Which co-ownership documents must be provided at the point of sale (Article L.721-2 of the CCH)?

The documents relating to the organisation of the building

Article L.721-2 of the French Construction and Housing Code (CCH), stemming from the ALUR Act, draws up the list of documents and information that the seller must hand to the buyer as of the signing of the preliminary sale contract, or in the absence of a preliminary contract, as of the authentic deed of sale. This obligation aims to guarantee complete information for the buyer.

The first set of documents concerns the organisation of the building. These items enable the buyer to understand the operating rules of the co-ownership and its condition.

• The co-ownership summary sheet gathering the financial and technical data
• The co-ownership by-laws and the descriptive statement of division, together with their published amending acts
• The general meeting minutes for the last three years (subject to their disclosure by the selling co-owner)
• The building's maintenance logbook

The documents relating to the financial situation

The second set of information relates to the financial situation of the co-ownership and of the lot sold. It aims to inform the buyer about the charges they will have to bear and about the financial health of the association.

This information is generally gathered, for the part relating to the lot sold, in the preliminary dated statement (pré-état daté) and then in the dated statement provided by the managing agent.

• The amount of the current charges of the provisional budget and outside the provisional budget paid by the seller in respect of their lot
• The sums that may remain owed by the seller to the association and the sums that will be owed by the buyer
• The overall statement of unpaid charges within the association and of the debt owed to suppliers
• Where the association has this information, the amount of the share of the works fund attached to the lot and the amount of the last contribution paid

The technical documents and the consequences of an omission

Technical documents are added: the conclusions of the overall technical diagnostic (DTG) where one has been carried out, as well as, where applicable, the multi-year works plan. These items complete the buyer's information about the condition of the building and the works to be anticipated.

These documents must be annexed to the preliminary contract or the deed of sale. Where they are not handed to the non-professional buyer by the date the preliminary contract is signed at the latest, the withdrawal period from which the buyer benefits only begins to run from the day after their effective communication. The absence of these documents can therefore delay the transaction.