Almost every question we are asked comes back to this one. Whether a given part of the building is classified as common or private determines who decides on the works, who pays for them, and which insurance policy responds.
The statutory definitions
Private parts are those parts of the buildings and the land reserved for the exclusive use of a particular co-owner; they are that co-owner’s exclusive property. Common parts are those parts allocated to the use or benefit of all the co-owners, or of several of them (article 3 of the Law).
Note the end of that second definition carefully: some common parts serve only certain units — a stairwell serving just one building within a larger development, for example. Their charges may be borne only by the units concerned, which then vote alone on the decisions relating to them (article 19).
The presumptions where the title deeds are silent
“Where the title deeds are silent or contradictory”, the following are deemed to be common parts (article 3):
- the land, the courtyards, the grounds and gardens, and the access roads;
- the structure of the buildings and the items of common equipment, including those sections of the associated pipework that pass through private premises;
- the casings, ducts and chimney stacks;
- the premises housing the common services;
- the passageways and corridors.
The reference to pipework is one of the most useful in everyday practice: a rising main or a soil stack running through your flat remains, in principle, a common part — even where it is buried in your wall.
In addition, partitions or walls separating private parts and not forming part of the structure are presumed to be party walls between the premises they separate (article 3).
They apply only where the title deeds are silent or contradictory. Your règlement de copropriété (the condominium regulations) and your état descriptif de division (the schedule of division of the building) may classify certain parts differently. That is precisely the case for windows, shutters, entrance doors, balconies and terraces: how they are treated varies from one building to another in Luxembourg. There is no single answer that holds good for every condominium: the answer lies in your own regulations, and we will check it with you.
Common parts with reserved enjoyment
Where the condominium regulations reserve the enjoyment of a common part to one co-owner, the cost of maintaining it falls on that co-owner alone; where that enjoyment is reserved to several, the cost is shared between them in proportion to the relative value of their rights of enjoyment. But that rule does not apply to expenditure on the structure of the building, and in particular on waterproofing (article 7).
In concrete terms, for a terrace that is a common part with private enjoyment: routine upkeep is down to you, waterproofing is down to the condominium.
What you may do in your own home
A co-owner “freely uses and enjoys the private parts and the common parts, on condition that they interfere neither with the rights of the other co-owners nor with the intended use of the building” (article 2). That freedom is real, but it has two boundaries: the rights of others, and the intended use of the building as defined by the deeds. Nor may the condominium regulations impose any restriction on your rights other than those justified by the intended use of the building (article 10).
Rights ancillary to the common parts
The right to add storeys to a common building, the right to erect new buildings in common courtyards, grounds or gardens, and the party-wall rights attaching to the common parts are rights ancillary to the common parts. They may be exercised only with the consent of all the co-owners (article 3).
The scope of the syndic’s role
The purpose of the syndicat de copropriété (the co-owners’ association) is the upkeep of the building and the administration of the common parts (article 11). The syndic (the managing agent) acts within that scope: it does not intervene in your private parts, and it cannot commit expenditure there on the condominium’s behalf. Where, on the other hand, a problem in a private part involves the common parts — a leak on a pipe running through the building, for example — the matter becomes a common one.
In doubt about your own building
Before committing expenditure or digging in for a fight, have the part in question classified. Send us a description (and a photograph if you can), stating your building and your unit: we will go back to your condominium regulations and the schedule of division, and tell you what they provide.
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.