What is the Community of Owners in Spain?
The Community of Owners in Spain is the government body of a building, urbanization or community. This community is regulated by the Horizontal Property Act. The community of owners is formed by neighbors who will be in charge of it for one year. This body has a President, a Secretary and Administrators. The administrator can be a neighbor, but normally it will be an Administrador de Fincas (property manager) hired by the community. The Administrator will be in charge of the building’s accounts and expenses.
Usually, every year there is a neighbor’s meeting (or general assembly) to discuss about the building’s problems, accounts, expenses, etc. In these meetings the new president, secretary and administrator will be appointed for the next year. It is important to be aware of these meetings because the community might approve remodeling the building or things like that (they are called “derramas”, and this will affect to the fees to be paid.
The building’s charges for electricity (lights, elevator…), garden or pool are a fixed fee that has to be paid to the community of owners account every month or every three months.
It is mandatory for every property owner to pay these charges, even if you don’t live there or even if you are renting it.