Morocco’s Condominium Crisis: Unpaid Fees and Tenant Disputes Plague Urban Housing

The newspaper Les Inspirations Eco has painted a bleak picture of the management of the real estate sub-sector in Morocco, denouncing the ills that hinder the maintenance of the building’s equipment. These are the unpaid syndicate fees and the incivility of certain co-owners.

For example, the newspaper cites cases of "households on the ground floor or first floor who believe they are not concerned by the maintenance of the elevator on the grounds that they do not use it." This results in "the accumulation of unpaid bills that weakens the majority of condominiums in Morocco and in the long run, harms the valuation of the properties since it impacts the cash flow of the buildings, generating delays in the payment of suppliers and forcing the postponement of planned investments."

This situation is attributable to the legislation according to the newspaper, which denounces a laxity in the application of the law. "The lack of knowledge and/or non-application of these mechanisms, in an adequate manner, as well as the cumbersomeness of the judicial procedures, reduce their effectiveness," it notes, adding that "the injunction to pay the debtor is difficult to apply, because it can only be executed if the co-owner receives the notification by registered letter or by a bailiff."

In addition, "the actual time frame for carrying out the recovery procedures is so long that it can lead some bad payers to believe that the charges will be abandoned, which is obviously not the case," it insists.

The other scourge denounced by the newspaper is the incivility of certain co-owners. "The propensity of some residents to make changes to the facade or to privatize a common space (parking, garden) is another scourge, regardless of the standing of the building and the city," it observes.