Is it legal?

Surely there is some way to settle the debt. Can't you find out how your neighbours pay theirs and do the same? It is not that difficult and if you were serious about settling your debts you would find a way to pay up to date. I would suggest a phone call with your debit card number handy would have the debt settled in 2 minutes. I managed to find the phone details, contacts and info for my community's administrator and pay my community fees from 5000 miles away.and our community admin is very difficult to get hold of also.

Sorry if that sounds harsh but that way you could save yourself and your neighbours a great deal of legal expenses. The administrator/community would obviously have to raise the community fees to pay legal expenses to defend any actions such as these so that would be to the detriment of the whole community.

If you haven't paid the fees because you cannot afford to pay the fees then again, try phoning with an offer to pay what you can afford and offer a plan to catch up the dues gradually. I am sure they will not ignore you if you are offering to pay.

And no I'm not connected to any administrator or anything like that, I don't know where you live but I do know that all communities in Spain and elsewhere rely on all of their members/owners to pay their dues as they all have a budget for expenses based on the expected revenues they take in fees. When people stop paying their fees the properties stop getting maintained and everybody loses out.

If I don't pay my gym fees on time I'm not allowed to use the gym, if my golf membership is not paid, then I'm not allowed to use the course. It seems logical that community members who refuse to pay their community fees should not be allowed to use the community facilities.

If you have a  copy of the community rules, I'm sure it will mention that community facilities are for the use of community members. I think by you refusing to pay your dues you are sacrificing yourself as a member of the community. The community members who pay their dues are contributing to the pool, grounds and to the forum/website upkeep etc and so are entitled to use them, anyone refusing to pay should not be allowed, the same as I'm not allowed allowed to swim in your pool or join your forum because I don't contribute towards it.

If you genuinely believe your community/admin etc is corrupt then get some proof, do your research and report it. If you suspect fraudulent practices then that is illegal, so should be reported to the police.

Under Spanish Law a debtor CANNOT be banned from anything Communal except for voting. Owners with arreas can attend all meetings and can voice their opinions but CANNOT vote.

The Community, Administrator or president CANNOT legally ban a debtor from using any Community facility, that is the Law.

Although it is illegal (Karen I know you´re right!), I also know of communities where non-payers have been banned from using the pool for example. If they object, they have to take legal action which, as we know, takes years and years, so it normally doesn´t happen.

The problem is... how do you keep them out? The community that I am using as an example, hired a lifeguard for the summer because the children were using the pool without supervision and being very reckless. The lifeguard would only let people in who had authority from the president. However, if your pool is ungated, then you´d obviously have a problem keeping residents out.

Irene