The annual statement of charges: how do I read it?

The statement is the moment of truth for the financial year: it sets what you paid in advances against what your unit actually cost. The difference is then settled, either in your favour or against you. A statement is drawn up at least once in each financial year.

The documents you receive before voting

Where the meeting is called upon to approve the accounts, the following must be served no later than at the same time as the agenda: the account of income and expenditure for the financial year just ended, a statement of debts and receivables and the cash position (article 5, 1°, of the Grand Ducal Regulation). You therefore have these documents before the meeting, not on the day itself. If the meeting is also to vote the budget for the coming year, that budget is enclosed as well (article 5, 2°).

The three layers of a statement

• General charges, apportioned by share: upkeep, maintenance and administration of the common parts (article 7, first paragraph).
• Equipment charges, apportioned on the basis specific to each item of equipment — or, in the absence of any agreement, according to the usefulness of that equipment to each unit (article 7, second paragraph).
• Individually metered charges, allocated directly to your unit wherever metering exists: hot water, cold water, heating. Any balance not allocated by the meters is spread on the basis set out in the regulations.

It is this individual metering that explains how two units with identical shares can end up with very different statements. Checking your own readings is therefore worthwhile.

What you can check

• whether the shares applied to your unit are consistent with the état descriptif de division (the schedule of division of the building);
• the basis of apportionment used for each item, against the règlement de copropriété (the condominium regulations);
• the meter readings (opening and closing readings for the period);
• the balance carried forward from the previous year, and how your payments have been applied;
• any exceptional items: an insurance claim, works that were voted, or an adjustment under a contract.

Collective oversight

The conseil syndical (the co-owners’ supervisory board) oversees the syndic’s management, in particular the bookkeeping and the apportionment of expenditure, and its authorised members may inspect and take copies, at the syndic’s office, of the management records, documents and registers (article 16 of the Grand Ducal Regulation). The meeting may also have the accounts verified by lay auditors, or commission a formal audit. That is the most effective route for a thorough examination.

If your unit changed hands during the year

How the year’s charges are split between seller and buyer is, in principle, settled by the deed of sale, which prevails — and we apply it. Note, however, that the Law provides that the buyer of a unit is jointly and severally liable with the seller for the charges still outstanding in respect of the closed financial year and of the elapsed months of the current one (article 25 of the Law). Hence the value of asking for the syndic’s certificate before signing.

Going through a statement with us

Send us your statement, indicating the line you have a question about. We will reconcile it against the invoices, the readings and the basis of apportionment in the regulations, and explain the calculation to you. If an error is established, it is corrected.

General information on Luxembourg condominium law (the amended Law of 16 May 1975 and the Grand Ducal Regulation of 13 June 1975, in their consolidated version applicable as at 1 August 2023). Your own règlement de copropriété may lay down specific rules, which prevail within the limits set by the law. This content is not legal advice.