Community Living
Buying a house on an housing estate (urbanizacion) or buying apartment in Andalucia often means that you become part of an legaly consitiuted Community of Owners (Comunidad de Propietarios). Find out from your seller (or their agent or your lawyer before you purchase the property if there is a Community of Owners and how it is run. Ask for copies of the minutes of the meetings in at least the last three years and how much the annual and additional quotas are for the property. The upkeep and value of your property will depend largely on the efficiency of the Community of Owners.
New buildings will be the responsibility of the promoter or builder until they are all completed and sold. As an owner of a property in a collective group of houses or (urbanización) or in a block of flats, you will be notified and invited by letter or email to attend a meeting to formally hand over the responsibility of general upkeep of the collective properties to a newly formed Community of Owners. Older properties are part of an on-going Community of Owners.
You will be notified and invited by letter or email to attend the annual general meeting each year the Community of Owners elects one of their members to be President. There are other official roles to be filled such as Vice President and in larger Communities additional roles as defined in the Statutes of the Community. The AGM also appoints or re-appoints a professional Administrator to manage to building.
The purpose of the Comunidad de Propietarios is to ensure safe upkeep and good maintenance of the urbanisation or block(s) of apartments for the benefit of all owners. There are laws and bylaws which pertain to the setting up, running and statutes of the Community.
Ley de Propiedad Horizontal (LPH)
The Ley de Propiedad Horizontal (LPH) is Spain's Horizontal Property Law, a national framework (Law 49/1960) that governs shared ownership in buildings or complexes, defining the rights and duties of owners in a Comunidad de Propietarios (Community of Owners) for private units and shared elements like stairs, pools, and facades. It outlines how owners share costs, manage common areas, hold meetings, elect administrators, and resolve disputes, ensuring harmonious co-existence in multi-unit properties. Here is a link to the Ley de Propiedad Horizontal (LPH)
Communities speaking your language
Since many British and other foreigners have become home owners in Spain and especially in Andalucia, a lot of English speaking people have become involved in these Communities. In some cases there are more English speaking owners than native Spanish speakers. This has led to some modifications in the law concerning the running of such bodies. Pressure has come from the fact that most English speakers have little or no knowledge of the Spanish language. Whereas previously meetings were held in Spanish, with Spanish Minutes and sometimes with and English translation for information, a majority vote can now result in the meetings and minutes being in English (or another voted language).
In any case, if you buy in an area where there is already a high percentage of British and other English speaking home owners, you may have meeeting minutes and other information information provided in English. As an owner, you obviously want to be well informed of problems or improvements and a Community. Since ultimately the Community has to abide by Spanish laws and any information for the authorities or legal matters for courts, will have to be presented in Spanish. The Community will have pay for any professional interpreters at meetings and translations of documents, and as a member you will pay you portion in your Community Fees.
Going Native
Depending on your outlook and reasons for buying a property, you may revel in the idea of becoming part of a very Spanish Comunidad. If you have an interest in integrated into Andalucian life, this is a great opportunity to meet your Spanish neighbours and learn the language. The Spanish community meetings tend to be attended by few (unless there is a burning issue to be resolved) and the few who attend will no doubt do a lot of talking, giving you a wonderful chance to attune your ear to the wonderfully colourful Spanish spoken in the Andalucian accent!
Community Fees
If there is a Community of Owners (often referred to simply as La Comunidad) you will pay Community Fees (Gastos de Comunidad) that are charged quarterly, monthly or half yearly. The fees can include charges for such things as:
- Local street/building lighting and maintenance
- Local street sweeping - stairwell cleaning
- Painting and maintenance of exterior of buildings and common areas
- Building lift maintenance (where applicable)
- Caretaker
- Security guard
- Security monitor and/or gates/doors
- Maintenance of common areas such as roofs in buildings, etc
- Legal advice on Community matters
- Cost of translating and interpreters for Community Meetings if necessary
- Printing / translating of News Letters if they are made available
- TV Community Aerials - installation and upkeep (for digital TV, etc)
- Private water supply (this only exists in some Communities only and is supplementary to the main municipal water supply)
The normal way to pay your Community Fees is by signing a direct debit. It is worth noting that you must always be sure to leave funds in the account you elect for this payment to avoid problems of non payment. An alternative is to make a prompt bank transfer on receipt of the request for payment. The Community will normally send out a list of anyone in arrears with their Community Fees to all owners, with the notice of the AGM. Members who own money are not permitted vote at a community meeting. If the prment is not settled the community can take legal action against you to recover the debt.
Town Hall Taxes
Although you pay the Community for the upkeep of the communal areas of your property, there are still fees and taxes to be paid to the Town Hall and other authorities for infrastructure. Some of these Town Hall charges include:
- Town Hall property tax (Impuesto de Bienes Inmuebles -IBI)
- Rubbish Collection - usually paid to the town hall alongside the IBI
- Main Water Supply - usually paid to the local water company
- Sewerage System - usually paid to the local water company
It is advisable to have all these charges paid by direct debit from your bank account, as each one comes in at a particular time of year, when you may not be in Spain. Fines are normally levied for late payment and sometimes there is even a discount offered for on time.
The Community should benefit the value of your property
In light of the fact that you also pay for these municipal services, you may think that the Comunidad de Propietarios is somewhat superfluous, but the Community usually works well to keep the standards high in and around the immediate vicinity of your Spanish property. This, in turn helps to maintain one of the most important factors for the future - the value of your home.