Conseil syndical in France: role, election, powers

A compulsory body, with three exceptions

The règlement de copropriété (building regulations) need not provide for an owners’ committee: its existence derives from the law. Service-public.gouv.fr (F2610) allows three exceptions:

• the general meeting decides not to set one up, by the double majority of article 26 (art. 21). This decision is not final: a later meeting may create a committee by the article 25 majority;
• no candidate stands or obtains the required majority; the judge may then appoint the committee, at the request of the syndic or a co-owner;
• small co-ownerships: no more than 5 lots used as homes, offices or shops, or an average annual budget below €15,000 over three consecutive financial years.

The owners’ committee must not be confused with the syndic de copropriété (building manager), which manages the building and carries out decisions.

Who can be elected, and how

Eligible persons are listed exhaustively: co-owners, their ascendants or descendants, spouses or Pacs (civil partnership) partners, partners in an SCI (property company), accédants or acquéreurs à terme (buyers under deferred-ownership schemes), legal representatives and usufructuaries. A legal entity may be a member and be represented. Where the syndic is a professional, neither it, nor its employees, nor their relatives (spouse, partner, cohabitee, ascendants, descendants, relatives up to the 2nd degree) may sit on the committee (F2610).

The election. Members are elected one by one by the assemblée générale (owners’ general meeting), by the absolute majority of article 25, i.e. of the votes of all co-owners. If the candidacy obtains at least one third of these votes, an immediate second vote may be held by the simple majority of article 24 (F2610). Candidacies are submitted before the notice of meeting is sent out or during the meeting.

Sources: 1965 Act, art. 21 and 21-1; service-public.gouv.fr (F2610, F2137).

Composition and term. No text imposes a minimum number; at least three members are recommended, and substitutes may be elected. The term lasts 3 years at most, renewable. It ends by resignation, removal by the article 25 majority, or loss of the required status, for example on the sale of the lot. The committee is no longer validly constituted when more than a quarter of the seats are vacant: the general meeting is then called to fill the vacant seats only (F2610).

Assisting the syndic and checking its management

Opinions. The committee gives its opinion on any matter concerning the syndicat (the owners’ association), on its own initiative or at the syndic’s request. The general meeting sets, by the article 25 majority, the amount of contracts above which consulting the committee is compulsory (art. 21). Service-public.gouv.fr also mentions drawing up the general meeting agenda, urgent works and the appointment of a temporary administrator.

Competitive tendering for the syndic. Before the meeting called to appoint the syndic, the committee puts several draft contracts out to competition. It may be exempted from this by a decision voted by a majority of the votes of all co-owners (art. 21). Without competitive tendering, the appointment of the syndic remains valid (F2610).

Oversight. The committee checks the syndicat’s accounts, the allocation of expenses, the award and performance of contracts, and the preparation and execution of the budget prévisionnel (annual budget). Its members may consult and copy the documents, correspondence and registers relating to management. If nothing has been sent more than one month after the request, penalties are charged against the syndic’s remuneration (art. 21): €15 per day of delay, deducted when the accounts are closed (F2610).

Action against the syndic. If the syndic fails to act, the committee chair may take legal action for compensation for the syndicat’s loss, provided they have received an express delegation from the general meeting voted by the article 25 majority (F2610, F2137).

Delegation of powers

Where the owners’ committee has at least 3 members, the general meeting may delegate to it the power to take all or some of the decisions falling under the simple majority of article 24 (art. 21-1). Service-public.gouv.fr cites heating periods, felling a tree for safety reasons or snow clearance (F2610). Excluded are approval of the accounts, setting the annual budget and amendments to the building regulations made necessary by changes in legislation (art. 21-1).

The delegation is voted by a majority of the votes of all co-owners, the article 25 majority (art. 21-1), for 2 years at most; it is renewable by an express decision of the general meeting (art. 21-3). The general meeting sets the maximum amount of the sums allocated (art. 21-2). The committee decides by a majority of its members; in the event of a tie, the chair has the casting vote. It reports on the exercise of its delegation to the general meeting that approves the accounts (art. 21-5).

Day-to-day operation

The members elect their chair. The chair prepares and calls meetings, passes on opinions and may call the annual general meeting if the syndic fails to act (F2610). In principle, only members attend meetings; the chair may invite substitutes, the syndic, a technical expert or a co-owner whose opinion is useful (F11384).

Each year, the committee reports on its work in a report attached to the notice of the general meeting. The role is unpaid; necessary expenses are paid out of the annual budget. The syndicat must take out civil liability insurance for each member (art. 21-4; F2610).

Which professional to consult

If you are buying a lot, the agent immobilier (estate agent) and the notaire (notary) give you the minutes of general meetings, which show the composition of the owners’ committee, the delegations voted and any tensions with the syndic. The diagnostiqueur (property surveyor), for their part, prepares the survey file for the private part, handed over with the promesse de vente (preliminary sale contract).