VVE Leakage and Contributions: Discover your Rights

Questioner

Dear Sir/Madam, I had a leak a while ago from the balcony of the upstairs neighbors. My living room is below the balcony of the upstairs neighbors. Above my living room is their balcony which they use. The leak has now been fixed, but I had to pay because of the joint VVE (my share 5/13). It concerns an apartment building: 3 floors (the upstairs neighbors have 2 floors and I have 1 ground floor). Now I wonder whether I rightly paid 5/13 and whether it falls under the VVE or is that their responsibility. VVE is not active.

Lawyer

If the VVE is not active, it has no right to exist and the person who caused the damage must pay for the damage himself and not the VVE.

Lawyer

A VvE has legal obligations and it is therefore against the law not to activate the VvE. The obligation applies to every owner of an apartment in a VvE. I therefore advise you to activate the VvE and ensure that the legal obligations of the VvE are met.

Lawyer

The fact that the VvE is not active does not affect the question of whether you have to contribute. The division of the building into apartment rights and the obligations of the owners of these rights are recorded in the division deed. This deed also states whether or not the balconies belong to the common parts of the building. If the balcony is common, all owners must contribute to the costs of maintenance and repair in proportion to their share in the community (fractions). If the balcony is part of the private part (apartment) of the upstairs neighbors according to the deed, these costs are borne by (only) the upstairs neighbors. If the deed does not state anything about the balcony, then a balcony is generally considered to be partly common. This is certainly the case if the leakage is caused by a defect in the balcony construction.