I live in a PPE building in which one of the co-owners has not paid his charges for some time now. What can we, the other co-owners, do to ensure that the contributions will be paid? Who can or must act against him?
Y, Vau
In principle, all co-owners of a multi-storey property (PPE) must contribute to the common charges and administration costs of their building according to the distribution fixed by law (prescribing a distribution in proportion to the shares in the building) or by the regulations governing the administration and use of the property by floors, or even by a community decision.
When one of the co-owners ceases to pay his contribution, the community of (other) co-owners may request the registration of a mortgage on the interested party’s share in order to guarantee his right to the contributions due for the last three years, in application of article 712i of the Swiss Civil Code (CC).
The legal hypothec is a right of lien which can ultimately allow the forced sale of the condominium unit concerned. The decision to require the registration of such a legal hypothec is in principle taken by the general meeting of co-owners, it being specified that neither the bad payer (if present) nor the administrator of the PPE votes on this. occasion. The community of co-owners can take legal action themselves, provided that all the co-owners concerned file a request together, or let the co-ownership administrator represent it. The latter also has its own competence to act, even without the approval of the meeting of co-owners, if there is an emergency.
In the absence of an administrator or if the latter refuses to act, each co-owner may request the registration of the right of lien provided that he is authorized to carry out this procedure by a decision taken by the majority of the other co-owners or failing that by a judge, who can be contacted specifically to do this, which can particularly happen when the co-ownership is made up of only two owners.
The registration of the legal hypothec can be requested from the civil judge on urgent measures (called super-provisional and provisional measures), without prior conciliation, in order to safeguard the period provided for by law, which limits the registration of the right of pledge to the three last years of unpaid charges. In such a procedure, the mortgage will be immediately registered on a provisional basis, unless the right to definitive registration appears excluded or highly improbable. It will then be necessary to validate the provisional registration by ordinary legal action, during which each party will be able to make their arguments heard.
Finally, note that the owner in default of payment can accept the registration of the legal hypothec or avoid it by providing sufficient security covering the amount of the debt and the interest due, for example in the form of a guarantee. bank or by the payment of a deposited sum.
Did you find an error? Please report it to us.
2023-10-21 08:26:28
#advice #PPE #pay
– PPE: what about the one who does not pay?
Pascal Rytz, lawyer