The advisory board (Verwaltungsbeirat) is the voluntary supervisory and advisory body of a German condominium owners association (Wohnungseigentümergemeinschaft, WEG): it supports and supervises the manager and reviews the budget and the annual statement before the owners resolve on them. Its appointment is optional, its members are themselves owners, and a statutory liability cap applies to those who act without pay. This guide explains the board’s duties, rights, limits and liability, with the relevant provisions from the German Condominium Act (WEG). It is written to help international owners understand how German law works.
What is the advisory board and what is it for?
The advisory board is an organ of the owners association that sits between the manager and the owners meeting. It bundles the owners’ interests, is the point of contact for the manager, and helps keep the day-to-day administration transparent. Unlike the manager, the board is not a service provider but a body elected from within the community itself.
Its purpose is twofold. On the one hand it supports the manager in carrying out their duties, for example through technical advice, obtaining quotes, or accompanying larger building projects. On the other hand it supervises the manager and thereby protects the community from mistakes, lack of transparency or excessive costs. This supervisory function is the real core of the office.
Appointing a board is not mandatory. A community can exist without one. In small associations with only a few units a board is often dispensed with; in larger communities it is practically indispensable, because effective supervision of the manager by all owners jointly hardly works.
Appointment and composition
Under § 29 (1) WEG, owners may be appointed as members of the advisory board by resolution. The appointment thus takes place at the owners meeting by majority resolution. As a rule, only someone who is themselves an owner in the community can become a board member.
A key point of the WEG reform concerns the number of members. Before the WEMoG (in force since 1 December 2020) the law prescribed a board of exactly three members. Since the reform this rigid requirement has gone: the owners set the number of board members flexibly by resolution according to the needs of their community. A board of a single person, or of more than three members, is therefore equally possible.
Where there are several members, § 29 (1) sentence 2 WEG requires the appointment of a chair and a deputy. The chair convenes the board as needed and coordinates its work. These roles matter not only internally but also have a statutory external effect (see the section on chairing the meeting below).
| Feature | Rule | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Appointment | by resolution of the owners | § 29 (1) s. 1 WEG |
| Who can be a member | owners only | § 29 (1) s. 1 WEG |
| Number of members | flexible by resolution (since WEMoG) | § 29 (1) WEG |
| Chair | chair and deputy where several members | § 29 (1) s. 2 WEG |
| Duty to appoint | no, voluntary | § 29 (1) WEG |
Duties of the advisory board
The board’s duties are set out in § 29 (2) WEG. They fall into two areas.
Supporting and supervising the manager
Under § 29 (2) sentence 1 WEG the advisory board supports and supervises the manager in carrying out their duties. The board is thus both a sparring partner and a control body. In practice this means: it discusses upcoming measures with the manager, gives technical assessments, keeps in contact with the other owners, and checks whether the manager implements resolutions correctly and administers the community’s funds properly.
Reviewing the budget and the annual statement
The most important concrete duty is in § 29 (2) sentence 2 WEG: the budget and the annual statement should be reviewed by the advisory board, and provided with its opinion, before the owners resolve on them. The board therefore checks the figures submitted by the manager, both arithmetically and on the merits, before they come to a vote at the meeting, and gives the community a recommendation.
This review is not a formality: the board should check receipts on a sample basis, follow the account balances, and question conspicuous items. Its opinion gives the other owners a sound basis for their decision.
Example: Before the annual owners meeting, the manager submits the annual statement to the board. The chair and a second board member go through the bank statements, compare expenditure against receipts, and find that a larger contractor invoice was booked twice. The board notes this in its opinion, and the manager corrects the statement before the resolution is taken. This is exactly the board’s supervisory function in practice.
Rights and limits
Important as the supervisory function is, its limits are equally clear. The board is an advisory and supervisory body - it has no power of its own to instruct the manager. It can neither dictate how the manager runs the administration, nor conclude contracts or order measures on its own authority. Decisions on the administration of the common property are taken by the owners meeting by resolution; the manager carries them out.
The board may therefore recommend, review, prompt and take a position at the meeting, but it may not act itself where the community is to decide. This division of roles guards against a shift of power away from the meeting and towards a small body.
Even so, the board chair has a significant statutory external role. Under § 24 (3) WEG the chair - or the deputy - may convene the owners meeting if there is no manager or the manager wrongfully refuses to convene one. In this way the law ensures that the community remains able to take decisions even without a functioning manager. In addition, under § 24 (6) WEG the board chair or deputy co-signs the minutes of the meeting. This co-signature serves to verify the accuracy of the recorded resolutions.
Liability of the board
Those who volunteer should not be exposed to unlimited liability. § 29 (3) WEG takes account of this with a liability privilege: if the members of the advisory board act without remuneration, they are liable only for intent and gross negligence. An unpaid board is therefore not liable for ordinary (slight) negligence.
This is a marked relief compared with general liability. A board member who overlooks a faulty annual statement without acting with gross negligence does not have to answer for the loss. For gross negligence, or even intent, liability remains.
Note that the privilege applies only to unpaid activity. If the board receives remuneration, the liability cap does not apply, and the member is liable for ordinary negligence too. Regardless of this, every board is well advised to take out professional indemnity insurance (often described as D&O insurance, Directors and Officers). It covers the remaining liability risk and can be taken out by the community for its board.
Honorary office or remuneration?
The office is classically an honorary one. Most board members work without pay and in return benefit from the liability privilege of § 29 (3) WEG. It is also possible, however, to grant the board reasonable remuneration or an expense allowance; the owners meeting decides on this. In that case members should be aware that they lose the liability privilege and that insurance cover becomes all the more important.
Between pure honorary service and remuneration, practice often sees a flat allowance for actual outlays (postage, travel). Mere reimbursement of expenses usually leaves the liability privilege untouched, whereas genuine remuneration for the activity does not. The distinction should be set out clearly in the resolution.
The advisory board in Frankfurt am Main
In Frankfurt and surrounding municipalities such as Offenbach, Bad Homburg or Eschborn, many medium-sized and large owners associations shape the cityscape. It is precisely here that a well-functioning advisory board shows its value: it is the interface between an often professionally organised property management and the owners, and it ensures that larger measures - such as energy-efficiency refurbishments or lift modernisations - are accompanied on the technical side and accounted for cleanly. A well-established cooperation between board and management is the best protection against disputes within the community.
For its work to run smoothly the board needs a reliable partner on the management side. To see how professional condominium management in Frankfurt supports the board, and which standards a certified property management meets in doing so, read the linked articles. That is how supervision stays effective and the community remains able to act.
Editorial responsibility: digo.immo Verwaltung & Invest - certified residential property manager under § 26a WEG (IHK Frankfurt), licence under § 34c GewO. About the certification
This article provides general information only and does not replace individual legal advice. Legal status: 06/07/2026; laws and case law may change. No warranty is given as to completeness, accuracy or timeliness. When in doubt, please seek qualified advice.