Condominium Statement of Account: The Key Document Before Buying

The etat date is a document that 90% of Parisian buyers have never heard of before receiving their first preliminary sales agreement. Yet it is one of the most revealing documents about the financial health of a condominium, and therefore about the future peace of mind of the owner. You can visit an apartment twenty times, admire its mouldings and parquet floors, check the sunlight and the calm of the courtyard, without knowing anything about the actual financial situation of the building in which you are about to invest several hundred thousand euros.

The etat date fills that gap. In just a few pages, it reveals what the seller owes to the condominium, what the condominium holds in reserve, what the buyer will have to pay after the purchase, and, reading between the lines, whether the building is well managed or heading towards financial disaster.

After more than 1,200 transactions in Paris at Home Select, our property hunters consider the etat date to be as important as the technical diagnostics. Because a magnificent apartment in a financially troubled condominium is a trap that closes slowly.

What the etat date contains: the three accounts

The etat date is structured around three separate accounts, defined by Article 5 of the decree of 17 March 1967. Each account tells part of the financial story of the unit being sold and of the condominium.

The seller’s account: amounts owed and amounts paid. This first section is a financial snapshot of the seller’s position vis-a-vis the condominium at a given date. It shows the current quarter’s service charge provisions the seller has paid, any unpaid charges (arrears), provisions paid towards the works fund (loi Alur), and refundable advances (the cash advance paid upon entering the condominium). If the seller is up to date on charges, this account is clean. If there are arrears, the notary will withhold them from the sale price on signing day.

The account for voted charges and works: what has been decided but not yet paid. This second section is the most strategic for the buyer. It lists the works and exceptional operations voted at the general meeting for which levy calls have not yet been fully issued or settled. This is where you discover, for example, that a facade renovation was voted six months earlier, that the estimate is 350,000 euros for the building, and that your share will be 18,000 euros, called in three instalments over the next eighteen months.

This information is crucial. The apartment price does not always account for these voted but not-yet-invoiced works. A seller in a hurry may put their property on the market just after a major renovation vote, hoping the buyer will not pay attention.

The advances account: the condominium’s cash reserves. This third section shows the permanent cash advances and the amount in the works fund. The cash advance (typically one to three months of charges) is refundable to the seller at the time of sale and claimed from the buyer upon entry into the condominium. The works fund, mandatory since the loi Alur of 2014, is funded by an annual contribution of at least 5% of the estimated budget. Amounts paid into the works fund are not refundable to the seller: they remain with the condominium.

The pre-etat date: the scout before the preliminary agreement

The pre-etat date is not a legal obligation in the same way as the etat date, but it has become standard practice in Paris. It is provided by the property manager before the signing of the preliminary sales agreement and contains the essential financial information the buyer needs to make a decision.

The pre-etat date generally includes the last three general meeting minutes, the amount of current charges and voted exceptional charges, the estimated budget for the current year, the works fund balance, any ongoing legal proceedings, and the building’s maintenance log.

Its cost is capped at 380 euros including VAT since 2020, payable by the seller. Some property managers provide it free of charge, others charge the maximum allowed. In any case, it is a negligible investment compared to the value of the information it contains.

Our property hunters systematically request the pre-etat date before recommending an offer. It is a professional reflex that has prevented many clients from committing to properties where the condominium showed financial warning signs.

The warning signs a property hunter spots

The etat date is a technical document. Reading it is not enough: you need to know how to interpret it. Here are the signals our property hunters watch for, and which should alert any buyer.

Significant unpaid charges by the seller. If the seller owes several quarters of charges to the condominium, it signals personal financial difficulty. The notary will withhold these amounts from the sale price, but the situation raises a question: if the seller is in difficulty, other co-owners may be too. A building with a high rate of unpaid charges is a building at risk.

An overall condominium arrears rate above 15%. The etat date sometimes mentions, and the general meeting minutes always do, the total amount of unpaid charges across the condominium. Beyond 15% of the annual budget, the condominium has a structural collection problem. The consequences are direct: the property manager cannot pay contractors, maintenance works are postponed, and the building deteriorates. Co-owners who are up to date end up paying for those who are not, through additional levy calls.

Major works voted with upcoming levy calls. A facade renovation (150,000 to 500,000 euros for a Haussmann-era building), a roof replacement (60,000 to 150,000 euros), a lift replacement (50,000 to 80,000 euros), a plumbing upgrade: these voted but not-yet-invoiced works represent future charges the buyer will have to bear. Their cost must be factored into the total acquisition budget.

An abnormally low works fund. The loi Alur mandates a minimum of 5% of the annual estimated budget. But 5% is a minimum that covers virtually nothing in the face of a major project. A condominium whose works fund holds 5,000 euros for a 20-unit building, with a foreseeable facade renovation within five years, is a condominium heading towards large exceptional levy calls. Some well-managed condominiums set aside 15 to 20% of the annual budget: this is the sign of forward-looking management.

Ongoing legal proceedings. The etat date and general meeting minutes mention proceedings brought by or against the condominium. A dispute with a contractor, an action against a defaulting co-owner, a neighbourhood conflict: each proceeding has a cost (lawyer, court-appointed expert) that will be shared among all co-owners. Multiple simultaneous proceedings signal contentious governance.

