HOA management in the Rhine-Main region

The association's money is held in accounts in its own name, kept separate from our company's funds. Every payment is posted with its supporting document and can be viewed by owners in the portal. Bookkeeping is handled by our in-house property accounting team, led by Ralf Hennig, a business economist with more than thirty years in property accounting.

The budget (Wirtschaftsplan) sets the advance payments owners make for the coming year. We build it from the previous year's actual costs, known contract changes and planned maintenance. If insurance premiums or energy prices rise, that appears as a separate line with an explanation.

The annual accounts compare actual costs with the advances paid. Under Section 28(2) WEG, owners vote on the resulting top-up payments or adjustments. We prepare the accounts by the end of August at the latest and give the advisory board bank statements, invoices and individual statements in advance. Alongside them comes the asset report under Section 28(4) WEG, showing the maintenance reserve and the association's other material assets.

We follow up unpaid service charges every month, send written reminders and, where the owners have resolved to do so, start court proceedings. At a 54-unit association in Frankfurt-Nied, arrears stood in six figures when we took over. After the owner records were cleaned up and arrears were pursued consistently, most of the debt was recovered within a few months.

The manager must convene the owners' meeting at least once a year, in text form and with at least three weeks' notice (Section 24 WEG). We agree the agenda with the advisory board first and send a drafted motion for every item to be voted on, together with the quotations, price comparisons or technical opinions owners need to decide.

We chair the meeting, record majorities and announce results. The minutes go into the portal promptly, and every resolution is entered in the register of resolutions required by Section 24(7) WEG. Owners who want to challenge a resolution must file a claim within one month, so clear motions and accurate minutes matter.

A resolution is only useful once it has been carried out. Each one becomes a task in our software with an owner and a deadline, and the board can see in the portal whether a contract has been awarded or the work signed off. At the next meeting we report on every open item.

Owners can resolve by simple majority to allow online participation. A fully virtual meeting requires a resolution passed by three quarters of the votes cast. Written resolutions between meetings generally require the consent of all owners, unless the association has resolved that a majority is sufficient for a specific matter.

Our technical property management is led by Benjamin Böcker, Head of Technical Property Management. He previously headed technical and commercial operations for the three ECB towers in Frankfurt, around 300,000 square metres, and before that was technical head of the four DZ BANK towers. He holds a degree in architecture and is a certified real estate specialist (IHK). When there is water damage or the heating fails, someone from our own team looks at it first.

During inspections we check the roof, basement, plant rooms, facade and grounds against a fixed checklist and record defects with photos. The findings form a multi-year maintenance plan with priorities and cost estimates, which feeds into the budget and reserve planning.

For larger works we write a specification, obtain quotations and present them with a price comparison and a technical assessment. After completion we check the work and the invoice against the quotation. In Offenbach we are supporting an 82-unit association through a riser pipe replacement with a budget in the low single-digit millions.

We keep a calendar of statutory inspections for every property, covering legionella testing of larger hot water systems, the switch to remotely readable heat and water meters required by the end of 2026, smoke alarms under the Hessian building code, lifts and fire safety. For new buildings we arrange an inspection before the five-year warranty period under German civil law expires.

The advisory board (Verwaltungsbeirat) supports and supervises the manager and should review the budget and annual accounts before the owners vote (Section 29 WEG). Board members who serve unpaid are liable only for intent and gross negligence.

We give the board its review documents as one package, before they go to all owners, including bank statements, invoices, contracts and a summary of variances against the budget. We answer questions in writing so the answers remain on record, and we agree agendas and motions with the board before every meeting.

Many associations set a threshold by resolution, up to which the manager may place orders alone and above which the board must approve. We keep to these limits and show them in our reports.

Owners can remove their manager at any time by majority resolution (Section 26(3) WEG). No specific reason is required, and the management contract ends no later than six months after removal. The new manager is usually appointed at the same meeting, for a maximum of five years.

We start with a review together with the board, inspect the property, ask about the status of accounts, open resolutions and ongoing works, and then prepare a written proposal. We draft the motions for removal, appointment and the new contract.

After the resolution we request the records from the outgoing manager, including the declaration of division, register of resolutions, minutes, service contracts, insurance policies, keys and the accounting records. The bank accounts are transferred, balances are reconciled at the handover date, and we introduce ourselves to all owners.

If the change takes effect on 31 December, Germany's Federal Court of Justice ruled in September 2025 that the new manager prepares the annual accounts for the year just ended. We plan for this from the start.

Every association has at least two certified property managers, with more on large developments. One of them is your main contact, and both know the property and the current resolutions, so holidays or sick leave do not leave requests waiting. Behind them are our in-house technical and accounting teams, with more than ten people in total. Verto is a member of VDIV Hessen (Verband der Immobilienverwalter Hessen e. V.), the association of property managers in Hesse.

You can reach us by phone Monday to Friday from 9 am to 6 pm, and we call back within 24 hours outside these times. For burst pipes and heating failures there is an emergency number staffed around the clock.

In the owner portal, owners and board members can see the association's account with every transaction and its receipt, budgets, annual accounts, minutes, the register of resolutions and the progress of open matters. Fees are agreed as a fixed price per unit and month, set out in a written proposal after a free initial consultation, with any additional services listed separately.

Frankfurt's Nordend, Westend, Bornheim and Sachsenhausen have many period buildings from around 1900 that have been divided into flats, with timber beam floors, ornate facades and old pipework. Elsewhere, post-war and 1960s to 1970s developments are approaching major works such as riser replacements, facade insulation and new central heating.

Frankfurt has designated several neighbourhoods as conservation areas under Section 172 of the Federal Building Code, where alterations and modernisation require approval. We check this, and any listed building requirements, before larger works are put to the owners.

Our head office is at Mühlstraße 36 in Eschborn, on Frankfurt's city boundary. From there we manage associations in Frankfurt, Offenbach, Wiesbaden, Mainz, Darmstadt, Hanau, Bad Homburg and the surrounding area. Since October 2026 our office in Mannheim-Käfertal has looked after Mannheim and the Bergstrasse as far as Bensheim.