Taking over a building with debts
What the committee can ask the old company for, what transfers with the account, and what does not. The shortfall becomes visible on the first statement, and that is where recovery starts.
A building rarely changes its manager while everything is fine. Usually there is a shortfall, a list of owners who stopped paying, and a company that would rather not explain either. Here is what the committee is entitled to, what moves with the building, and what does not.
What the committee can ask for
The building’s records belong to the building, and the committee can ask the outgoing company for them in writing. The list we send on day three of the switching week is the same list any committee can send on its own:
- the owners’ list with contact details and each owner’s share
- the balances: who paid what, who owes what, from which month
- the bank statements of the building’s account, if it had one
- the contracts still running: the lift, the pool, the cleaning, the insurance
- the keys, the plans and the permits
- the minutes of the general meetings
A company that will not hand these over is telling you something about how it kept them. We chase what does not arrive and copy the committee on every request.
What transfers with the building
The money in the building’s account is the building’s money. It transfers, and so does the reserve fund if one exists. The debts owed to the building transfer too: an owner who owes six months of contributions still owes them after the manager changes.
What does not transfer
The old company’s own claims are its own. If it says the building owes it management fees, that is a matter between the committee and that company, settled from the contract, and it does not become the new manager’s problem or the new manager’s income.
Where recovery actually starts
Not with a lawyer. It starts with the first statement that every owner opens and that shows, on its own line, how much the building is short and who the shortfall belongs to. Most people pay when they can see what for, and when they can see that their neighbours can see it too. The reminders go out from us, monthly, in writing.
If the building decides to go further with an owner who will not pay, that is the committee’s decision with its own lawyer. We prepare every statement and every document the lawyer asks for. What we do not do is collect debts as a service, and we say so before anyone signs.
