Data Protection Laws

 I wonder if anyone can supply relevant information with regard to the Laws on Data Protection in Spanish Communities.

As President of a largish Community I have asked our Administrator 3 times now, including an officila request to supply me with an up to date list of all owners email addresses, on the basis that I have recently discovered a number of errors in addresses held by the Administrator resulting in some not receiving information was approved to be sent by email at our last AGM.

Thye are still delaying, answering that they need to check on the legal implication of supplying the President with such a list.

I was always under the impression that the President was in fact the delegated responsible person for the Community and that the Administrator was a paid service provider, but as usual, I am unsure what law I can quote to suggest they are witholding the information incorrectly and to force them to provide such a list.

Any advice gratefully received.

I have always had a fully complete, about 5/6 pages long of every persons name, house address, name or numbers, complete also with any outstanding non payment community charges on it, peoples names who have paid up to date, monies spent on maintenance and service charges, monies left in the bank, and this has always without fail been sent to my house in England.

If that helps in any way.

Witholding the information you require and have a complete right to hold is the typical way Administrators exclude the elected President and other officers from participating in the operation of the Community.

The best way around the obdurate stance is to elect an owner to the position of secretary, which could be yourself, whose responsibilities will include the keeping of the Community records and circulating of information to the Community.

HPL does not list the governing bodies of the Community in the following order for no reason, the administrator must do as the General Assembly says, the decisions of the general assembly are carried out under the jurisdiction of the President and any VP's elected together with the Secretary, the administrator is the lowest ranked of the governing bodies and as such is not entitled to make decisions that countermand those of the President.

1. The governing bodies of the community shall be the following:

a) The owners’ general assembly.
b) The president and, where applicable, the vice presidents.
c) The secretary.
d) The administrator.

Other relevant excerpts from HPL are....

4. The secretary shall keep custody of the general assembly’s minutes book and he shall conserve the summons for meetings, notifications, proxy forms and other relevant documents during a five year period.
 

5. The functions of secretary and administrator shall be carried out by the president of the community except where the statutes, or the general assembly by a majority resolution, provide that such offices be held separately from the Presidency.

6. The post of secretary and that of administrator may be held by the same person or by persons appointed separately.

The position of administrator and, where applicable, that of secretary administrator may be discharged by any unit owner, or by natural persons with adequate professional qualification and legally licensed to perform such functions.

Section 20

The duties of the administrator shall be.... amongst others not relevant to this matter

e) to act, where applicable, as secretary to the general assembly and to keep custody of community documents available for perusal by the unit owners; and

The relevant words being where applicable

You need to get the oowners behind you and force the issue with Resortalia

Barry.

http://www.eyeonspain.com/blogs/costaluz/3955/legal-tip-233-community-of-owners-and-data-protection-i.aspx

 http://www.eyeonspain.com/blogs/costaluz/3959/legal-tip-324-community-of-owners-and-data-protection-ii.aspx

Perhaps a view from a battered community might add a little smile!

6. The post of secretary and that of administrator may be held by the same person or by persons appointed separately.

The position of administrator and, where applicable, that of secretary administrator may be discharged by any unit owner, or by natural persons with adequate professional qualification and legally licensed to perform such functions.
e) to act, where applicable, as secretary to the general assembly and to keep custody of community documents available for perusal by the unit owners; and

The appointed person/s keep all the records available for perusal by unit owners - I suppose this means that confidentiallity must be maintained.

A list of debtors requires to be approved at a general meeting before it is prblished. I think that to nail the debtors list on a public wall might be unwise.

Might another approach be to ask the administrator to produce the list you require to improve the circulation of information as some owners have remarked that they are not receiving news etc.

Hi Vistaverde

None of the exerpts from the HPL are a view, as you put it, they are taken directly from the HPL, including the one below:

The position of administrator and, where applicable, that of secretary administrator may be discharged by any unit owner, or by natural persons with adequate professional qualification and legally licensed to perform such functions.

You fail to pause at the comma which then goes on to say any natural person with adequate  professional qualification and legally licensed to perform such functions.

Before that it says that any owner can carry out the duties and that has been proven many times and is borne out by Marias post.

Clearly the best solution is for the administrator to accede to the request of the President but I wouldn't hold my breath were I he.

Barry

 Thanks all for your responses.

I seem unable to open your second link Maria but read the first which seems to confirm what I believe.

Vista

I have explained it is to ensure correct communication to owners as a few have realised emails are not being received as small errors have been found in the addresses, this may be a small minority but I would like to be sure especially as we still have a number of debtors who just may not be aware of invoices.

Fighter

I believe the Community would support me and indeed I already have a fair percentage of email addresses as many have become friends over the years.

Currently though our Administrator acts as Secretary and this has always been the case.

Yes I could propose changes at our AGM but had hoped to sort this amicably and without a fuss.

However, other than threats of losing the contract, I seem to be left with little ammunition as it would appear, interpretation of law still varies.