Co-ownership - New deadline

After the Belgian House of Representatives passed a bill on 4 July 2013 regarding the deadline for bringing the deeds on co-ownership in line with the relevant provisions, this bill was voted on and adopted by the Belgian Senate during its plenary session of 18 July 2013. 

Consequently, the different deeds must be adjusted by 1 September 2014 at the latest.

The amendment intends to prolong the deadline for bringing in line the basic deed, the co-ownership regulations and the in-house rules once more.

This will mean that the relevant deeds must be adjusted by 1 September 2014 at the latest, and not longer by 1 September 2013.

The decision to extent the aforementioned period is mainly made because of practical considerations. It appeared that many associations of co-ownership have still not adjusted their by-laws. This is partly due to the lack of clarity in practice on the interpretation of Section 19, §2 of the law of 2 June 2010 amending the Belgian Civil Code in order to modernize the functioning of co-ownership and to make it more transparent. 

Said article states that as long as the general meeting of co-owners does not amend the basic deed at the same time or subsequently, no authentic deed is required for the amended text of the co-ownership regulations. 

From the foregoing, however, it cannot be deducted that modifications to the co-ownership regulations, other than those merely resulting from the law, does not require an authentic deed. The Belgian Civil Code actually stipulates that each modification to the basic deed and the co-ownership regulations must be subject of an authentic deed (Section 577-4, §1 of the Belgian Civil Code).

The building managers will be required to put all in order within 4 years after the date of the entry into force of the law.  In practice, this means that all documents, namely the existing basic deed, the co-ownership regulations and the in-house rules, have be adapted to Sections 577-3 to 577-14 of the Belgian Civil Code, and that they have to be submitted for approval to the General Meeting by 1 September 2014 at the latest. 

Such a delay seems reasonable to us.