At least once a year, according to § 24 para. 1 Wohnungseigentumsgesetz (WEG) an owners' meeting (ETV) takes place. No specific date is set, but since the UTP is usually convened when the previous year's accounts are finalized, it rarely takes place directly in the first quarter.
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Unfortunately, many property managers surprise their WEGs with an appointment without coordinating it with the owners in advance. They also often wait until the end of the year to convene the UTP.
Some even deliberately set the date on a last possible date, sometimes even in December, to make it more difficult to switch to a new administration. After all, there is not much time left and the owners have other issues on their calendars.
As the owner, however, you should try to attend the owners' meeting in order to exercise your right to have your say. Of course, you can't always be physically on site, so it's advisable to look for a property management company that offers hybrid owners' meetings.
If the property management does not invite you to a regular owners' meeting, this is a good reason to terminate the contract.
Above all, make sure that an owners' meeting runs smoothly, relaxed and informative. This is in the interest of all parties involved in a WEG. And to make it work, we have the best 5 tips for you on how to make the owners' meeting a success.
Send proxy or online meeting
There is no obligation for the owners to be present at the owners' meeting. In fact, the participation rate is often very low, especially in large WEGs, and often it is even less than 30%. However, if your property is managed by a modern property management company, you usually don't have to be physically present either, as some property management companies now offer so-called hybrid meetings.
Hybrid UTP
The hybrid UTP (i.e., on-site meeting and simultaneous video conference) is another option that will be accepted with the amendment of the WEG Act on 1. December 2020 and has become more common since the Corona pandemic. This is especially helpful if you live far away from your property or are prevented from attending.
Basically, the entire owners' meeting could also be straightforwardly held exclusively online, though legislation currently still requires administrators to use a hybrid option. With the hybrid meeting, the administrator is required to ensure that the video conference can be recorded and that it is a private and secure connection.
Pure online meeting
Owners' meetings may already be held exclusively online, but a unanimous resolution of all owners is currently still required for online-only meetings, as it should be ensured that all owners have the necessary technical requirements for the online format. Especially older apartment owners often do not have the necessary equipment.
Power of attorney
If you are not able to dial in to the meeting, we recommend that you issue a power of attorney to a person you trust from the WEG or to the administrator. With Ralph, you can easily submit your decisions on the individual resolutions online in advance of the ETV. In individual cases, however, it is possible that the right to grant proxies is prevented in your declaration of partition. However, this is very rarely the case.
Preparation of an agenda
Your management should have compiled the agenda in advance of the actual owners' meeting and stick strictly to it at the meeting. This will help you avoid individual resolutions becoming contestable, important points being forgotten or the meeting lasting too long. Each owner has the right to propose an item for the agenda. Of course, the property management should mainly put the items on the agenda that are important for the WEG.
It also makes sense for the administrator to lead the discussion on the individual resolutions and to record the results directly in the minutes, so that they can be sent out on the same day as the ETV. Only the results of the discussions and votes need to be recorded here, not the complete proceedings.
Always keep the owners' meeting private
Some WEG administrators invite to an owners' meeting in a pub where there is public traffic. You should avoid this at all costs. An owners' meeting must be clearly arranged so that only the owners or their authorized representatives participate.
In some cases, especially in smaller WEGs, meetings are still held in places open to the public. The resolutions are therefore not necessarily invalid. However, by this circumstance they can if necessary. be legally challenged.
Record the meeting if necessary. At
Today, the technical possibilities are so advanced that it is no longer a problem to record the owners' meeting. This saves the manager from taking notes during the actual meeting. However, this does not mean that you can save yourself the trouble of writing the minutes. In addition, there must be a legible version of the minutes that clearly shows all resolutions and their voting results and is sent to the owners no later than three weeks after the meeting. With modern tools, you should receive the minutes directly after the meeting.
An audio or video recording can help with clarification when it comes to challenges to certain resolutions after the fact. However, make sure that the participants are informed in advance about the recording and agree to it.
Make sure that you follow all legal points
Especially in condominium owners' associations that want to manage themselves, mistakes can be made quickly, which then lead to resolutions being contestable and you, as a member of the advisory board, being liable if necessary. be liable. We therefore strongly recommend the professional support of an administration, unless you are a WEG with more than three parties and/or you have known and trusted each other well for several years, or you simply do not have the time to deal with the organization of the ETV and all the accounting and organization of the utilities and partners.
Ralph is a modern property management company from Berlin for Berlin, which has organized the internal processes mainly digitally and thus has more time for the actual customer service and can be on site more often. We combine modern technology with many years of experience and expertise. Feel free to contact us anytime for a free quote, we always personally follow up on 100% of all inquiries.