Comunidad de Propietarios: Avoid Problems with Your Neighbours in Spain

[Patricia]

Is the flat roof of an apartment block communal property? If necessary can I get access to my satellite dish which is on a communal wall only accessible via another resident's apartment roof.

Hello Gerald,

The best thing to do in these cases is to check the property title deeds and Community of Owners statutes ( that the Community Administrator could provide ) and check if there is a “right of way” ( derecho de paso ). In the event there was nothing established to that effect, you would be in your full right to request the said derecho de paso was indicated in the Community statutes.

Regards,

[Polykrates]

We have no communal swimming pool in our small community. A strong minority of owners is against building one, since they fear the running costs.
Our administrator says: It needs a 3/5 majority in the AGM and dissenters are only free from sharing the building costs, if the costs exceed one normal yearly budget.
But the horizontal property act says in Art. 11, that nobody is forced to share the costs, if it exceed 3 monthly rates. Are there recent amendments changing this from 3 months to one year?
And the quorum for the AGM is ruled by our community statutes:
"No owner can demand new installations, services or improvements that are not required for the adequate maintenance and habitation of the building, except if agreed by owners representing two thirds of the quotas."
Or is Art. 17 of the Horizontal Property Act applicable with a 3/5 majority?

[lorraine]

i have an apartment in an urbanization in tenerife and the apartment above terrace is very old and has caused damage to our ceilings in the lounge and single bedroom we informed the owner stating the problem as the rienforfing bars of the terrace will have rusted due to neglect the owner has had the terrace retiled but not addressed the underlying problem wich needs to be addressed from our cieling am i within my rights to have it done and give the community the bill to put alien on the owner as she is quite arrogant and has refused to pay but the consciquences are a colasped terrace into our apartment and will also afect the aparetment aboves and maybe more

[Patricia]

Hello Polykrates,

That is correct; a new swimming pool installation will require that 3/5 of the community owners agree to it, providing that fraction equals the 3/5 of the community shares. Any owner can refuse to make payment of this extra community charge if it exceeds the cost of 3 monthly fees for communal expenses. That owner will not have a right to use the said swimming pool once installed if he does not get up date with the extra community fee for the purpose, including any interests generated.

Regards,

[Arthur Ennimore]

We are part of a small enclave of 19
private houses built in 2004 by a rogue builder who refrained from informiing the buyers of the illegality (Built on rustic land etc) Until now we have had an owner's association with a lawyer advising - most expensively!
The lawyer has on occasion told us that we do not need to form a Comunidad , as there are no communal services whatever except an unmade road running through the centre.
There are no communal areas whatever just 19 individual houses.
The same solicitor who said we do not need a Comunidad has now suggested forming one - no doubt who the paid administrator will be!! At least three owners on the site including me, think this is completely unnecessary. We are NOT a community Can we be forced to join it and and bow to the wishes of a simple majority ? We are about 50/50 pensioners and people working here who are much better off than most of the pensioners, and trying to push this through

[Patricia]

Hello Arthur,

It is certainly convenient to have a Community of Owner set up, however, there is no obligation whatsoever to be part of the Community if you do not wish so. If the Community is finally set up and you, plus the other 2 owners that disagree, do not join it, you must be aware that you will not be able to enjoy any communal areas managed by them.

You mention that the only communal element is the road that runs through the centre, however please be aware that this may not be considered a communal element but a public use element, so the Community of owners is not the entity responsible for its use, management and maintenance.

Regards,

[David66]

I am Vice President of a Community. We have mixed nationality and most of us have only a little knowledge of Spanish. We therefore hold our meetings in English. Minutes of the meeting are produced in English and this English version is signed, sent to owners and approved at the next AGM. The Administrator produces a Spanish copy which is sent to the Land Registrar. I have been told that it is a legal requirement that this copy is in Spanish. My question is, in case of problems with translation, which is the legally binding version of the minutes?

[Marta]

Hello David66,

The legal binding version would be the one which was originally agreed by the owners. This is the English version. The Spanish version would need to be corrected to match the original agreed minutes.

[stuart16]

Hi, we are paying over 500euro a month in community fees (Fuerteventura) and never see any detailed accounts. All the maintenance and cleaning work carried out on site is by the Presidents own company. So our unrealistically high fees are going straight in his pocket. He owns the rest of the property and we never see any copies of bank statements to show he puts in the same. Can we withdraw from the community and only pay necessary maintenance on receipt of invoices etc. Please help. It is a small community of 3 villas and 8 apartments with a pool. Now we have the Tourism Licence issue which we were never told of when he sold us the property. A nightmare on every level.

[Kitch71]

I rent on a community and have 2 dogs, I recently lost my mother and have rented a house for her dogs with someone to look after them on the same community.
I made the mistake of telling my neighbour who is an owner, he is most upset that more dogs have moved onto
the community.
Our dogs are not noisy and we are responsible owners,with the mess cleared up twice a day. The owner of my villa and the one we rent from do not have a problem and are happy to have a tenant that maintains there property and pays the rent on time.
We have now had a letter from the community, saying a complaint has been made by a neighbour re noisy dogs and the garden being a mess and that the community law allows only 2 pets, and that we must remove one or more dogs.
However, we rented the property with the community acting as agent, as my mother had been a tenant at another development they had and they acted as the referee for us.
So it seems funny that this issue arises 4 days after my disagreement with my neighbour. I hae permission from the owner to have the dogs there and the community knew we had 3 dogs when we moved in.
They can not surely then issue such an ultimatum. Without us being able to put forward our case.