At a condominium meeting, it was unanimously decided to request a budget for the maintenance of the building (insulation and painting of the exterior facades) from a company that had already carried out works on our building. However, we later learned that the administrator hired another company with a lower cost, but that practices a worse service. Is it possible that the condominium administrator decides against what he decided in a meeting?
According to his report, the administrator had no legitimacy to award the work to a company other than the one that had been voted unanimously at the joint owners’ meeting.
A decision like this could only happen if the administrator or the administration could prove that the joint owners had not opposed the alteration of the decision, this after being informed of it.
In fact in situations like this, tenants would not even need to have approved the budget unanimously. As with most decisions taken at the meeting, a majority of the votes representing the invested capital would suffice, that is, a majority (50% + 1).
Decisions requiring unanimity are those relating to changes to the constitutive title (for example, a street address is no longer a common part and is part of a fraction); alteration of housing for commerce, reconstruction works in the building, when destruction exceeds three quarters of its total value; use of common parts of the building, such as renting the gatehouse; and use of common property in the building, such as the sale of certain condominium equipment.
Unanimous approval does not imply that all joint owners are present at the meeting. Resolutions can be unanimously approved by those present, as long as they represent at least two thirds of the total value of the building and with the condition that, later on, they will also be accepted by the absent owners. These must be informed of what was decided, by registered letter, within 30 days of the meeting. After being notified, they have 10 days to say whether they agree with the deliberations. If they say nothing, they are assumed to accept.
