The condo managing agent, explained to the board

The managing agent neither owns the building nor decides for it: they are the agent of the co-owners’ association, tasked with carrying out what the general meeting voted. Almost every condo dispute grows out of that confusion — a board that knows exactly what the contract requires gets in three emails what another spends a year asking for.

1. 1

   What an agent does — and does not do

   The agent runs the building, keeps the association’s accounts in a separate bank account, carries out the general meeting’s decisions and represents the co-ownership in court. They do not decide in place of the meeting: outside an emergency, committing to an unvoted expense is a breach that engages their liability.

   • They convene the meeting, write the minutes and notify them.
   • They keep the association’s accounts in a separate bank account.
   • They may only start unvoted works in an emergency — and must then convene the meeting without delay.

   Articles 18 and 18-1 A of the act of 10 July 1965

   The condo board’s role opposite the managing agent
2. 2

   Professional, volunteer or cooperative: three forms

   A professional agent holds a professional licence and a financial guarantee. A volunteer agent is a co-owner elected by the meeting, with no management fee. The cooperative form gives the role to the board itself, whose chair becomes the agent.

   • The volunteer form suits small buildings with no staff and no complex shared plant.
   • They remain bound by the same accounting and notice obligations as a professional.
   • The switch is voted at a general meeting, and assumes someone genuinely takes on the load.

   Articles 14 and 17-2 of the act of 10 July 1965

   Switching to a volunteer managing agent: what it involves
3. 3

   The contract: flat fee and extra services

   Since 2015 the agent’s contract follows a statutory template: an annual flat fee covers day-to-day management, and an exhaustive list of services may be billed on top. Anything not on that list is meant to be inside the flat fee — the most useful line of defence a board has against an unexpected invoice.

   • The flat fee covers day-to-day work: notices, accounts, charge demands, the annual meeting.
   • Extra services — works, sales, litigation — are listed exhaustively.
   • The contract is voted under article 25, term and amount included.
   • A service absent from the statutory list cannot give rise to a supplement.

   Decree no. 2015-342 of 26 March 2015 (standard contract)

   Reading the agent’s contract: flat fee and extra services
4. 4

   What the agent must give you

   A secure online space is compulsory, with a minimum set of documents open to every co-owner and wider access for board members. It is a legal obligation, not a commercial extra: its absence is reported, not negotiated.

   • Co-ownership rules, minutes, current contracts, the building’s summary sheet.
   • The board additionally sees tender documents and statements of the separate account.
   • Supporting documents for the charges can be inspected between the notice and the meeting.

   Articles 18 and 18-1 of the act of 10 July 1965

   The condo extranet: what really has to be on it
5. 5

   Checking the accounts without being an accountant

   Scrutiny starts with the accounting annexes attached to the notice. You are not hunting for a bookkeeping error: you are looking for gaps between the voted budget and the actuals, and for lines that swell year on year with no explanation.

   • Compare actuals with the voted budget, line by line, over two financial years.
   • Ask for the supporting documents behind the lines that move most.
   • Check that the works fund sits in a separate account, not folded into the current one.

   Article 21 of the act of 10 July 1965

   Reading your building’s accounting annexes
6. 6

   When the agent does not reply

   Silence is the first cause of conflict, and the easiest to document. Moving from email to recorded delivery changes everything: it opens a deadline, it leaves a trace, and it turns dissatisfaction into a contractual breach you can raise at the meeting.

   • Put the request in writing again, citing the clause or statute concerned.
   • Switch to recorded delivery once a reminder has gone unanswered.
   • Log the dates: that record is what carries weight when renewal is voted.

   Article 18 of the act of 10 July 1965

   The managing agent is not replying: what to do
7. 7

   Putting contracts out to tender

   Above a threshold set by the meeting itself, contracts must be put out to competitive tender and the board must be consulted. It is the most effective lever on service charges: it requires no confrontation, only method and a little lead time.

   • The meeting sets the threshold above which tendering becomes compulsory.
   • Competing quotes must be attached to the notice, not produced on the night.
   • The board gives a written opinion above its own consultation threshold.

   Article 21 of the act of 10 July 1965

   Competitive tendering: thresholds and method
8. 8

   Changing managing agent

   A change of agent is prepared six months before the meeting, not three weeks before. Appointing the new one and ending the old one’s term are both voted at the meeting: it is an item to have added to the agenda, with the competing contracts attached.

   • Approach several agents and ask for their draft contract, not a brochure.
   • Have the item added to the agenda before the notice goes out.
   • The appointment is voted under article 25, with a possible fallback to article 24.
   • Set the effective date and the handover of the archives in the resolution itself.

   Articles 25 and 25-1 of the act of 10 July 1965

   Changing managing agent: the full timeline
9. 9

   Removing an agent mid-term

   Removal is possible, but it is not improvised: it needs a legitimate ground, an item on the agenda and, in practice, the appointment of a successor at the same meeting. A co-ownership left with no agent must have one appointed by a court.

   • The item must be on the agenda: it cannot be raised from the floor.
   • Vote the successor’s appointment at the same meeting, straight after the removal.
   • Removal with no legitimate ground can give rise to damages.

   Article 18 (mandate) and article 25 (appointment) of the act of 10 July 1965

   Removing your managing agent: grounds and procedure