Accord d’exclusivité (no-shop) : tout savoir avant de signer

An undertaking to refrain from negotiating, or contracting in any other agreement, about organizing the building's owners or advancing a renewal deal in any other way — except with the organizer's consent. The organizer wants to invest time and resources in finding a developer and assembling the required majority, and asks the owners to hold off for a limited period. But owners sometimes bind themselves in a one-sided undertaking that can stick them for a lingering period they'll struggle to exit. Before signing anything of the kind — consult a professional attorney who represents owners in urban renewal.

Before any non-shop is signed, the organizer must convene the owners and explain. At the gathering the organizer presents: the agreement's essence and the law's main provisions; whether it acts for a developer; its fee (so far as known); any personal interest in the deal; whether an owner in the building acts on its behalf; and information about the Government Authority for Urban Renewal and the Commissioner for residents' complaints. The convening duty is met when: notice went out at least 7 days ahead; the notice was displayed prominently on or in the building; and at least 40% of the owners attended (public-housing apartments excluded from the count; in a 17+ apartment building, two gatherings summing to 40% suffice, with minimum first-gathering attendance).

• The organizer's details;
• The signing date and the determining date;
• A clarification that the owners' compensation will be fixed in the renewal deal with the chosen developer — NOT in the non-shop;
• The organizer's undertakings: locating a developer capable of executing the renewal, and acting to sign the organizing agreement with the rest of the building's owners;
• An undertaking to act for the owners with loyalty and fairness.

• Confidentiality: information received from an owner may not be disclosed or used without consent (statute and court orders aside).
• Fair play: acting for the owners loyally, fairly and in the accepted way — delivering every material piece of information about the deal.
• What am I signing?: before signature the organizer must explain the agreement's essence and its legal consequences, and hand the owners a copy together with the gathering's minutes.

The initial validity depends on reaching signing thresholds: 50%+ of owners in a building of up to 16 apartments; 40%+ or at least 8 owners (the higher) in a 17+ building; 35%+ in a 36+ building. If, within 18 months of the determining date, the organizer signed an organizing agreement with 67%+ of the owners — or its developer signed pinui-binui deals with the non-shop signatories — validity extends to 24 months. If within 24 months a demolish-and-rebuild plan filed by the organizer was received at a planning institution, validity runs to 4 years from the plan's receipt (only for plans enabling a permit) — and if the plan was deposited within those 4 years, to 5 years from receipt.

Initial validity: 6 months, extending to 12 on reaching the signing thresholds (50% in up-to-16 buildings; 40% or 8 owners in 17+). To 18 months where the organizer signed 80%+ of the owners, or its developer signed reinforcement deals with 33%+ of the non-shop signatories. And to 36 months where a permit application filed by the organizer was received at the local committee within 18 months.

Any stipulation contrary to the law that doesn't favor an owner is VOID — for example, an exclusivity period longer than the statutory ones. And where up to 40% of the building is public housing, the validity thresholds are counted from the non-public apartments only.