Clarification of the Horizontal Law of Property

 Hello;  This is a debatable point of community law where the community statutes are of some age & have come into conflict with the revised LPH.

Firstly ; I am surprised the matter has not been put  to a vote in the AGM of the community as a majority against or for would have been established which is a starting point in community legal matters. Hence the owners should serve notice on the community secretary by recorded delivery that this matter be debated at the forthcoming AGM as a agenda point to vote on. If the AGM is some time away & then if there are more than 25% of the community against it ( I note you say micro communities so this would mean each to have 25 % of their own quota for their own meeting of necessary) then a EGM can be called using this mechanism to vote on the matter.

The section of the LPH 10.1 obliges the community to undertake the upkeep & maintenance of the constructed areas you describe.Given this is the national law of Spain for communities then it would be superior to the statutes of the community.Which is basically the point the board & administrator is making in their communication to you.

With regard to the statutes & unanamity ;  the changes to them does not always require 100%  of the quota. In section17.1 of the LPH it is a requirement of 2/3 of the quotas but with consent of a affected owner required to change common services & facilities .In my opinion the constructed areas you describe fall outside of this clause and hence a ammendment to the statutes would need 100% of the quota in favor.

The vote following debate of the problem by the owners should be able to be agreed including the size of the budget for the community needed to maintain it's structures wether by extra fund or increased annual budget .

The solution in my view to this issue is in the budget requirement  not in the court room as the annual budget or extra fund can not be enforced on the members but must be approved by the member's vote in a formal meeting.Hence if the majority do not want the community to attend to their structure then they will not approve the funds to do the same . Hence the desicion lies with the members who decide by majority where their money is spent & how much.

I hope this helps.

F.Parkinson . Administradore.

This is hugely helpful, I feel we are being taken for being stupid and not being given clear and concise information however it seems this is a huge change for the community to undertake and we are being blinded with irrelevant information in order to force this through without any voting structure in place.

We are just being told this is how it is and this is what is going to happen.

Thank you, I will keep you updated on progress

 Hi Decordiva

We are also  having the same problem on our Urbanisation on 363 Properties consisting of  2 Adjoining Apartment Blocks with shared entrance lobbys,lifts,staircases,etc as well as Duplexes,Villas and Houses.
 

Maybe Maria of Costaluz Lawyers can clarify  these Issues in one her Legal Blogs.

Regards

Hi Again

Thank you for responding, it is most helpful.  It appears my community is obliged to undertake some form of responsibility for the maintenance of our private properties.  As you rightly stated it is a debatable point of Community Law and I would welcome any further advice to help me understand the implications which we are facing.  The current situation is our Board has recruited an assessor to inspect all the properties in our pueblo to idenitfy where maintenance work is necessary.

Our Board has advised this matter will be agendered and voted upon at our next AGM in April.  Like many communities here in Spain, over 60% or Owners are non resident which means the President holds more proxy votes than the Owners who attend the AGM.  This means the current President is able to put through issues which resident Owners do not agree with.

I would welcome any advice on the following questions,

Is our Board legally required to let the Owners have full detailed information of both the Terms of Reference and the outcome of the assessors report with their findings together with the cost implications?

Regarding the LPH10.1 has anyone defined what constitutes "adequate maintenance to meet due structural conditions in regard to water tightness, living conditions, access and security".

My understanding of "structural" would include the foundations, pillars, beams, load bearing walls and roof.  The rest of the construction i,e infill brickwork, exterior rendering of walls, exterior painting of properties and even the application of cosmetic roof tiles are not structural but comprise the superficial fabric of the buildings.

How does "water tightness, living conditions, access and security" apply and relate to a pueblo of private independent townhouses and villas?  Would it include leaking window frames, loose roof tiles, security rejas/grills, door locks, etc?

I am sure I cannot be the only person who is confused about the application of this Law.  But when our Board tell me I only own the interior area of my property and they own and are responsible for all the exterior surfaces/areas I cannot believe this is what the LPH10.1 can possibly be interpreted to mean.  Can anyone shed some light on this for me?!

