The maintenance log and the condominium register: two obligations that reveal the quality of management

The maintenance log: what the 2001 decree requires

Article 18 of the law of 10 July 1965 lists the maintenance log among the syndic's duties. The syndic draws it up, keeps it and updates it alone, without needing the meeting's prior approval, and the service is part of the flat fee: it cannot be billed on top.

Decree no. 2001-477 of 30 May 2001 sets the base. Three entries are always required: the building's address, the identity of the current syndic and the references of the insurance policies taken out by the syndicate, with their renewal dates.

Others become compulsory as soon as the situation arises. The year major works were carried out, facade, roof, lift, boiler or pipework, and the identity of the firms that did them. Latent-defects insurance policies still in force. Maintenance and servicing contracts for shared equipment, with their end dates. And the works prescribed by the multi-year works plan with their schedule.

The meeting may add further information by simple majority: the history of the construction, a comprehensive technical survey, a collective energy performance certificate. Where the co-ownership has several buildings, the syndic opens one chapter per building, and each secondary syndicate has its own log.

What the log reveals, and how to read it

The syndic must provide online access allowing every co-owner to consult, download and print the log. A paper copy remains possible, at a price freely set in the syndic's contract. The log is attached to the preliminary sale agreement for a lot, and it is part of the archives the outgoing syndic hands over to the successor.

It reads like a care record. The date of the last facade renovation can be set against the facade as seen from the pavement. Maintenance contracts are checked against their end dates: a lift contract that expired two years ago is enough to place the management. A latent-defects policy still running signals recent work still covered, and therefore a remedy if a defect appears.

On a building a century old, a log reduced to the three minimum entries means the building's technical history has not been written. Every new project then starts from a survey that a well-kept log would have spared.

The law sets no specific fine. A missing or outdated log makes the syndic liable if the syndicate suffers loss as a result, and it may justify ending the syndic's mandate early.

The summary sheet: one page that sums up the building

The summary sheet is compulsory in every co-ownership. It is neither the co-ownership regulations nor the maintenance log: it is a summary, dated, signed and stamped by the syndic, which can be extracted from the national register.

It carries the co-ownership's identification, its registration number and the date of its last update, the legal organisation, the number of lots and their breakdown by use, the number of buildings, the construction period, the type of heating and the number of lifts. For a closed financial year it gives running charges, works charges, debts to suppliers, arrears and the amount of the works fund.

It is updated every year, within two months of notification of the minutes of the meeting that approved the accounts. Any co-owner obtains it free, on simple request. The syndic has one month to provide it; beyond that, a penalty of €15 per day of delay is deducted from the syndic's annual flat fee.

The sheet is also attached to the preliminary agreement or the deed of sale. Read before a purchase, it is the page that tells you fastest whether a co-ownership is sound: a high level of arrears against a modest budget shows up in a single line.

The national register: what registration declares

The national register of co-ownerships is kept by the Anah, the national housing agency. The obligation covers every building wholly or partly used for housing; only co-ownerships used entirely for shops or offices are exempt. Existing co-ownerships had to be registered by 31 December 2018 at the latest.

The task falls to the syndic, professional or volunteer. The notary handles it when a co-ownership is created, and the provisional administrator or the ad hoc agent when the co-ownership is placed under their mission. The filer receives a certificate after each registration or update: that is the document to ask for to know whether the obligation is being met.

What is declared goes well beyond the building's identity. Provisional budget, amount of the works fund, debts to suppliers, amount of arrears and number of co-owners in debt, presence of employees. Energy rating, heating type, number of lifts. And ongoing procedures, appointment of an ad hoc agent or a provisional administrator, insalubrity orders.

Not everyone has the same access. Since 1 July 2017, anyone can freely consult in the directory the registration number, name, address, date of creation, name of the syndic and the type and number of lots. Notaries access all the data, to secure sales, and the State and local authorities use it to identify fragile co-ownerships.

The annual update, and what a failure costs

Financial data are updated every year, within two months of the meeting that approved the accounts of the closed year. Other information, identification, building, procedures, is updated when it changes, in principle at the time of the annual declaration. Registration and updates are both free.

Failure is sanctioned in two stages. The Anah, a co-owner or anyone with an interest, the notary handling a sale for instance, serves formal notice on the syndic by registered letter. One month later, if nothing has happened, the Anah may impose a penalty of up to €20 per lot per week of delay, until the obligation is fully met. On a 40-lot building, that is up to €800 a week, and the amount cannot be passed on to the co-owners.

The heaviest consequence lies elsewhere. A co-ownership that is not registered, or whose data are out of date, cannot receive certain grants, in particular those of the Anah and the zero-interest eco-loan. MaPrimeRénov' Copropriété expressly requires a co-ownership that is registered and up to date. On the day the building votes an energy renovation, an administrative oversight can cost an entire grant.

What we check when we take over a building

Three documents are requested in writing from the outgoing syndic, among the archives it must hand over: the maintenance log, the latest summary sheet and the certificate of the latest register update. Their dates alone often measure how well a building has been run, before the accounts are even opened.

Régie Promenade manages co-ownerships in Nice from its offices at 107 Promenade des Anglais. The care given to these three documents goes unnoticed at a general meeting. It shows on the day of a sale, an insurance claim or a grant application, when a date or a certificate has to be found.