Self-managed co-ownership in Luxembourg: legal framework and 8 steps to go without a professional manager

By Kristijan Krapic, co-founder of Quorum

Your four-apartment building pays €4,800 per year to a professional building manager. In practice, he calls a plumber once a year, collects the advance payments, and organises a 45-minute general meeting. You wonder whether you can do things differently. The short answer: yes. The law of 16 May 1975 on co-ownership never requires a building manager to be a licensed professional, regardless of the size of your building. A co-owner can perfectly well be appointed as building manager — this is known as a volunteer building manager, or more broadly as self-management. The transition happens through a vote at a general meeting, an orderly transfer of accounts and documents, and the implementation of appropriate tools.

In summary: in Luxembourg, no law requires your co-ownership to use a professional building manager. A co-owner can take on this role after being appointed by the general meeting by absolute majority. All legal obligations remain identical — the capital works fund, accounting, insurance. The difference: you handle them yourselves, with typical savings of €3,000 to €5,000 per year for a small building.

Here is how to successfully make this transition in eight steps, without exposing yourself legally.

Is a professional building manager mandatory in Luxembourg?

In Luxembourg, no law requires a co-ownership building manager to be a licensed professional. The law of 16 May 1975 requires every co-ownership to appoint a building manager, but demands neither professional qualifications, nor licensing, nor membership of a professional body. A co-owner can fill this role provided they are appointed by the general meeting. There is no size threshold — neither minimum nor maximum — that makes using a professional mandatory.

This point deserves to be stated clearly, because this is exactly where the confusion sets in. Many small Luxembourg buildings operate with a professional building manager not because the law requires it, but because no one ever told them they had a choice. The notary who sold the apartment recommended a colleague, the co-ownership rules date from the 1980s and mention a local firm, and everyone kept on paying.

A few useful clarifications:

• No size threshold: co-ownerships of 3 to 6 units are the natural candidates for self-management, but larger buildings do it too. The law sets no floor or ceiling.
• Appointment by absolute majority at a general meeting, votes calculated in thousandths. The resolution must be expressly included on the agenda.
• A temporary and renewable mandate — typically one to three years. You are not committing anyone for life.
• The law of 30 June 2022 did not change this principle. It introduced the mandatory capital works fund and modified certain voting thresholds for energy works, but left intact the possibility for a co-owner to take on the role of building manager.

What concretely changes when you switch to self-management

Self-management is not a legal grey area. All of a co-ownership's legal obligations continue to apply — it is simply you who carry them out. The volunteer building manager takes on exactly the same responsibilities as a professional building manager: convening general meetings, keeping the accounts, executing voted decisions, managing contracts with service providers, collecting service charges, and feeding the mandatory capital works fund.

What disappears: flat-rate fees, correspondence charges, commission on works, and the opacity of invoicing that nobody knows how to read. For a four-unit building, this generally means savings of €3,000 to €5,000 per year.

What appears: time. Expect between 2 and 5 hours per month at cruising speed for a small co-ownership, with peaks around the annual general meeting and the close of accounts. This is manageable if the workload is shared — one co-owner takes the role of building manager, another joins the syndical council, a third reviews the accounts.

What remains unchanged: the mandatory capital works fund since 1 August 2023, building insurance, tax and reporting obligations. Self-management does not exempt you from anything.

This is exactly what Quorum automates for volunteer building managers in Luxembourg — accounting, capital works fund, general meeting preparation. Discover Quorum →

The question that paralyses everyone: what about liability?

This is the fear that holds back most small co-ownerships. If the volunteer building manager makes a mistake, who pays? If a serious incident occurs — water damage badly handled, a contract poorly negotiated, a late payment to a supplier — is the co-owner carrying out the role personally ruined?

The honest answer: liability exists, but it can be managed.

The volunteer building manager takes on liability like any agent: they must act with reasonable care, execute the decisions of the general meeting, and comply with the law. In the event of manifest fault — gross negligence, misappropriation of funds, failure to carry out a voted decision — their civil liability may be invoked by the co-ownership.

Three elements effectively limit this risk:

1. Executing the general meeting's decisions is an obligation, not an initiative. The building manager implements what the co-owners have voted. As long as they respect the votes and the law, the consequences of collective choices do not fall on them personally.
2. Liability insurance for the agent typically costs a few hundred euros per year — compared with the thousands of euros in fees of a professional. It can be taken out collectively by the co-ownership.
3. An active syndical council shares the decision-making burden, reviews the accounts, and validates important invoices. Its formation is strongly recommended in self-management.

The residual risk, properly managed, remains far lower than what most co-owners imagine — and far lower than the fees they pay to avoid it.

The 8 steps to switching to self-management with confidence

Before proposing the change at a meeting, consult the other co-owners. Self-management requires an absolute majority at the vote: without prior agreement in principle, the resolution will be rejected. Prepare a detailed cost comparison — current cost of the professional building manager over three years, projected self-management costs (liability insurance, tool, time) — and identify likely volunteers for the role of volunteer building manager and the syndical council.

