How to manage and conduct meetings of apartment owners in a shared building

Each shared building has a contract of agreed terms, which sets out the rules of behavior in the building.

The contract can be one of the following: –

Pre-agreed – a contract that includes various rules of conduct as determined by the Registrar of Regulations, usually according to the sale agreement and is registered with the Land Registry on the date of registration of the shared building.

Current – In buildings where a pre-agreed contract doesn’t exist or until they are registered in the Land Registry, the current regulations (which are stated in the Real Estate Law) will apply.

The contract is in fact an agreement between the apartment owners regarding the manner in which the shared building will be managed.

In this article, we will discuss how to hold and manage an apartment owners’ meeting according to the requirements listed in a current contract (if the building has a pre-agreed contract, the rules for assembling and conducting this meeting may be different).

The representatives of the apartment owners are the ones to organize the general meetings (they determine the date of the general meeting and keep minutes of the meeting). A general meeting should be held once a year and no later than 15 months from the date of the previous one.

In addition to regular general meetings, extra meetings may be arranged. These are also organized by the representatives if deemed necessary or if the owners of at least a third of the apartments have made the request. If such a request is made, the representatives must call a meeting within 14 days, otherwise the apartment owners who requested the meeting may organize it themselves.

The date and place of the general meeting must be announced to the apartment owners at least 4 days in advance. A notice displayed in a prominent place in the shared building is considered as an announcement to all apartment owners the day after it was presented (meaning if a personal notice is given to each and every one of the apartment owners, 4 days notice is enough, but if a notice is displayed then 5 days are required).

A general meeting is considered legitimate if at least half of the apartment owners attend, personally or a representative on their behalf. If less than half attend the meeting at the time it was set to start, the meeting shall be held at another time on the same day. The delayed meeting shall be valid with any number of participants, as long as the announcement was legitimate, as described above.

The notice of the general meeting date shall specify the schedule of the meeting. An apartment owner may add a topic to the agenda, provided that all other apartment owners are updated at least two days before the date of the meeting, in the same way in which the notice of the date was given. Other issues shall not be discussed, unless all of the present apartment owners agree that the matter can be discussed.

A chairman and secretary shall be elected. The chairman may, with the consent of the majority present, postpone the continuation of the meeting to a date he deems fit.

Decisions will be made only if voted by a majority of votes. However, a decision that imposes on a specific apartment owner debts or payments of a type or rate that were not stated in the Real Estate Law (in the chapter dealing with shared housing) or in the pre-agreed contract, or that changes his rights, will not apply to that landlord unless he has agreed.

Voting will be done by a show of hands, but if requested by at least a quarter of the apartment owners present, the voting will be done at a ballot box. Each apartment owner has one vote, but if the number of votes is equal and a decision cannot be made based on the votes, the chairman will make the decision.

Each apartment owner can attend the meetings and vote, personally or through a representative on his behalf. The representative appointed must present a letter of appointment signed by the apartment owner who appointed him at the beginning of the meeting. An apartment owner who is a corporation will appoint a representative to participate and vote in the meeting, according to the pre-agreed contract of that corporation. If the apartment has more than one owner, the owners will appoint one of them (or a third party) as their representative with a letter of appointment signed by all of the owners.

A meeting that has not been summoned and convened as mentioned is not a legitimate meeting, for all that this implies.

The Real Estate Law states specific issues in which a special majority of the apartment owners are required or in which the majority will be determined according to the share of a property in the shared building.

The above should not be interpreted as legal advice or a substitute for legal advice.

All rights reserved to Gavor law firm.