You cannot refuse to pay a call for funds that is properly based on a general meeting decision: the provision becomes due on the date set by law or by the meeting, and non-payment exposes you to debt collection proceedings. The effective remedy is to challenge the meeting decision itself, within two months of notification of the minutes, or to have the individual statement corrected where the error concerns the allocation.

Provisional budget contributions: automatic due date

The general meeting votes each year on the provisional budget for current expenses, pursuant to Article 14-1 of the Law of 10 July 1965. This vote automatically triggers a provision equal to one quarter of the approved budget, due on the first day of each quarter, or the first day of the period set by the meeting. The managing agent (syndic) does not need a new approval to call these sums, and the call does not create the debt: it merely serves as a reminder of it.

The managing agent notifies the call before the due date, indicating the relevant period and your share. A call sent late does not cancel the debt, but delays its effective due date and undermines any claim for late-payment interest.

Works and expenses outside the budget: the approved payment schedule

Works and expenses not included in the provisional budget, listed under Article 14-2, follow a different logic. Funds may only be called in accordance with the terms approved by the meeting: overall amount, call schedule, due dates. A managing agent who calls funds without a meeting decision, or who deviates from the approved schedule, acts without authority. In that case, the call can be challenged on principle, without having to go through a challenge to the meeting decision.

Contributions to the works fund, for their part, are subject to an annual statutory obligation. Sums paid remain the property of the co-owners’ association and are not refunded to the seller when the unit is sold.

Provisional and final amounts: reconciliation

The quarterly call is a cash advance calculated on estimates. Your actual charge is only finalized once the general meeting approves the accounts for the financial year. The managing agent then draws up an individual statement comparing the provisions paid with the expenses actually incurred, allocated according to the keys set out in the co-ownership by-laws. Any debit balance becomes due, and any credit balance is refunded to you or credited against the next call.

Check this statement item by item: the allocation key applied, the share (tantièmes) attributed to your unit, the split between general and special charges, and whether expenses are attached to the correct financial year. Article 18-1 of the law gives you the right to inspect supporting documents for the charges during the period preceding the meeting, by appointment, with the option of obtaining copies at your own expense.

What happens if you don’t pay

The managing agent sends a formal notice by registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt. Where a provisional budget contribution or a works instalment remains unpaid thirty days after this formal notice, Article 19-2 allows the co-owners’ association to render immediately due all provisions for the financial year not yet due. The managing agent then applies to the court, which rules under an expedited procedure on the merits, and may obtain an enforceable order opening the way to seizure and, in the most serious situations, forced sale of the unit.

The necessary costs incurred for collection, in particular the formal notice and procedural costs, are charged solely to the defaulting co-owner pursuant to Article 10-1. Deliberately withholding your contributions to protest against disputed management is therefore a losing strategy.

Deadlines to know

An application to annul a general meeting decision, including the budget, must be brought within two months of notification of the minutes, before the judicial court (tribunal judiciaire) for the location of the building. This deadline is short and cannot be extended. The co-owners’ association’s action for recovery of charges is time-barred after five years, as is your own personal action for reimbursement of sums wrongly called.

An allocation clause contrary to the mandatory rules of Article 10 is deemed unwritten: challenging it is not subject to the two-month deadline and allows the allocation to be corrected for financial years not yet time-barred. This is often the decisive argument against calls for funds calculated on an irregular key for years.

For any co-ownership matter, Cécile Zakine, Esq. advises you and defends your interests (Grasse Judicial Court, Nice Judicial Court, Aix Court of Appeal). Prompt consultation.

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