The January condominium assembly in Portugal: notice, accounts, budget

Does it really have to be in January? It is the question every administrator hears around this time, usually from someone who has just realised how short December is. The answer sits in article 1431 of the Civil Code: the ordinary assembly meets in the first fortnight of January to discuss and approve the previous year's accounts and the budget of income and expenditure for the year ahead. That date, however, is indicative. If the condominium regulations allow it, or the assembly resolves so by majority, the ordinary meeting can exceptionally be held within the first quarter. What does not change is the work leading up to it.

That work is where the meeting is won or lost.

The real calendar starts in December

Calling the meeting is the last step, not the first.

Before it you have to close the year's accounts, gather the supporting invoices, establish who is in arrears and prepare the budget that will be voted on.

Anyone running a small condominium tends to learn this the hard way: the notice goes out on time, but the accounts arrive without documentation, and the meeting spends its evening arguing about a €300 invoice instead of approving a €30,000 budget.

A calendar that works looks like this:

• First week of December: close the accounts and reconcile the bank balances
• Second week: a map of arrears, owner by owner
• Third week: next year's budget and the proposed contributions
• By 20 December: send the notice, with margin over the legal deadline

That margin is not excessive caution. Between public holidays and slow post, a notice sent at the limit arrives late, and a badly convened assembly is an assembly that gets annulled.

How notice is given, and what email changed

Notice is sent by registered letter ten days in advance, or by a convening notice with the same period provided there is a receipt signed by the owners. It must state the day, time and place, set out the agenda, and flag the items whose approval requires unanimity.

Law 8/2022 opened the door to email, but with requirements many condominiums overlook and which invalidate the notice when missed. The owner must have expressed that wish at a previous assembly, the wish must appear in the minutes together with the email address, and the owner must return a receipt by the same means.

Practical note: the same law allows the assembly to be held by video conference. If that is the route, the joining details belong in the notice, exactly as the street address does for a meeting in person.

Quorums, and why the first call rarely decides anything

On first call, the assembly can only take valid decisions with owners present representing a majority of the invested capital. In a building with ten units and three absent owners, that number is gone before the meeting starts. Which is why the notice should fix the second meeting from the outset: if it does not, a fresh meeting is deemed convened for one week later, at the same time and place, and at that second meeting the assembly may already decide by a majority of the votes present, provided they represent at least a quarter of the building's total value.

That is the difference between settling the year in one evening and dragging the budget out for another week with every deadline sliding backwards.

What gets approved: accounts, budget and reserve fund

The January agenda has a fixed core: approval of the previous year's accounts, approval of the current year's budget, setting the contributions and their payment schedule, and electing or reappointing the administrator.

Added to that core is the duty to fund the common reserve, to which each owner contributes at least 10 % of their share of the expenses. It is the money that stops the first serious repair from becoming an emergency levy, and its absence is among the most common sources of conflict once fees fall into arrears.

It pays to vote item by item. Accounts and budget approved as one block tend to drag every other argument along with them, and minutes that fail to separate what was voted leave the door open to challenges.

The minutes and the absent owners

The meeting does not end when people leave. Decisions must be communicated to absent owners by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt within 30 days, and those owners then have 90 days from receipt to state whether they agree.

Silence counts as acceptance.

This is the step self-managed condominiums most often miss, and the cheapest one to get right. Write the minutes the same day, send them the following week and file the acknowledgements with them: that folder, not the memory of those who attended, is what sustains the budget for the rest of the year. Anyone setting up a condominium for the first time would do well to build the folder before the meeting rather than after.

The January assembly is the only meeting of the year where the condominium decides everything that matters: how much is paid, what it is spent on and who administers it. Close the accounts in December, send the notice with margin, fix the second meeting in advance and finish the minutes while it is all fresh. A well-convened assembly is settled in one evening; a badly convened one occupies the whole year.

Information up to date at the time of writing. This article is for information only and does not constitute legal advice.