Apartment owners in France who choose to run their buildings as cooperatives can rely on digital and expert support without it counting as professional property management, France’s highest civil court, the Court of Cassation, has ruled.
On 17 September, the Court dismissed a legal challenge against Matera, an online platform that supports condominiums managed under France’s cooperative model. Under French law, co-owners can choose to manage their building themselves through a cooperative syndicate, with elected owners taking charge instead of hiring a professional property manager.
The case was brought by property management group Foncia (now Emeria Europe) and several professional associations. They argued that Matera was acting as a property manager without the licence the profession requires, and that its 2020 advertising campaign, with slogans such as “Ditch your property manager for good – Vote Matera at the next AGM”, was misleading.
The Court disagreed. It found that Matera’s services, including generating legal documents, accounting tools and support with building works, were lawful assistance to the cooperative syndicate. The key point was that the elected co-owners kept full responsibility for managing the building: Matera did not sign documents or take over their role. French law already allows those managing a building to seek advice and hand specific tasks to outside providers.
On the advertising, the Court accepted that the slogans were ambiguous but ruled they were not misleading. Switching to the cooperative model requires a vote at the owners’ general meeting, so co-owners would be expected to look into the offer carefully rather than rely on a billboard.
The ruling upholds a 2024 decision of the Paris Court of Appeal and, coming from France’s highest civil court, sets a clear reference point. It confirms that member-run self-management is a genuine alternative to professional management, and that cooperatives can use modern tools and expert support to make it work while staying fully in control and within the law.