You have the right to request the inclusion of a resolution on the agenda. The request must be addressed to the building manager within the timeframe set by your co-ownership rules and by law, meaning several days before the notice is sent out.

Word it precisely: "Appointment of Mr/Ms X, co-owner, as volunteer building manager for a period of one year, replacing the current professional building manager, with effect from [date]." Vague wording exposes the decision to subsequent challenge.

The appointment of a building manager is made by absolute majority of the votes of all co-owners, calculated in thousandths. The minutes must mention: the date on which the new mandate takes effect, its duration, the precise identity of the new building manager, and the termination of the outgoing building manager's mandate.

Critical point: co-owners have 30 days after notification of the minutes to challenge the decision before the justice of the peace. After this deadline, the vote is final.

Send the outgoing professional building manager a registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt, accompanied by a copy of the general meeting minutes. State the effective date on which their mandate ends and request the handover of the documents listed in the next step. Without this formal notification, the building manager can claim to continue their mandate and keep issuing invoices.

The outgoing building manager must hand over within a reasonable timeframe (generally one to two months):

• The building's maintenance log
• The co-ownership rules and any amendments
• The minutes of the general meetings from recent years
• The complete accounts (bank book, general ledger, balance, journals)
• The bank account balance and bank details
• The balance of the capital works fund and its history
• Current contracts (boiler, lift, cleaning, insurance)
• The status of any outstanding payments
• Documents relating to any ongoing claims

Draw up a written inventory of everything handed over. If documents are missing, send the building manager a formal written notice. This is the step where friction most often arises.

The co-ownership must have a separate bank account, opened in its name — not in the building manager's name. If this is not already the case, now is the time to open one at a Luxembourg bank. The volunteer building manager becomes the account's authorised signatory. Setting up dual signing with a member of the syndical council for transactions above a certain threshold is a simple and effective safeguard.

Check immediately that the building insurance policy is up to date, that the premium is paid, and that the insurer has been informed of the change of building manager. Do the same with each maintenance contract (boiler, lift, chimney sweep, cleaning). A contract overlooked during the transition exposes the co-ownership in the event of an incident.

Take out — or have the co-ownership take out collectively — liability insurance for the volunteer building manager. A few hundred euros per year.

This is where many self-managed buildings stumble six months after the transition. A shared Excel spreadsheet is not sufficient to track advance payment calls, record votes, archive invoices, and prepare the annual general meeting. A professional building manager uses expensive specialist software designed for dozens of buildings. You need a tool designed for your building.

Quorum is designed for Luxembourg co-ownerships that manage themselves — accounting, capital works fund, general meeting preparation, document archiving — without the complexity and billing of software designed for professional building managers.

Frequently asked questions about self-managing a co-ownership in Luxembourg

Is self-managing a co-ownership legal in Luxembourg? Yes. The law of 16 May 1975 requires the appointment of a building manager, not that they be a professional. A co-owner can take on this role after being appointed by the general meeting by absolute majority. There is no qualification requirement or size threshold that makes a professional mandatory.

Our co-ownership has 3 units. Are we required to have a building manager? Yes — all co-ownerships in Luxembourg must appoint a building manager, regardless of their size. But that building manager can be one of the three co-owners. The mandatory capital works fund (since 1 August 2023) also applies to your building, with no exemption based on the number of units.

What happens if the volunteer building manager resigns or moves away? A general meeting is convened to appoint a replacement. In an emergency (immediate departure with no successor identified), the syndical council can convene an extraordinary general meeting. This is one of the reasons why the mandate is generally for one year, renewable.

Can the volunteer building manager be paid? Yes. The co-ownership can vote at a general meeting to allocate an allowance to the volunteer building manager. This allowance must be stated in the appointment resolution and remains far lower than the fees of a professional.

Our current building manager is refusing to hand over the documents. What should we do? Send them a formal written notice with a reasonable deadline. If the documents are not handed over, you can apply to the territorially competent justice of the peace — the procedure is fast and inexpensive for this type of dispute. Keep copies of all your written requests.

Our co-ownership rules name a specific firm as building manager. Do we need to amend them? No. The appointment of a building manager is a matter for a general meeting decision, not the co-ownership rules. A historical mention does not commit the co-ownership to retaining that building manager indefinitely. An update to the rules is recommended in due course, but is not required for self-management to be valid.

Can the switch to self-management be voted on by post or by email? No. Unlike in France, voting by post is not permitted for co-ownership general meetings in Luxembourg. You can, however, give a proxy to another co-owner, within the limits set by your co-ownership rules.

Your co-ownership is considering switching to self-management and you want to see what day-to-day management looks like with a tool built for it? Quorum centralises accounting, the capital works fund, general meeting preparation, and document archiving — purpose-built for small Luxembourg co-ownerships that manage themselves. Discover Quorum →