How should a community be run?

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15 Feb 2009 12:00 AM by Poppyseed Star rating. 897 posts Send private message

Below is an extract from the Horizontal Law. My question is does this mean an urbanization has to have a president, secretary and administrator? It goes on to say the administrator can be anyone suitably qualified and can combine this role with secretary. I ask because our president sacked the adminstrator mid term without calling an EGM and now covers all these roles themself. What does suitably qualified mean, are their recognised qualifications for adminstrators? We have around 230 'units', a mixture of villas and apartments.

I know someone on EOS will know!

Many thanks, Poppyseed

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.

Section 13



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16 Feb 2009 7:59 AM by mariadecastro Star rating in Algeciras (Cadiz). 9419 posts Send private message

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Provision 13.5. Of the Horizontal Property Act:

Secretary and Admnistrator´s functions will be exercised by the President, unless the Statutes or the Owners Meeting will decide those roles to be performed by someone else.  ( Added by Maria: Any change of what it was initially agreed needs to be done through GM)

Provision 13.6, second paragraph of same Act:

Administrator,  or administrator and secretary functions can be performed by any owner, as any individual with enough proffessional capacity and legally approved to develop those functions. It can also be developed by corporations or companies according to LAw.

( Added by Maria: yes, there is an official professional qualification to work as an Administrator).



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16 Feb 2009 11:49 AM by Poppyseed Star rating. 897 posts Send private message

Hello Maria

Thanks for your reply. Does this mean someone should be performing the function of 'adminstrator' and that person or company, whoever they are, including the president has to be qualified to do so?

I think it's too late to do anything about the sacking of the previous adminstrator without EGM being called as it is now about 18 months ago.

Many thanks, Poppyseed



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17 Feb 2009 7:02 AM by mariadecastro Star rating in Algeciras (Cadiz). 9419 posts Send private message

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If the administrator functions are not covered by the President or other appointed owner: yes, the person or company in charge needs to have proffessional qualification.



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17 Feb 2009 10:43 AM by Poppyseed Star rating. 897 posts Send private message

Thanks Maria.

Regards, Poppyseed.



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01 Sep 2009 10:18 PM by alysonwenham Star rating in blackpool, england. 83 posts Send private message

Hi

We are in a block of 27 apartments, with most people completing in May/June 2009 some still going through the completion process and approx 10 apartments still unsold.  Does the developer have to pay the community fees for the unsold properties? 

What would be a reasonable charge for an administrator on a block of this size, or is it not necessary to have one on a single block building of 27 apartments.  We have not received any form of communicaton from our adminstrators, e.g. community rules, how many apts are actually sold etc, and all we know is that she is part of the firm of solicitors that the developer suggested all buyers use for their conveyancing.

So far, no cleaning team has been employed as the developer claims that we do bot have enough money in the community account to cover this cost. 

We have not been asked to form any sort of community/committee , everything seems to be in the hands of the adminstrator who is VERY expensive, but doing nothing.

Today we went to the bank and got a statement on our account and there are some questionable transactions.  How do you suggest we move forward from here?

Kind regards

Alyson





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02 Sep 2009 12:24 AM by Roberto Star rating in Torremolinos. 4551 posts Send private message

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Probably you should try to call an EGM and get rid of the administrator, start again with one of your own choosing. You need 25% of the owners (25% of the total quotas) to call an EGM.

But before you take this action, do some research to find an alternative, preferably recommended by a nearby community. It's no use ditching your current admin unless you are sure you have a better alternative lined up. Also bear in mind that in the first year (or more) there will almost certainly be snagging issues to take up with the developer. Once you sack their choice of admin, you'll find it much harder to get things done since they will begrudge your action and will be less inclined to help.

Basic community rules may be included in the estatutos, or statutes, which form part of the master deed for the property. This is a registered document, a copy of which should be available to you from the developer. Additional ("internal") rules are made by the community (owners) itself during general meetings. If no community has been set up by the developer yet, I'm not sure that any administrator has any legal right to charge you any fees at all. A budget must be set and agreed upon by the community (owners) first. Do you even have a president elected yet? This is a basic legal requirement when forming a community. If you do not have any appointed officials, how were you able to obtain a bank statement? What sort of questionable transactions are you referring to? Any payments made out of community funds would have to be approved by the president (if one exists). I'm guessing this administrator will tell you the developer has appointed himself president. I'm also guessing that the developer is paying nothing for the unsold properties.

It sounds like a typical situation (you're not alone!) where there are unsold apartments. The developer will be reluctant to hand over control to the owners, since he will then legally have to start paying community fees on unsold properties, and also will know that he will most likely lose a nice little earner by having his own choice of admin. However, until you get a proper, legal community set up and running, with an approved budget, you will not be able to control things such as getting the place cleaned and maintained properly.



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02 Sep 2009 8:25 AM by spanishsolicitor Star rating in Murcia. 140 posts Send private message

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If the administrator functions are not covered by the President or other appointed owner: yes, the person or company in charge needs to have professional qualification. (Maria said)
 
Section 13 provides
(5) The functions of secretary and administrator shall be exercised by the president of the commonhold except when the Articles, or the Owners’ Committee by majority vote, provide that such offices be held separately from the president.
(6) The office 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 occupied by any owner, or by individuals with adequate professional qualification and legally licensed to perform such functions. It may also be held by a corporation or other juristic person in the terms set out by law.
 
As with the office of secretary, the president shall hold the office of administrator, in principle, ‘except when the Articles, or the Owners’ Committee by majority vote, provide that such offices be held separately from the president.’ That means that one individual, owner or not, or a corporate body may hold the office of administrator and secretary simultaneously.
Where the office of administrator is held separately from the president’s office, either an owner or a non-owner may hold the office. If the OC appoints a non owner as administrator either an individual or a corporate may be vested in the office of administrator.
Where the administrator is not an owner, the Act sets out the requirement to have an ‘adequate professional qualification and legally licensed’ it is referring to a special profession known as estate manager regulated in the Decree 693/1968. It is not clear whether administrators have to belong to the official association bar in order to act as estate managers. Two different approaches haven been held; the first one  by those courts who don’t consider  necessary  to be members of the professional association  (Colegio) (CA ruling in Cadiz 23-03-2006 CA ruling in Valladolid 06-07-2004 and CA ruling in Barcelona 04- 05-2004,) the second one claim that the Act is clear when it is demanding ‘legally licensed’, therefore administrators are required to be licensed.


 



This message was last edited by spanishsolicitor on 02/09/2009.



This message was last edited by spanishsolicitor on 02/09/2009.

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