Self-managing a small VvE: is it right for your building?

Does a four-flat building really need to wire hundreds of euros a year to an administrator for work the owners could mostly do themselves? The question surfaces at almost every small owners' meeting, usually right after the annual statement lands. The honest answer starts with a figure: a professional VvE-beheerder typically charges 100 to 300 euros per flat per year and a small association that organises itself well saves nearly all of it, as long as it keeps meeting its legal duties.

Self-managing a VvE is not a trick to dodge those duties. It is the same association, minus the paid middleman. For a building of two to six flats that is usually fine; for a large complex with lifts and staff payroll, it usually is not.

Should your small VvE manage itself?

Going without an administrator hinges on three things and size is only one of them. The numbers are rarely the problem, continuity is. Weigh these honestly before you cancel the contract:

• Size: two to six flats, one building, no lift or shared staff that demands a real administration
• Board: at least two owners willing to carry it for a few years, not one volunteer doing everything alone
• Calm: no simmering neighbour dispute and no deferred maintenance that must be untangled legally first

If any of the three scores a clear minus, outsourcing is not a luxury but sound judgement. An association with an active conflict is really buying a neutral referee when it hires an external manager and that is worth the fee.

In practice it almost never goes wrong on the bookkeeping and almost always on succession: the VvE that runs on one enthusiastic owner stalls the moment that owner moves out. So split the tasks across at least two people from day one.

What steps does self-management take?

Managing it yourselves is mostly a matter of sequence and record-keeping. This is the path that works:

• Register the VvE with the Chamber of Commerce (KvK); a board member is required, so arrange it alongside the first meeting
• Open a separate bank account in the VvE's name, kept apart from anyone's private money
• Put the administration in one findable place: the deed of division, the model regulations, minutes, insurance policies and annual figures
• Convene a valid owners' meeting (ALV): invite on time, with an agenda, and record every decision in the minutes
• Keep simple books, with a budget, the monthly contributions and the yearly deposit into the reserve fund

The administration need not be complicated.

The agenda, documents and contributions now fit into VvE-management software such as Vecinly, so the whole history no longer hangs on one owner's binder and a change of board is not a clean slate.

What does an administrator cost and what does self-management save?

Put the two options side by side and the gap is rarely subtle:

• A professional administrator: roughly 12 to 40 euros per flat per month, that is 100 to 300 euros per flat per year, often with a separate hourly rate for extra work such as a second meeting or a renovation
• Self-managing with software: the cost of a management package plus the bank account, together a fraction of that amount and split across all owners
• Equal in both cases: the mandatory deposit into the reservefonds and the insurance, because those belong to the building and not to the way it is managed

Yet doing it yourselves is not free; you pay in time rather than in euros. A few evenings a year for the meeting, the direct debits and the annual accounts. Owners who lack those hours, or would rather not spend them, are simply buying calm and a step back from liability by hiring a manager. So count not only the saving but also your own diary.

What must you still arrange by law?

Self-managing changes nothing about what the law demands of a VvE. Three things stay standing, no matter who opens the post.

The Wet verbetering functioneren VvE's requires every association to reserve for maintenance each year: at least 0.5% of the rebuild value, or the amount from a multi-year maintenance plan (MJOP). How to calculate that deposit is set out in the mandatory reserve fund, self-managing is no reason to skip it. If your association is still dormant, start by activating a slapende VvE. Without a paid manager, no outsider checks the books. So appoint a kascommissie: two owners who review the annual figures before the meeting approves them. And the ALV itself must be valid (convened on time and in line with the regulations, with a proper quorum) or the decisions can be challenged afterwards.

Two developments make arranging things yourselves a little easier this year. An individual owner will be able to install a charging point at their own parking space through a notification with a work plan to the board, rather than a vote at the ALV; that change is expected in 2026, though its exact start still depends on the parliamentary process. And for sustainability work, the SVVE subsidy via RVO runs through the end of 2030.

Self-managing a VvE is not an ideological choice but a sum plus an honest look at your own association. Small building, a stable little board and a few evenings a year? Then you keep the money in your own kitty and stay within the law. Miss one of the three and an administrator is not wasted money but work wisely outsourced.

Information updated. This article is for information only and does not constitute legal advice.