Getting a condominium practice off paper
Getting off paper
Where to start, what to move first, and how to get your data out of the software you already have.
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“We have no capacity for that right now”: a sentence that renews itself every year
Most practices postpone the switch because there is too much work on the desk. A good share of that work exists precisely because the switch has not happened yet.
7 minute read
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Leaving your old software: how to take your data with you
When a software switch fails, it usually fails on the export from the old system, and on nobody having checked that export while there was still time.
6 minute read
Everyday scenarios
Real weeks in a management office: a Monday morning, a burst pipe, assembly season, the year-end, a takeover, and how all of it looks from the owner’s side.
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Special levies: resolve, apportion, keep track of payments
The reserve is not enough, and the roof still has to be done. The apportionment is the smallest part of the work; trouble usually comes from a resolution that leaves the key or the due dates open.
6 minute read
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Ask first, decide later: surveys before the owners' assembly
An agenda item that fails at the assembly usually does not come back for another year. A survey beforehand shows which proposal could find a majority and what questions the owners still have.
7 minute read
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The history of the building: keeping a building logbook and handing it over
At a handover, often only the caretaker knows when the roof was last redone. A building logbook keeps the history of the building where the next manager will find it.
6 minute read
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Party room, guest flat, laundry: bookings without a sheet on the door
A list with crossed-out names hangs on the laundry door, the guest flat's calendar sits with an advisory board member, and residents email the management about the party room. Three rooms, three procedures, and at Christmas the guest flat is promised twice.
6 minute read
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Monday morning in a management office: from a full inbox to a sorted day
On Monday the loudest thing pushes to the front, even when it is not the most important. How well the week starts depends on how quickly the rest of the pile finds its place.
7 minute read
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Water damage: from the tenant's report to a closed defect
With water damage, three parties hear about it, two of them too late, and afterwards nobody can say exactly what happened when. That makes the case harder than the repair itself.
7 minute read
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Online and hybrid assemblies: when owners vote in the portal
Since 2020 owners in Germany may take part in the assembly online, and since October 2024 it may be held entirely virtually. The video call itself rarely causes difficulty. The trouble starts afterwards, when someone wants to know who was there when, and which vote counted.
7 minute read
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Assembly season: from the agenda to the entry in the resolutions register
The evening of the assembly itself rarely causes trouble. The harder part is the fortnight after it, when a notepad has to turn into minutes, a register of resolutions and an economic plan.
7 minute read
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Year-end in an owners' association: from the invoice pile to each owner's statement in the portal
An annual settlement is the sum of some three hundred small steps taken over the whole year. Whether it is in good shape by May is settled as early as February.
7 minute read
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Taking over a building from the previous manager: the first four weeks
In a takeover you usually receive a spreadsheet, an export, twelve binders and the assurance that everything is complete. Whether that is true only shows once you load the data.
6 minute read
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The other side: a year as a flat owner in the portal
An owner portal is worth having when an owner can find an answer at 10 pm and does not have to call the next morning.
6 minute read
AI in the daily work
What the AI reads from a document, where it is reliable, and why it never books anything on its own.
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What AI in property management can really do today
On trade-show stands AI is sold as a revolution, and in many management offices it is written off as nonsense. In practice it saves a few hours a month, at points you can name precisely.
7 minute read
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AI invoice capture: what it takes off your desk and what stays with you
Reading invoices is something AI does well today, and it saves real time every month. It still should not book them, because you are the one liable for how an invoice is assigned.
6 minute read
The duties you cannot get wrong
The resolutions register and the annual settlement, and for Germany the statutory sections behind them.
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Building inspections and the duty of care: check, record, prove
No statute spells out the duty to keep a building safe (Verkehrssicherungspflicht). After a fall on the stairs, your records are still the first thing anyone asks for.
7 minute read
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Owners without email: invitations, minutes and circulars by post
Almost every association has two or three owners who use neither the portal nor email. Their invitation still has to arrive on time and in text form.
7 minute read
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Access and erasure: answering GDPR requests in condominium management
A former owner wants to know what the management holds on him, and then wants all of it deleted. The deadline runs from the day the email arrived, and much of the data may not be deleted at all.
8 minute read
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One management, several countries: what changes for assemblies, challenges and reserves
Managing properties in Germany, Austria and Spain means three notice periods, challenge periods that start at different moments, and two rules for the minimum reserve. Which one applies depends on the property's country.
8 minute read
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Receipt review by the advisory board: from the sample to the audit note
The advisory board is meant to review the economic plan and the annual statement before the assembly resolves on them. Usually that means an afternoon at the management office, three binders and a question nobody writes down.
7 minute read
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Keeping the register of resolutions without gaps
A register of resolutions with gaps can go unnoticed for years. At a handover to the next manager, it is the first thing anyone asks for.
6 minute read
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The annual statement: from the first booking to the resolution
Since the reform, owners resolve on the additional contributions and no longer on the statement as a whole. A motion still worded as approval of the statement leaves the resolution open to challenge.
6 minute read