The Annual general meeting of the property and... mice infestation

I read of an interesting problem recently on Jean Tacquet's "Survival Kit for Paris" newsletter that I am sure he won't mind if I share with you. It sums up the frustrating business of dealing with one's Syndic (the management group in charge of the running of the co-owned apartment buildings in Paris).

It's a Parisian pastime to moan about the Syndic and how inefficient, overpaid and downright corrupt they are. This particular problem is quite heartbreaking because the owners must have shelled out around 10,000 euros a m² and are now faced with the problem of some unwelcome visitors along with their short term rental guests. And no end in sight...

"We recently bought a nice apartment for very short-term rentals in a really premium location, facing the river and the Ile de la Cité. Everything went fine and business was good until the building, and especially the apartments facing the riverfront, got invaded with mice. The building manager was immediately informed of this and we have been told that the matter was being handled, but we have seen no changes in our apartment.

There has been a general meeting of the co-owners and there was nothing about this problem on the agenda. The explanation was that the agenda was sent out long before the meeting and therefore cannot be changed at the last minute. So we attended the meeting and the matter was quite thoroughly discussed, mostly between the architect of the building, the property manager, and the president of the board.

So we left the meeting feeling completely reassured. I received the minutes of the meeting by mail and nothing about the mice is mentioned. I am getting really mad. Are they just plain lying to me?

Jean Tacquet's reply: What has happened here is perfectly normal considering the legal nature of the two documents, the agenda and the minutes of the General Meeting. This said, I cannot answer whether or not the syndic or property manager is lying to you or if your problem is going to be solved quickly. Therefore I need to explain these two documents in detail to help you decide what to think of the syndic.

The General Meeting must occur at least once a year and its primary purpose is to vote on the various aspects of the budget and renew the contract of the property manager. The purpose of the agenda is to let everybody know which topics will be discussed during the meeting and therefore which motions will be approved or not. This is a legal document that is often drafted more than a month before the meeting date, and my experience indicates that the Board of the building is instrumental in drafting it.

Once you receive all the documents needed for the General Meeting in the mail, you have the right to send a request to add a new item on the agenda, provided that you send it by registered mail and within the time-frame mentioned, which is usually two weeks. What must have happened is that you called the syndic when you received the document, which I assume was in the USA.

Then it was too late for you to send this request by registered mail and have it delivered to the syndic’s office before the deadline. So their answer about last-minute changes is perfectly legitimate and does not reveal a hidden agenda.

In theory, the meeting minutes serves as a record of what was said during the meeting. The reality is a little different. All votes on all motions are recorded in the minutes, as well as any significant statements made during the meeting regarding the motions. So as you can see, there is no room for the sudden inclusion of a complete paragraph about a topic that was not mentioned in the agenda.

At the same time, I am surprised that the mouse problem was not mentioned at all. Indeed, the last, or second-to-last, motion usually deals with the upkeep of the building, cleanliness of the common area, and other "small topics." I would have expected that it be mentioned here as having been discussed as a serious problem for which all measures will be taken. After all, it could have been recorded in just one line or less.

However, the bottom line is that as it is, such a situation does not really make a topic for the agenda since the mandate given to the syndic is to keep the common area clean and the building safe and free from all vermin. So the mouse issue does not need to be voted on; it falls completely under the syndic´s job description.

The only reason it should be mentioned in the minutes is to make sure that all the co-owners know about the situation and are willing to give access to their apartments when the technicians come to treat for vermin in the building.

From a very practical point of view, this situation makes the apartment difficult to rent, and you are probably facing the possibility that you will have to reimburse your tenant. For you this situation poses a true financial burden, and therefore for you a solution is urgent.

But for the syndic and the rest of the co-owners, it is a serious problem and nothing more. For them, there is no urgency to fix it right away. To be even more precise, since the building must be treated in its entirety, the key issue is to insure that everybody knows when the technicians will come, and it will take some time to inform everybody by posting general notices in the common area, sending individual notices to the co-owners, having the gardien(ne) put notices in tenants’ mailboxes, and so on. So the absence of immediate reaction does not necessarily mean that nothing will be done.

On the other hand, syndics in France are notoriously slow and rarely efficient by American standards, so you could be right to suspect that they are planning to do nothing about it and that what was said at the meeting was nothing more than lip service.

My advice would be to give them a little time to prepare this intervention. Should you find that it is taking too long, give them a call. Make sure that you do not emphasize the financial burden you are suffering. The short-term rental industry in Paris is still quite new and most of the time the co-ownership merely tolerates the activity in the building.

Should you state that the syndic is liable for your financial loss and that you want compensation, I can imagine the syndic serving you a summons to immediately stop this activity followed by a filing in court. You should be very careful with what you say to the syndic. You really need to walk a fine line here.

Comments

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[torwaynardy]

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