Work on condominiums

Work on condominiums

"I live in a villa, bought as part of a condominium, which is part of a plot of four villas. I'd like to install an illumination system on the path leading to the houses. My immediate neighbours are in agreement, but the other families are not. Can I still install the system?

Co-ownership is becoming increasingly widespread these days, as it makes it easier for many families to buy their own home. In the case of buildings, co-ownership usually takes the form of ownership by storey, meaning that each owner has the exclusive right to use and develop specific parts of the building. The law specifies that co-owners have the power to manage, use and fit out their premises insofar as they do not restrict the exercise of the rights of the other co-owners, damage the common parts, works and installations of the building, hinder their use or alter its external appearance. A distinction must therefore be made between units over which each owner has an exclusive right of enjoyment and so-called common units.

Each co-owner has the right to carry out acts of day-to-day administration, by which is meant essentially maintenance, but not building work, which requires a decision by the co-owners. The question is whether your installation is useful or sumptuary. Works are useful when they are intended to preserve or even increase the value of the property or improve its performance or usefulness; they may be decided by a majority of the co-owners representing, in addition, more than half of the property. Work is sumptuary when it is intended exclusively to embellish the property, improve its appearance or make it easier to use; decisions relating thereto must be taken unanimously. Therefore, the higher the investment in terms of added value, the more likely it is that the work is sumptuary.

If you can demonstrate that the lights are not just to make the road more attractive, but that they are likely to increase the value of the property and its usefulness, you do not necessarily need the agreement of all the co-owners to install your lighting system; but in any case, you should ask the administrator to put the matter on the agenda for the next co-owners' meeting, so that a majority or unanimous decision can be taken.