Installing a roof terrace? Need legal advice!

Questioner

Good day, I am the owner of an apartment on the top floor of an old building in the center of Amsterdam. The flat roof is currently not in use. I would like to place a roof terrace with or without a roof extension (I know that a permit from the municipality is required). The roof is currently outdated, covering from the early 90s, so the covering must be replaced anyway. The construction beams of the roof seemed to be in good condition when the ceiling was recently renewed from the inside. What can I best propose to the VVE? That I pay the costs for replacing the roof covering in exchange for exclusive rights to use the roof and install the roof terrace/roof extension, or that I become the full owner of the roof? Is there also a legal option in between, e.g. maintenance of parts on which the roof extension/roof terrace is located (including the edges thereof), my property becomes +/- 30m2, but the rest of the roof is owned by the VVE, the total roof is 70m2, so maintenance/replacement of the edges of the roof/building and gutter + skylight above the staircase etc. will not be at my expense. Is it possible to record such an agreement with professional drawings in a deed of division? Thanks in advance.

Lawyer

The most important thing is that the deed of division is adjusted, certainly if you are placing an extension. Permission from the VvE is not sufficient because it can always be withdrawn. I know from experience that VvEs are often reluctant to grant permission for the realisation of a roof terrace and to cooperate in a change to the division. In your proposal to the VvE I would therefore include that you will bear the costs of the overdue maintenance as you yourself have already indicated. You could also propose to bear the costs of changing the deed of division. It is indeed possible to include in the deed of division that only part of the maintenance of the roof is your responsibility; this should be expressed in the new division drawing. I myself am in favour of stipulating that the maintenance of the roof remains with the VvE, but that they can pass on the costs so that the VvE can determine the time of maintenance and not the owner of the terrace above.