General meetings in Belgian co-ownership: quorum and majorities

Fifteen owners in the room out of twenty-eight, a show of hands, renovation works approved in good spirits. A few months later the justice of the peace annuls the decision: the meeting had counted heads, never shares. It is the classic mistake at a general meeting of a Belgian co-owners' association, because the law imposes a double quorum: more than half of the co-owners present or represented, together holding at least half of the shares in the common parts.

From the notice (at least fifteen days before the session, unless the internal rules provide a longer period) to the minutes, every step follows a precise rule of the Belgian Civil Code. This guide covers Belgium specifically; the French and Dutch regimes work differently. Here are the rules, in the order in which they can derail your meeting.

What is the double quorum?

Article 3.87 of the Belgian Civil Code does not settle for counting the people in the room. To deliberate validly, the meeting must gather more than half of the co-owners, present or represented, and those co-owners must together hold at least half of the shares. Two conditions, both at once. The law does provide an escape hatch: the meeting also deliberates validly if the co-owners present or represented hold more than three quarters of the shares, however few of them there are. That second threshold rescues buildings where one or two large owners concentrate most of the shares.

Why the double count? Because it protects everyone: small owners cannot be steamrolled by a single owner holding half the building, and vice versa. A habit worth adopting: have everyone sign an attendance list with each unit's shares written next to the name: it is the only document that proves the quorum if the decision is challenged later.

What happens if the quorum is not met?

The meeting does not deliberate, full stop.

The syndic records the lack of quorum and convenes a second general meeting, which is held after a minimum period of fifteen days.

That second meeting enjoys a decisive privilege: it deliberates validly regardless of the number of co-owners present or represented and regardless of their shares. Three people in a small room can pass decisions that bind the entire building.

That is sensible (without this safety valve, a building deserted by its owners would be paralysed forever) but it is also a warning: skipping the first meeting means letting the second one decide without you.

Which majority applies to which decision?

Once the quorum is secured, each type of decision has its own majority, calculated on the votes cast, abstentions and invalid votes do not count. The full ladder:

• Absolute majority (half of the votes cast plus one): ordinary management, including appointing the syndic and approving the accounts
• Two thirds of the votes: works on the common parts and changes to the statutes (the base deed and the co-ownership rules) concerning the enjoyment, use or administration of the common parts; the internal rules themselves are amended by absolute majority
• Four fifths of the votes: the heaviest decisions, detailed below
• Unanimity: changing the distribution of the shares between the units

Keep the overall pattern in mind: the deeper a decision cuts into the building and into everyone's rights, the higher the bar. Half of all meeting disputes start with an item voted under the wrong majority.

Which decisions require four fifths of the votes?

The four-fifths majority applies, among other things, to amending the statutes of the co-ownership and to changing the destination of the building, converting a residential block into offices, for instance. These decisions redraw the framework everyone bought into, so the legislator demands near-total consensus.

How many proxies can one person carry?

Three at most. The law allows a single exception: a proxy holder may accept more than three proxies if the total number of votes at their disposal (their own plus those of their principals) does not exceed ten per cent of all the votes in the co-ownership. The rule targets meetings where a handful of people used to arrive with a stack of proxies and call all the shots. Check the proxies at the door, not at voting time: one irregular vote discovered afterwards can be enough to bring down a close decision.

Legal note: the syndic may never act as a co-owner's proxy at the general meeting. If the syndic is a co-owner, they vote for their own unit and nothing more.

The minutes and the four-month challenge window

The minutes record the decisions adopted and the majorities obtained: they are the legal memory of the meeting and the first document a judge will read. A poorly drafted decision is as fragile as a poorly voted one.

Any co-owner can ask the justice of the peace to annul or amend an irregular, fraudulent or abusive decision. The deadline is four months from the date of the general meeting. After that, even a shaky decision becomes final, and that cuts both ways: a challenger has to move fast, and a prudent association waits out the period before committing serious money on the back of a fragile vote.

A Belgian general meeting is not won on the night: it is won with a notice sent on time, an attendance list showing the shares, the correct majority for every agenda item and faithful minutes. Four habits that cost nothing, and that spare you from rerunning, a year later in front of the justice of the peace, the debate you thought was closed.

Updated 29 July 2026. This article is for information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.