Quality certification: also within reach for small VvE offices.
As of December 1, following the Royal Notarial Association's Model Regulations for VvE Managers, the requirements for the VvE Manager Certificate are further focused on small management offices. As a result, an independent assessment of the quality delivered by all VvE managers is within reach.
This allows Owner Associations to outsource the maintenance and management of their residential complexes even more safely, without having to worry about whether they are dealing with a bona fide party. On that date, the new version of the Assessment Guideline for Services Certificate for Managers of Owners' Associations (BRL-5016) was published. The certificate guarantees that the company meets a high standard of professionalism, which is tested annually by SKG-IKOB.
SKG-IKOB, is an accredited, not-for-profit organization for certification of, among other things, the construction sector and inspection of building products, and with the updated BRL it wants to reduce the threshold for small VvE managers to become certified. These SME companies often serve the market of the smallest VvEs, where the level of organization and quality is still relatively low. If this is not addressed quickly, there is a risk of "rotten teeth" in the district-oriented sustainability approach.
There are some 1.8 million apartments in the Netherlands. An owner is automatically, by law, a member of the Owner's Association (VvE) in which the apartment is located. In total, there are over 125,000 VvEs with about 1,875,000 apartment rights, the vast majority of which are residential apartments. Approximately one-fifth of the housing stock of 8.1 million homes is located in a CoE. VvEs are traditionally responsible for the maintenance of the common building parts of the complex, such as the roofs, facades, foundations and common (traffic) areas. Increasingly, they also have to deal with more complex tasks, such as making their complexes more sustainable or life-proof. With an average size of 15 apartments per association, this task is usually far too complex for volunteer board members. Therefore, management is often outsourced. It is then important to obtain advance assurance about the professionalism and integrity of the manager. To this end, a number of market parties (interest groups of apartment owners, corporations, municipalities and property managers) took the initiative several years ago for an assessment guideline to test that professionalism and reliability. And the requirements have now been further tailored to small management offices so that they, too, can demonstrate their quality. In an increasingly complex world, disputes lurk. You can't prevent them; a good way to deal with them can. Certified managers are required to have a clear complaints procedure and to be affiliated with independent dispute resolution committees. How the administrator handles disputes is part of the annual review for retention of the certificate. As is the management of the VvE's financial resources, reservations, insurance, having an up-to-date maintenance plan, etc. With a certified administrator, there are detailed requirements for accessibility, response times and the like.
As of January 1, 2023, 46 VvE managers were certified under the BRL-5016. Currently, one administrator has been suspended. At present, these are mainly medium and large property managers. The Board of Experts believes that the certificate can also come within reach for small and starting management offices without compromising the quality requirements. They too must be able to demonstrate their quality of service. Hence the improved accessibility of the BRL 5016 for these managers.
To guarantee the quality of the certificate, supervision of the development and management of the assessment guideline by SKG-IKOB has been assigned to the Board of Experts BRL-5016 (BoE), which sets the requirements in the BRL and of which SKG-IKOB is not a member. As of December 1, the Board includes members from the municipalities and the housing sector, the foundation VvE-Belang, Vastgoed Belang, FICIM, VGMNL, VvE Kennis & Advies. Independent chairman is P.F.C. Jansen, former alderman of the municipality of Utrecht.
For more information, contact Jeffrey Bogaard, certification manager SKG-IKOB Certification by phone at 088-2440100 or by e-mail at
