Changing syndic: tendering, vote, handover of archives

Step 1: competitive tendering

Before the general meeting called to appoint a professional syndic, the conseil syndical (owners’ committee) puts several draft contracts, drawn up on the contrat type (standard contract) and accompanied by the fiche d’information (information sheet) on price and services, out to competition (art. 21). Three rules complete this principle (art. 21):

• the formality is not required on pain of the appointment being irregular;
• the general meeting can exempt the owners’ committee from it by the majority of the votes of all co-owners, with the request entered on the agenda of the previous meeting;
• without an owners’ committee, competitive tendering is not compulsory.

In all cases, any co-owner may ask the syndic to put on the agenda the examination of draft contracts they send to it. The owners’ committee may give a written opinion on the drafts; it is then attached to the notice of meeting with the contracts concerned (art. 21). See our guide conseil syndical (owners’ committee).

Step 2: putting the question on the agenda and voting

The agenda. If the co-ownership does not want to renew the syndic, it sends the syndic, by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt, a request for inclusion on the agenda with one draft resolution per candidate and the draft contracts. The syndic can neither refuse to include it nor judge whether it is appropriate (F1548).

The timetable. The general meeting is held within the three months before the end date of the contract and its agenda covers the appointment of the new syndic and setting the end and start dates of the contracts (art. 18, VII). Service-public.gouv.fr recommends calling and holding it while the syndic is still in office: a notice of meeting sent after the mandate has expired is irregular (F1548). If the syndic does not call the meeting, any co-owner may ask the president of the tribunal judiciaire (civil court), through a lawyer, to appoint an administrateur provisoire (temporary administrator) to call it (F1548).

The vote. The draft contracts are attached to the notice of meeting. The general meeting votes on each candidacy in turn by the article 25 majority. If no candidate achieves it but one obtains at least one third of the votes of all co-owners, a second vote may take place at the same meeting by the article 24 majority (F1548). The voting rules are detailed in our guide assemblée générale (owners’ general meeting).

The dates. The general meeting sets the end of the current contract and the start of the new one, at the earliest one clear day after the meeting (art. 18, VII). The outgoing syndic is entitled to no compensation (F1548). Where it is the syndic who does not wish to continue, it informs the owners’ committee no later than three months before the meeting (art. 18, VII).

Changing syndic before the end of the mandate

At the owners’ committee’s initiative. The contract may be terminated for a sufficiently serious failure to perform. The committee notifies the syndic of a reasoned request to put the termination on the agenda of the next general meeting. When the president of the committee so requests, the syndic must call the meeting within two months of the first presentation of the registered letter; failing that, the president calls it. Termination takes effect at the earliest one clear day after the meeting (art. 18, VIII).

Service-public.gouv.fr cites as serious failings the absence of urgent or voted works, of payment of suppliers, of compulsory insurance or of a separate bank account. A mere loss of confidence is not enough: wrongful termination exposes the syndicat (the owners’ association) to paying damages corresponding to the fees still to run until the end date (F31671).

At the syndic’s initiative. It notifies its reasoned decision to the president of the owners’ committee, or failing that to each co-owner, then calls the general meeting within a period that cannot be less than two months (art. 18, VIII).

Handover of documents and funds

The co-ownership’s funds are held in a separate account opened in the syndicat’s name (art. 18, II): they stay with the syndicat when the syndic changes. What the outgoing syndic must hand over to the new one is set by article 18-2.

Sources: 1965 Act, art. 18-2; F31672.

The archives are handed over with a summary schedule, a copy of which is given to the owners’ committee (decree, art. 33-1). If the archives are entrusted to a specialist provider, the outgoing syndic informs it of the change within one month (art. 18-2). The documents must be delivered: it is up to the outgoing syndic to send them, not for the new one to fetch them (F31672).

In case of delay. The new syndic or the president of the owners’ committee serves the outgoing syndic with a mise en demeure (formal notice). If it remains without effect, the president of the tribunal judiciaire for the place where the building is located can be petitioned (decree, art. 34), and may order, subject to an astreinte (daily penalty), the handover of the documents and payment of the interest due since the formal notice, without prejudice to an interim award of damages (art. 18-2).

Which professional to consult

If a sale is under way during the change of syndic, inform the notaire (notary): it is the syndic in office that sends it the état daté (statement of account for a sale) and the certificate confirming that the seller owes nothing to the co-ownership (F2604). The agent immobilier (estate agent) preparing the sale of a lot gathers the minutes of the last general meetings, which record the appointment of the syndic. The content of the contract and the fees are set out in our guide on the syndic de copropriété (building manager).