Community debts

I live in an area called Santa Margarita in the province of Cadiz. In particular an community area of around 31 houses.

My husband and I bought a house there last August and were told the service charges were €75. In October the Management decided to charge everyone an extra €32 on top as they are having to recoup debt that had occurred. This means since October we have been paying €107 a month in Service charges which is appalling! Not only this they said that they would charge us this for six months ending in March and they charged me the extra €32 along with others in April. I emailed them and asked them why they are still charging and they said that the debt is still outstanding so they will carry on charging everyone, but this has not been agreed in any meeting.

When questioning them about the debt they give different reasons, but we all know what the reason is. There are two houses that at the time were in debt of €7,000 and they said that the debt is €7,000. Is this just a coincidence???!!

How do we stand legally on this as €107 is too much money. We bought the house agreeing to pay €75, if we had known about this debt from the beginning we would have never bought there. Can anyone help me with this?

Many thanks,
Jaimie.

Dear Sir,

That is what happens when you have communers that do not pay the community fees, you are all held liable.

Which is why the communities lawyer will try to place a charge against their property and if they don't pay up the Community may have the property auctioned off to recoup the communal debt.

Thank you for your response. Could you also just confirm one thing for me?

I noticed someone else ask this, but still not sure of the answer. Is it true that if the debtors do not pay within 2 years then the debt is wiped clean?

I am also asking as I have heard that Judges in Spain are on strike and there is a 2 year backlog of civil matters.

Many thanks again,

Jaimie.

Dear Sir,

No, it's untrue.

What the Commonhold Act stipulates is that the new owner is only liable for the debts of the former owner dating back two years:



Section 9

1. The duties of unit owners are–


a) to respect the general installations of the community and any other common elements in the property, whether for general or private use and whether included in their unit or not, using them with due care and avoiding at all times that any damages or impairments be caused;

b) to maintain their own unit and private installations thereof in good repair so that no harm is caused to the community or other unit owners, making good any damages produced by their negligence or by their dependants’;

c) to consent to any repairs in their unit required for the service of the building and to permit indispensable easements required to create common services of general interest agreed in accordance with the provisions of section 17, being entitled to compensation from the community for any damages sustained;

d) to allow access to their unit for the purposes stated in the three preceding subsections;

e) to contribute, according to the assessment quota set forth in the master deed or to what may have been specially established, to the overall expenses for the appropriate maintenance of the building, its services, charges and any responsibilities that cannot be allocated individually.

Amounts payable to the community arising from the obligation to contribute towards the maintenance and general expenses of the building corresponding to the fees assessed for the period to date of the current year and for the previous year shall be deemed preferential for the purposes of section 1923 of the Civil Code, and they come, as regards settlement, before those stated in subsections 3rd, 4th and 5th of said section, subject to the guarantees in favour of salaries and wages established in the Estatuto de los Trabajadores [Workers’ Statute].

Any person acquiring a unit in horizontal property ownership, even where the title was entered in the Land Registry, shall be liable for, and the unit acquired attached to payment of any outstanding amounts payable to the community for general expenses by the previous owners up to the limit of the fees assessed for the period to date of the year when the transfer of ownership took place and for the natural year immediately precedent. The unit shall be legally burdened with fulfilment of this obligation, and the rules on precedence of debts stated above shall be equally applicable in this case.




If you were thinking on not contributing to your Community fees think twice or else you will find a charge against your property set by the C.O. and the Community will be empowered to auction off your property to recoup the outstanding amounts.

This process in Spain works surprisingly fast and efficiently. If I were you I would pay what's owed, that's the best advice you can be given.

I recommend you read my article on Community of Owners in Spain:

Comunidad de Propietarios: Avoid Problems with Your Neighbours in Spain - 26th June 2009

Yours faithfully,
Raymundo LarraÃ*n Nesbitt

Thank you again for your advice and information.

I know we have to pay, just think it is very unfair that people are getting away with paying whilst we are paying for them.

Hopefully something will be sorted soon.

Thank you,

Jaimie.

Dear Sir,

I have no idea how your commonhold is being run but I can assure communers lose their homes for not paying community fees.

In my community it's happened already to quite a few who thought they could outsmart the rest of us on not contributing; now they've lost their homes.

Not contributing to your share in a commonhold can lead to serious consequences such as the one above.

This all boils down to how efficiently is your community being run. If you have a determined and proactive President & Co. skipping your payments will only lead you to further problems. The laws & mechanisms are there, it's a matter of having the will and determination to enforce them.

It's best to pay in my opinion.

Thank you again.

I would like to sell my home as the stress of all of this has been overwhelming. But alas the property market is non-existent at the moment so we will just have to bite the bullet so to speak. We have a meeting on Friday now to discuss the outstanding payments etc. We have now also been told that the pump in the communal pool (although has been on and working) is not working and needs a new one which will cost over €1,900 and the management has run out of money as either no one is paying or people seem to be paying what they want! The whole thing is a mess.

I know that the law is there and I know we have to pay and we are paying, but it doesn't necessarily make it morally right or fair. I am just concerned now that we are paying this €107 a month and they will now want a lump sum off us to pay for this pump.

Can I just ask, do we have any rights as communers to ask how the establishment is being run, the costs etc?

Many thanks again,

Jaimie.

Dear Sir,

Of course. You can request from your president a full breakdown of the communal expenses. This is normally approved at the owner's assemblies (AGM or EGM).

The budget and expenses must be apporved by all communers. This includes a breakdown of all the itemized expenses to the last cent.

Regards,

Raymundo LarraÃ*n Nesbitt

We have had a breakdown of what they pay and another letter suggesting that we have to pay a further €67 on top of €75 that we are paying. This is €142 a month. It's ludicrous! Surely they can't charge us this much?? When is it going to end!

The communal area is very small and they are paying €30,000 a year on the place which I amongst others feel is too much. I think it is poorly run. They are spending money all the time when they haven't got the money to spend. It is awful.

I bought the house to get away from stress and I feel I am more stressed since buying it. I wished I had known about all of this from the beginning. I never would have bought a house there.

I think this law is badly put together. They should be going after the people that are not paying, not picking on the ones that are. Can't we get the Bailiffs in to get any possessions, cars etc to sell and recoup the debt they have ran up?

Dear Sir,

As per my prior replies above, the CO can pursue communers who are not up-to-date with their community fees.

A different matter is if those in charge lack the proactivity that is required. The laws are there and are used daily by many.

Regards,