Building upwards: funding works by selling development rights

Some buildings fund their façade and their lift with no call for funds. They sell their roof.

A building needs a new roof, façade insulation and a modernised lift. The total far exceeds what owners can absorb. In dense cities another route exists: selling the right to build one or more additional storeys.

The operation is complex and slow, but it has a feature no other structure offers: it brings money into the association instead of asking for it.

The principle

The ground and the roof are common areas; the right to build above therefore belongs to the association. It can transfer that right to a developer, who builds new homes and becomes an owner in turn.

• The proceeds go to the association and fund the works decided.
• New units are created with their shares, redistributing the allocation.
• The building rules and the schedule of division are amended.
• Future charges are then shared across a larger number of units.

That last point is often the decisive argument: at constant charges, more units means a smaller individual share. The mechanism is explained in ownership shares.

Feasibility, above all

No extension is possible without two cumulative conditions: local planning rules must allow it, and the existing structure must be able to carry the added storeys. Both checks precede any discussion at a meeting.

They have a cost — a planning study, a structural study — but nothing compared with a project launched then abandoned. Same preparation logic as in survey or works plan.

What the law protects

The decision belongs to the general meeting, at a high majority given what it changes. It also carries its own protection: top-floor owners hold a priority right, designed to preserve their particular situation — view, light, quiet.

This point is central in discussions: an extension affects the top floors far more than the others, and a project that ignores it meets legitimate and lasting opposition.

What the board must pin down

• The duration of the works and its consequences: access, noise, scaffolding, lift.
• Liability for damage caused to the existing building during the works.
• A prior photographic record of the building, essential in any later dispute.
• Coordination with the funded works: carry them out at the same time, not after.
• The developer’s guarantees and the strength of its financial structure.

The fourth point changes the operation’s real return: sharing the scaffolding between the extension and the façade renovation saves a considerable share of the budget. See also works handover.

An extension is not judged on the price of the development right, but on the works it funds without a call for funds.

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