Language in Community of Owners
Monday, July 7, 2008 @ 7:44 AM
Q. It is compulsory to use the Spanish language at the Owners´ meetings?
A. No, it is not compulsory. The Supreme Court of Spain has affirmed that it is not stated in the Horizontal Property Act that the meetings of the Community of Owners have to be held in Spanish. The Supreme Court affirms that the holdings of these meetings are not official, public acts but private ones among individual, private parties.
Q. It is possible to use a foreign language in the meetings of the Community of Owners?
A. Yes, it is possible. Provision 13.1 of our Constitution affirms that “ foreigners have in Spain the public liberties gathered in the Constitution as they are established in the Treaties and Law”, and provision 27 of the Civil Code “ foreigners have in Spain, same civil rights as Spanish citizens, except what it is stated in Treaties and Laws”
The right to use a foreign language in an Owner´s meeting is unquestionable but, as with every right, it is necessary to set a procedure by which the existence of this right won’t cause any defencelessness to any other people.
The procedure in two sentences:
1. - Every President must include in the Owner’s meetings Agenda, a mention to the language that will be used , so that, those owners who speak a different language can ask for a translator.
2.-The Minutes of the Community of Owners must be sent to the owners in all the languages whose use or translations have been asked for.