Financial analysis of the condominium is an integral part of our support. Our property hunters dissect the etat date and general meeting minutes so you buy with full knowledge of the facts. Entrust us with your project

The allocation of charges between seller and buyer

This is the point that generates the most confusion, and sometimes disputes, between seller and buyer. Who pays what when the sale occurs mid-quarter or after a works vote?

Current charges (estimated budget). The principle is simple: the seller pays the current quarter’s charges up to the day of sale, the buyer pays from the following day. In practice, the seller has generally paid the full quarterly provision. The notary calculates a pro-rata temporis and reimburses the seller for the post-sale period, at the buyer’s expense.

Exceptional charges (works voted at general meetings). This is where it gets complicated. The default legal rule, absent a contrary clause in the preliminary agreement, is as follows: works are the responsibility of whoever is a co-owner when the levy calls become due. If a facade renovation is voted at the general meeting in January and levy calls are scheduled for March, June and September, the seller pays the March call if they sell in April, and the buyer pays the June and September calls.

This default rule is not always equitable. The preliminary sales agreement may include a different clause, for example stating that all works voted before the signing of the preliminary agreement are the seller’s responsibility, regardless of the levy call dates. This is a clause our property hunters systematically negotiate when significant works have been recently voted.

A concrete example. One of our clients was buying an apartment in the 9th arrondissement. The etat date revealed a facade renovation voted three months earlier, for 280,000 euros across the building, or 14,000 euros for the unit in question, called in four quarterly instalments. Without a specific clause in the preliminary agreement, our client would have inherited three of the four levy calls (10,500 euros). Our property hunter negotiated a clause placing the entire renovation cost on the seller, since the vote predated the listing. The seller accepted: they knew any informed buyer would have made the same request.

The works fund. Amounts paid into the works fund are permanently retained by the condominium. The seller cannot request reimbursement of contributions paid, and the buyer cannot refuse to contribute to the fund after the purchase. That is the rule, and it is clear.

The cash advance. Unlike the works fund, the cash advance is refundable. The seller recovers their advance on the day of sale, and the buyer pays an equivalent advance. The amount appears in the etat date and is accounted for by the notary in the sale settlement.

The notary’s role in processing the etat date

The notary does not simply attach the etat date to the file. They analyse it, calculate, and act.

On the day of signing the final deed, the notary performs several operations based on the etat date. They withhold from the sale price the amounts owed by the seller to the condominium (unpaid charges, overdue levy calls). They calculate the pro-rata of current charges between seller and buyer. They pay the seller the reimbursement of their cash advance and debit the buyer for the same amount. They notify the property manager of the change of ownership, with the new owner’s contact details.

This withholding mechanism is the buyer’s primary protection: the seller’s debts to the condominium never become the buyer’s debts, since they are settled from the sale price. It is an effective system, provided the etat date is complete and up to date, which requires a responsive and rigorous property manager.

One point of vigilance: the etat date is prepared as of a specific date. Between that date and the signing of the final deed, new charges may be called or new arrears may appear. The notary generally requests an updated etat date if the gap between its preparation and the signing exceeds one month. Make sure this update has been carried out.

The etat date as a negotiation tool: an underused lever

The etat date is a negotiation tool that most unassisted buyers fail to use. Our property hunters use it in two ways.

First, to adjust the purchase price. Voted works not yet called, an insufficient works fund relative to foreseeable deadlines (facade renovation within three years, ageing roof), a high arrears rate suggesting additional levy calls: all these elements justify an offer below the asking price. Not aggressively, but factually: the numbers speak for themselves.

Second, to negotiate the clauses of the preliminary agreement. The allocation of voted works, the seller taking responsibility for condominium arrears, the warranty clause on the condominium’s financial position: these elements are negotiated at the preliminary agreement stage and have a direct financial impact on the true cost of the acquisition.

Across the 1,200 transactions supported by Home Select, negotiation related to condominium elements (charges, voted works, works fund) has saved our clients an average of 3,000 to 8,000 euros per transaction, on top of price negotiation itself. These amounts, added to the average 6% negotiation on the seller’s asking price, make the involvement of a property hunter clearly cost-effective.

Every document, every figure, every clause matters. Our 16 property hunters protect your investment at every stage of the buying process. Get a free callback

The etat date checklist for buyers

To summarise this guide, here are the points to check in the etat date and pre-etat date before committing to a condominium purchase in Paris.

Is the seller up to date on their charges? If not, the notary will withhold the arrears, but ask yourself about the overall financial health of the condominium. What is the condominium’s arrears rate? Above 15%, caution is warranted. Have major works been recently voted? If so, what is your share and when are the levy calls scheduled? Factor this amount into your total budget.

What is the works fund balance? Is it sufficient given the building’s condition and foreseeable medium-term works? Are there any ongoing legal proceedings? If so, what is the estimated cost and who bears it? Does the preliminary agreement include a clause for allocating works voted before the sale? If not, ask your property hunter or notary to add one.

The etat date is not a glamorous document. But in a city where the average price per square metre exceeds 10,000 euros and where condominiums sometimes have more than a century of history, it is the document that separates the informed buyer from the one who discovers unpleasant surprises after signing. At Home Select, we prefer surprises to arrive before commitment, when there is still time to negotiate, to walk away, or simply to decide with full knowledge of the facts.