account all the rules, legally, there is co-ownership when a property belonging to at least two different people includes common areas and private areas.
Co-ownership is not limited to apartments located in a collective building. A detached house which includes at least two dwellings with common areas, belonging to at least two different owners, is a co-ownership. This is also the case for residential complexes, known as horizontal co-ownerships. On this principle, even individual houses far from each other can, against all evidence, be in co-ownership.
General meeting of co-ownership: why you need to participate
The same goes for townhouses, these buildings which often include at least two dwellings, with for example, a common entrance. When you buy a house in a subdivisionthere is a good chance that you are a member of a so-called co-ownership horizontal co-ownership.
Sometimes the houses in a subdivision do not constitute a co-ownership but are part of a free trade union association (ASL): the subdivision regulations and the specifications indicate the rights and obligations of the colotis, the people who own housing located in a subdivision.
Useful check
The co-owner’s right to property is limited by the rights of the other co-owners. Do you intend to be the sole owner, without having an account or authorization, to ask neighbors to undertake modifications to your property? So it is imperative, before signing the unilateral promise or the sales agreement, to check whether or not the accommodation you are considering purchasing is subject to the status of co-ownership.
Compromise, promise to sell, offer to purchase… Unexpected consequences
The subtleties of the co-ownership regulations
If the status of co-ownership leaves you free to dispose of your accommodation (live in it, rent it, sell it, mortgage it) and grants you rights, it also includes obligations which arise from sharing your property with those who have the same status as you: most of them appear in the co-ownership regulations.
A true bible of co-ownership, this mandatory document is the operating code of the building: its stipulations have the force of law and are binding on all co-owners. Before purchasing accommodation in a co-ownership, it is essential to refer to the co-ownership regulations, without blindly relying solely on the seller’s statements.
You will thus know the composition of the lot sold and the delimitation between your private areas, that is to say belonging only to you, in particular the accommodation and the common areas of which all the co-owners have the enjoyment. The classification between private areas and common areas is almost intangible: this distribution can only be modified with the unanimous agreement of the co-owners.
Check that all the annexes, the parking space, the cellar, the garage, etc. are clearly designated as the private parts of the lot sold to you. It is also important to ensure that the accommodation corresponds to the designation given in the co-ownership regulations. This comparison allows you to see if a previous owner appropriated common areas or carried out work without authorization from the general assembly.
Examples: closing the end of a corridor to enlarge one’s accommodation, converting the attic or removing access to a terrace may have been accomplished without the agreement of the other co-owners… If the seller is not able to provide you with proof that he has obtained, for this work, the appropriation of a common space via an authorization vote at a general meeting, do not follow up. In the absence of formal authorization, the co-ownership could force you to return these common areas or restore them to their initial state.
Moreover, restrictions on the use of accommodation and common areas may be set by the co-ownership regulations. And if you are satisfied with the accommodation as it is and you intend to carry out major work there after the purchase, check that the rules of the co-ownership regulations do not conflict with your work plans.
A clause can thus prohibit modifying existing floor coverings. The co-ownership regulations may also specify the rules for the use of windows, balconies and terraces. Or even provide, to maintain the harmony of the building, the prohibition of modifying your entrance door or imposing a type of windows, shutters or the color of the blinds. The regulations may also prohibit the installation of metal shutters.
Co-ownership: why it is in your interest to be a member of the union council
Why you need to check the destination of the building
What is the purpose of the building? This is an essential point to check in the co-ownership regulations. Are you planning to set up your medical practice in your home, or to rent it to a caregiver or another self-employed professional, or to store some goods in your cellar or garage? Absolutely check that your projects are compatible with the co-ownership regulations.
The law prohibits limiting the rights of co-owners to use their accommodation as they see fit, unless these restrictions are justified by the destination of the building. Schematically, the destination is the purpose of the building, what it is used for. It is indicated in the co-ownership regulations which determine the allocation of lots and different premises, that is to say in particular the use of housing by the co-owners.
If the co-ownership regulations include a exclusive bourgeois housing clause, any professional commercial or liberal activity is prohibited. When it includes a ordinary bourgeois habitation or simple bourgeois habitation clause, private premises can also be used for the exercise of self-employed professional activities, but cannot be used in the context of a commercial activity. Some regulations authorize mixed usenamely a bourgeois residential use for certain premises and a commercial or artisanal use for others, for example for the premises on the ground floor.
The Court of Cassation validated the clause of a co-ownership regulation indicating that accommodation located on the second floor as well as on the upper floors cannot be occupied on a professional basis. When the exercise of a professional activity is authorized, the co-ownership regulations may nevertheless prohibit those which are incompatible with the purpose of the building or which would generate nuisance or excessive risks. In the absence of a clause concerning the destination of the building, the co-owners have complete freedom to use their accommodation while respecting the rights of the other co-owners.
Please note that even in the event of a contrary provision included in the co-ownership regulations, the domiciliation of a company cannot be prohibited. By domiciliation, we must understand the use as the administrative address of the company, the place where it can be contacted.
Co-ownership: the new trick of the trustees to bankrupt the owners
Another document to check
Please note, do not forget to also consult the descriptive state of division: this document may include more precise clauses than the co-ownership regulations regarding the allocation and use of the accommodation.