Comunidad de Propietarios: Avoid Problems with Your Neighbours in Spain

If you want to be voted in as President or a member of the Committe do you have to attend the AGM of the community.

Not really, no. There is no provision in the laws requiring this.

But logicly it is highly recommendable if you want to stand up to be elected. Presumably there will be other contenders present at the AGM who will also opt for the post.

Yours faithfully,

We have a non-resident who wants to be elected onto the committee again for a second term. He will not be at the AGM in person. How would he be voted in.

In that case someone acting on his behalf will have to propose him at the AGM.

That is not an issue really. A vote is called and the winner is elected.

It has only recently emerged (after some 6 years) that our Community fees have been calculated incorrectly. Cuotas have been ignored and all fees rather than just the pool/garden maintenance costs as laid down in the Master deed, have been calculated on an equal basis. Ours is a 97 property Community raonging from a 70 sq m Apartment to a 600 sq m Villa.

I have reported this to the President but had no response as yet, and I intend to put it on the next AGM agenda. As this is an ERROR that needs to be corrected, am I right to assume that no vote is required ( effectively this is an illegal change to fee calculations) ? If a vote IS required then are those Properties who have underpaid entitled to vote as technically they are in arrears ?

How should I proceed with regards to previous over/underpayments - does this need a vote ?

Any other advice or tips would be greatly appreciated

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Originally Posted by david

Thank you Raymundo. Many owners have reported the renting owners to the Conselleria de Tourisme in Palma and their inspector has started to visit and interview renters after which proceedings have been started. That's great and no doubt the Summer will see many more visits and many more proceedings. However our President is very thick skinned and he won't allow us access to his rental customers to let them know they are breaking the law. That's crazy, of course, so I imagine that the next AGM in April will be very heated. My question is, does anyone have a direct right to sue the president for what he is doing in encouraging commercial renting on a residential complex and profiting from that renting by leaving his customers exposed to fines and our complex like a holiday camp. Many thanks, David.

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Would be very grateful if you could let me know how you go about denouncing the owners who let their property out to holiday lets even though it is not allowed. According to our Community Statutes, our complex is for vivienda. When we bought our property, the conveyancing lawyer told us that is was residential. However, at least two villas in our complex (of 10 detached villas) rent theirs out to holidaymakers. Is the Town Hall or the Consellaria of Tourism the point of action???

Dear Patoc,

You will need to vote this at your next AGM or EGM, yes.

The joint owners should not be regarded as "technically" in arrears as they cannot be held accountable out of no fault of their own on an "error" caused by the former administration. In fact such a relevant change may even require a unanimous vote as it affects the Master deed no less.

Yours sincerely,
Raymundo LarraÃ*n Nesbitt

Dear Sir or Madam,

Even if the development is labelled as "residencial" it is not illegal to let properties out.

Another matter is if the complex is located in one of Spain's regions in which a Letting licence is required i.e. Mallorca

Quoting my next article:

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8. Buy-to-Let

If you are buying with a view to rent the property out, either as short or long-term, make sure the region of Spain in which you are buying allows for this. Some regions, i.e. Balearic Islands, have stringent regulations whereby a special licence is required to rent. Failure to comply will result in the Town Hall fining you. Disgruntled neighbours always make apt whistleblowers, so be warned. Other regions in Spain, such as AndalucÃ*a, do not require letting licences but do have their own regulation in place on letting out property. i.e. Decree 218/2005. And as a final word of caution, unless your property is in a prime location, do not rely on the let to offset the mortgage repayments.

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Yours faithfully,
Raymundo LarraÃ*n Nesbitt

Raymundo

Thank you for the quick reply. Let me see if I understand you correctly.

You say "You will need to vote this at your next AGM or EGM, yes." and also that " In fact such a relevant change may even require a unanimous vote as it affects the Master deed no less".

Just to clarify the situation ;

1. The current allocation of fees is not only incorrect but also illegal as it does not reflect what is stated in the Master Deed
2. If the President / Administrator or anyone else wishes to CHANGE the way that fees are allocated into an equal share calculation this would need to be changed at an AGM / EGM, with a unanimous vote as the Master deed is to be changed. This cannot be done just because the Administrator made an error some time back.
3. As this would NOT get a unanimous vote to change I assume that the Administrator MUST immediately start calculating the fees correctly, as stated in the Master Deed

How should I proceed with regards to previous over/underpayments - does this need a vote and would everyone THIS TIME ONLY get an equal vote, rather than one based on cuota ? Otherwise the Villa owners who should be paying much more would get too many votes.

Many thanks
Patrick O'Connell

Dear Mr O'Connell,

Votes are based on the commonhold quota owners hold, as per my article and as per the law that rules all communal developments in Spain.-

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Commonhold Quota

On drawing up the Master Deed before a Notary, every property within the community is assigned a quota or percentage thereof. This quota is composed both of privative and communal elements which are assigned to each property. Store rooms and garages are included as well for this purpose.

This quota is important mainly for two reasons:

1.Because the expenses of the community will be allocated in proportion to your quota. So the larger the quota, the more you will have to pay.

2.Secondly, on voting at owners’ assemblies, the quotas need to be tallied for majority vote purposes. So, each owner does not equate to one vote. There may be a single owner, such as a developer, holding a significant communal quota which translates into great voting power. The resolutions reached bind all units within, regardless of whether they cast an opposing vote as majority rules apply (read below).

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I think we can safely assume your administrator knew they were being incorrectly calculated which is why I added apostrophes to the word error in prior post. This is hardly rocket science and it's how all communities fees are normally calculated throughout Spain, unless specifically agreed otherwise by unanimous vote.

I'm not quite so sure this blatant "error" could go undetected for so long, six years no less. If all of you have have approved year after year the annual community budget there may be a right to have it calculated in such a way it can be argued by villa owners regardless of the Master deed.

Am I correct in writing I have the sneaky suspicion you are going to face heavy opposition from the rest of the owners (namely those who own a villa, larger commonhold quota) to have the system amended as per the Master deed?

You may even have to resort to litigating at court to push through what was agreed at the onstart in the Master deed on lodging the Horizontal Division deed before the Land registry.

Yours faithfully,
Raymundo LarraÃ*n Nesbitt