Acceptance of common portions

The reception of the work is the act by which the client, in this case the syndicate of co-owners, declares to accept the common portions, with or without reservation. It is a completely voluntary and unilateral act on the part of the syndicate of co-owners who comes to declare that they accept the work supplied by the contractor.

NOTE: The law provides that a reception with reservation may take place when the buyer requests a correction of the work before recognizing the complete execution of the work. Reception with reservation is possible, even if there is work to be corrected, provided that the work does not compromise the use for which the building is intended. However, if certain work, for example those foreseen in the plan or estimate, are not completed, you can refuse to receive the work, even with reservation.

Since certain protections, for example against existing and non-visible defects and hidden defects, are subject to time limits which start from the acceptance of the common parts, it is very important to determine the exact moment of acceptance of the common parts.

Alleged acceptance

The acceptance of the common parts is presumed to have taken place 6 months after the reception of the notice of the End of Work, if the syndicate of co-ownership does not proceed to the reception and if the following conditions are met:

• The work is completed.
• The syndicate of co-owners is formed and is no longer under the control of the contractor.
• The notice of the end of work was sent by the contractor to the syndicate of co-owners, when the latter was no longer under the control of the contractor, informing it of the end of work and its obligations with regard to receipt.
• A period of 6 months has elapsed since the reception of this notice by the syndicate of co-owners and the latter, without reason, has not received the common parts.

The regulation provides for this presumption if and only if all the conditions mentioned above are met. If one of them is not, the alleged acceptance of the common areas cannot take place.