Information on community gardien

I WOULD like information on gardiens and their contracts and salaries. We live on a small 10 villa domaine and we are getting conflicting information on what the law says about this. J. H.

The contract of a gardien (caretaker of a building or gated community etc), is ultimately the responsibility of the syndicat de copropriété, not to be confused with the syndic.

The former is the owners as a group, who should have at least one annual meeting at which important matters are agreed in relation to the management of the shared areas and services; the latter is a management company to which practical day to day running is delegated.

In practice the syndic will deal with the gardien on behalf of the syndicat, even if the latter is legally his or her employer.
Their pay is calculated using coefficients that vary according to qualifications and extent of responsibilities, from level one to level six. They are then paid in one of two ways:
“category A”, based on a salary for a “full time” job, with a set number of hours, and “category B”, based on an itemised number of specified tasks, with each task given a corresponding “value unit”.

Usually, a gardien also has onsite accommodation as part of the contract.

If you need detailed information about the arrangements where you live you would be best advised to talk to the syndic.