 Hello Decordiva and all:

According to  the Horizontal Property Act, since this Law came into force, all communities, regarding of the date of its constitution are governed by the rules of this Act. They actually had a couple of years to adapt any internal rules/ estatutes to the regulations passed in 1960.

I do hope this clarifies!

Maria

Hi Maria

Thank you for your reply however it offers no clarification at all to my questions.

Hi am I right or wrong in interpreting the law by saying that the community is responsible for ensuring that the houses are kept in good condition not by  the community doing the work but by ensuring that the owners keep their own property in good condition and only if they dont then a company is hired to do the work on that house and the cost put on the individual owners fees.

 Community of owners has just authority and jurisdiction on commun elements of the development. 

When I originally posted this question to gain some clarification as to the Horizontal Law of Property we have been investigating how this applies to our own Pueblo.   We are currently publishing our findings on our new Blog and also on our facebook page.

I thought it would be a good idea to share the information we have found with you as I know this has been affecting some of you as well.

If you wish to read our  latest findings we are publishing them on our blog.

The Los Altos de Marbella Blogspot

 Hi  Decordiva

It says your Blog spot has been removed,whatever that means.Please re-activate for us

Many Thanks

Regards

Hi Nigel

Yes it said I was not allowed to post links to this forum, but if you google the blog it is The Los Altos de Marbella Blogspot it should come up eventually, it is new though, so not easily found yet.

We had some very interesting points made by a lawyer that was commissioned by one of our Owners regarding applying the Law of Horizontal Property to pueblos that are not technically communually shared buildings.

Let me know how you get on and if you can find us!

 Hi Decordiva

I googled it and found the site but this the answer it gave me.Hope you help restore the Blog.

"Blog has been removed

Sorry, the blog at losaltosdemarbella.blogspot.com has been removed. This address is not available for new blogs.

Did you expect to see your blog here? See: 'I can't find my blog on the Web, where is it?"

Thanks

Regards

It is now called

The Los Altos de Marbella Blogspot, you should find it!

Hi Decordiva,

I noticed your comment 

 'Like many communities here in Spain, over 60% or Owners are non resident which means the President holds more proxy votes than the Owners who attend the AGM. This means the current President is able to put through issues which resident Owners do not agree with'

Non-resident owners, or any owner who cannot attend AGM/EGM can give their proxy vote to any owner, it doesn't automatically go to the president.  Indeed the president can't vote on behalf of anyone unless he has their signed proxy.  So if there are a number of owners who have a particular view on any matter it is down to communication between them and owners making a considered decision about who they want to vote on their behalf.

I believe you can ask to see the proxy votes if there is any concern about them being used incorrectly. Our first president (guess what, that was the developer) sent out the first proxy vote forms which gave the impression that the only option was to appoint the president as proxy, which is rubbish of course.

Has anybody got a copy of the Horizontal Property Act please in Spanish?

Here is a link to the updated Horizontal Property Law in Spanish

https://www.comunidades.com/legislacion/comunidades/ley-de-propiedad-horizontal/

Re further clarification....I noticed this in a recent article from Spanish Property Insight titled “ new rental regulations rushed into law need to be taken seriously by landlords”  

• Holiday lettings: Spain’s Horizontal Act is amended allowing Community of Owners to vote by a simple majority of 3/5 to ban outright holiday rentals within a community. ...... this step was necessary, as the Horizontal Property Act at the time required unanimity to ban them, which logically was never going to happen because landlords would vote against it because of their vested interest. This measure has no retroactive effects.
• Holiday lettings: Spain’s Horizontal Act is amended allowing Community of Owners to increase the communal quota assigned to a landlord (capped at 20%) of the overall community budget. In plain English, communities of owners may now vote to increase the community quota of a property owner who uses his property/ies as holiday lettings. This agreement will have no retroactive effects.

The law below was  not passed in the  Madrid Goverment Pleno on the 24 January 2019, hence suspended until put throiugh again after Elections in April, so no channge as yet.

The problems of minority government.

Government introduces changes to HPA.

Parliament later rejects it. ☹️