Every apartment building faces decisions that affect everyone: how to allocate the shared budget, whether to renovate the courtyard, or which improvements should take priority.

Traditionally, gathering residents’ input has meant paper ballots, in-person meetings, or chaotic group chats where many residents never see the question at all.

Today, we’re introducing Resident Voting — a new MiniApp in Unitify that allows property management companies to create votes and surveys in minutes, while residents can participate directly from their phones.

Watch the video walkthrough to see Resident Voting in action.

The law is already ahead of practice

This is not about getting ahead of regulation. It is about closing a gap that has existed for years.

Germany’s 2020 reform of the Wohnungseigentumsgesetz removed the attendance quorum requirement for condominium owners’ meetings and allowed owners to authorize online participation. In 2024, Germany went further by introducing a legal framework under which owners can approve fully virtual meetings.

In France, the 2018 loi ELAN introduced electronic participation in copropriété assemblies and voting by correspondence, with the practical requirements subsequently defined in implementing legislation.

The EU’s eIDAS regulation provides another part of the digital infrastructure: a qualified electronic signature has the same legal effect as a handwritten signature throughout the European Union.

However, the validity of a particular owners’ vote still depends on the applicable national legislation, the building’s governing documents, the type of decision being made, and the way the vote is organized.

In practice, many buildings have not caught up with what the law already permits. Owners’ meetings are still held in rented rooms on weeknights, while paper ballots are counted manually.

Resident Voting gives property management companies the infrastructure to move this process online — while configuring each vote in accordance with the requirements that apply to their building and jurisdiction.

Built for property managers

Setting up a vote takes less than two minutes. From the Unitify management console, an administrator opens the Voting MiniApp, selects the primary language and, if needed, adds a second language for multilingual communities.

The administrator then chooses the format: a general survey or a formal owners’ vote, depending on the purpose of the question and local requirements.

Each vote can be configured with:

• A specific building and eligible voting audience

• A vote-counting method

• Quorum requirements

• A title and description

• Multiple questions and answer options

• A start date and deadline

For example, a property manager might ask: How should we allocate the building’s budget for next year?

Residents could then vote on proposed improvements or answer a series of questions with options such as “Yes,” “No,” or “Abstain.”

The administrator can save the vote as a draft, review the settings, and publish it when everything is ready.

Built for residents

Voting takes place directly in the Unitify resident app. Residents open the Voting MiniApp from the home screen, see the votes currently available for their building, and select the one they want to participate in.

They can review the questions, choose their answers, check their selections, and submit their vote in just a few taps.

Where supported or required under local rules, residents can also confirm their vote using an electronic signature recognized in their jurisdiction. This provides an additional layer of identity verification for formal decisions.

Clear participation and results

Once a vote is published, the property management team can monitor participation and results from the Unitify management console. Instead of collecting paper forms or manually combining results from different channels, administrators get one centralized view of the voting process for each building.

Residents gain visibility into decisions affecting their community and a simple way to make their voices heard — without printed forms, missed meetings, or uncertainty about whether their vote was counted.

Decisions made together

Whether it is a formal decision about shared funds or a quick survey to understand resident priorities, Resident Voting gives property management companies a modern and transparent way to involve the people who live in their buildings.

No rented rooms. No paper ballots. No manual count. No decisions disappearing into a group chat. Resident Voting is available now in Unitify. Contact us to enable it for your buildings.