We are about to have a Community AGM, with one proposal being to hire a local company as "control guards (porteros). Our Administrator is opposed to this proposal so we would like some advice on where we stand.

We have a local Company which do not operate as a fully fledge security company but as "Control Guards" or "Porteros". The reason for this is one of cost - if they employ fully fledge security guards, they will have to double the hourly costs. In our case the costs to the Community would then be prohibitive.

While we appreciate that fully fledge guards are able to have powers of arrest, like the Police and carry batons and handcuffs, the Community believes that we do not need this type of cover. We just need to have people looking out for the interests of the owners and Visitors. This particular Company is employed by 20 other urbanisations and has an excellent reputation, working closely with the local Police and GuardiaCivil.

We have seen their Insurance policy and all seemed OK ; however our Administrator has also seen the insurance and he has found a clause that said the cover only covered the Company if they operated in a "legal way". His interpretation of this is that they are not doing this as, by patrolling, they are pretending to be a security company. I find this hard to believe, especially as 20 other urbanisations employ them - what do you think ?

He also says that as long as nothing happens then all is ok but if one of the guards injured someone and they took them to court we could also be in trouble as we employ the company. Is this true ?

The Company strongly maintain that they are not vigilantes and do not go around looking for trouble. If they did see someone breaking into a property, their brief is to call the police and if need be restrain the person using "Citizens power of arrest". I understand this is the same in Spain as the UK - can you confirm this ?.

Our Community believes that, according to what we have been told, we are allowed to employ Porteros or control guards. They are allowed to walk around urbanisations to act as Janitors, making sure that nothing untoward is going on and that urbanisation laws are being complied with. Are we right ?

We can all see where our Administrator is coming from but we feel his role is to give us advice on issues like this but no more.

Any other advice regarding this matter would be most appreciated.

Regards
Patrick O'Connell