Fee hike without warning - legal?

Hi all, newbie here so aplogies if this has been covered before. I live in a comunity of 11 apartments and the community fees have historically (for the 30 years) been split equally between the 11 apartments. The presedent just announced that the fee structure is changing based on square footage which means my fees will increase three times! He claim's they are simply bringing our fee's in line with Spanish law but this is crazy and not an affordable hike. So I'm looking for guidance on the following:

1) Is there actually a law which states that community fees must be split by square footage?

2) Can my fees really be increased by such a level without any warning or agreement? If the fees were that high when I purchased the apartment I wouldn't have gone through with it so it doesn't feel right that it can be forced upon me in such a way.

Any advice here would be hugely valuable and greatly recieved. 

HPL States . Community fees are based on you couta per particapation so yes will go up, Sure others on here will give you more details, but in the mean time look at Horizontal Property Law

Hello Amanda and welcome to EOS

You really need to go see a Spanish Lawyer who is trustworthy and experienced in these matters. Unless you are lucky enough for member Maria L. Castro to comment you are only likely to receive best guess advice.

The situation may seem crazy to you but not so crazy to those with small apartments who will receive a reduction in community fees. Try to remember this is Spain where anything goes irrespective of any law.

Thanks nitram. I have studied the Horizontal Property Law and whilst it does mention fee quota's being based on area it doesn't actually stipulate this is enforcable law. It does however state that the fee allocation is set out in the master deed at the time of creation and that to change this would require unanimity. So I'm unsure where I stand. I'm seeking legal advice but it would be good to hear if anyone else has been in this position. I'm not suggesting that the idea of fee allocation by propety area is wrong, however to enforce a fee hike of thousands per year, on an exsisting property owner of 10 years, does not feel right. 

Thanks Kavanagh thats good advice and you're right, I must remember we are in Spain, not the heavily regulated UK anymore......

Community Fees can go up and down at the discretion of the President or agreed at an AGM, but the distribution of the cost is generally allocated by a fixed percentage for each unit.  The amount of which may appear in your escritura.  It is unusual for the fixed percentage to be changed.

You may want to check your escritura or perhaps have a conversation with the solicitor that undertook the conveyance for you.

I agree with Acer, very unusual for the fixed percentage which is based on the square metre age of the original build.

The Administrator should be able to supply percentage contribution for your property.

only if any extension or increase in size of a property were permitted would the percentage contribution change.

HPA is as enforceable as any law in Spain, slow and costly but generally sets out a contribution based on percentage of the total build NOT equal payments for different sized units.

We originally all paid the same amount of community fees regardless of the size of the property.

It was pointed out, about 6 years ago, that this is against the HPA and, indeed, what is in the escritura. It was changed so that we pay the fees based on the sq m of the property (which includes outside spaces as well), Some went down, some went up (in some cases quite a lot). 

We've been told we can change it back to a shared basis but it would take a unanimous vote to do so (not sure if that's unanimous amongst those attending the AGM or all owners). As it would only take one vote against then that is not going to happen.

The only advantage is that those paying a higher fee have a larger vote on decisions. 

Mariedav, that's interesting, but on the face of it odd that you can change the co-efficients one way, but not back again.  

Having said that is the "unanimous" requirement as impossible as it sounds.  Presumably if the proposal for such a change is put to an EGM/AGM and agreed and minuted legally as such, that is sufficient?

The co-efficients were originally changed because the way they were doing it was not legal according to the HPA. They were changed to comply with that and would need a unanimous vote to change them back again. As I said, I don't know if it's just those attending the AGM or the enire community to make it unanimous.

Considering some properties had their community fees reduced by over 100 euro a quarter, getting 100% to agree to change it would be rather impossible. 

In my case it only reduced it by about 30 euro a quarter so I wouldn't mind so much. Some of the 2 bed upper storey apartments (with no outside area) had theirs reduced by over a hundred whilst others had theirs increased by that much.

I think the point is that the escritura and the HPA say it is a co-efficient that matters. You can vote to change it but only after you comply with the co-efficient ruling in the first place.

Amanda, you say the new regime will involve a fee hike of thousands per year and that this represents a threefold increase. The complex is very small with only eleven apartments. I am curious...is your apartment so very much bigger than average? It would be helpful/informative if you could give an idea of what the fees were before and what they are now. 

The fees will rise from €2500 to €7500 annually. My apartment is the biggest. The issue is that this rise has come out of nowhere after 10 years of consistent fees (inflation rises obviously). I was considering selling but I fear this will put off any potentially buyer on top of being unaffordable for me now. 

Wow that is a huge change.  Are you sure your numbers are correct?

It sound like the current annual cost is 27,500.  That is 2500 X 11.  

If there is no change to the total fees, then you are saying you now will be paying 27% of the total.   Is your apartment really that much bigger than everyone else's?   It would need to be on the scale of everyone else having 100 sqmt and yours is 370 sqmt

According to perry your new community fee will be €82,500 per annum. That seems a lot. Do you have air con, sat TV and internet?

We may have gone off thread a bit here.

Amanda,

There was a comment made to you a earlier..."this is Spain where anything goes irrespective of any law"...which is not good advice.  The Spanish legal system is a lot simpler than the UK and most that happens is fair and makes good sense.   It's true that Civil disputes can take an absurd amount of time to resolve, but your situation should be clarified very quickly.  Don't be put off by anyone who tells you differently.

You need to check your escritura which is likely to confirm your liability, the fixed percentage of the community fees and then speak to the solicitor who assisted with the purchase.  It would be interesting to hear what happens.

@angeleyes "According to perry your new community fee will be €82,500 per annum."

Surely that would only be the case if all eleven apartments were to each pay €7 500 annually, which we know isn't the case. Perry's question is important: is Amanda's apartment nearly four times bigger than the average one in the complex? Perhaps they've just got the calculation wrong. On the other hand, if it is so very much bigger, one could understand resentment from those with tiny apartments paying the same as Amanda's monster pad, lol. I hope it works out.

Maybe I am out of touch, but I would be interested to know what Communial services are included to justify an annual fee so large.