Unfortunately still some owners are not paying their contribution fee. These owners have various arguments to support their position e.g. :
- There’s nothing built on my plot
- Still the construction of my house has not finished yet
- I (almost) never go to the urbanization
- I don’t use any of the services contracted by the Community
- I don’t agree what "they" have done
- I never received any letter
- I am not happy with my house
- Still the golf course hasn’t been realised
- Without "Licencia de Habitabilidad" I won’t pay anything
- I bought it as an investment and it doesn’t seem profitable
- Etcetera, etcetera
You might think these arguments sound reasonable, but unfortunately not one of them is a reason for not paying Community fees. Because they have nothing to do with the Community of Owners.
The only thing that counts is: You signed a Title Deed or not
The moment you signed a Title Deed at the Notary, a so called 'Escritura de Compraventa', you became the owner of that plot. In every Title Deed there's mentioned a participation-coefficient, if the property you bought is part of a Community. From that moment on you are a co-owner of the Community and responsible for that part called your quota (mentioned in your Title Deed) of the total costs of the Community of Owners. The Law says: "The purchaser of a property in Horizontal Property regime responds with his own acquired property for the quantities he owes to the Community of Owners, for the maintenance of general expenses by the previous takers right to the limit of those that are attributable to the due part of the annuity in which the purchase takes place, and to the immediately previous natural year. The property will be legally encumbered to such duty enforcement."
We could end this chapter here, because that is the end of the matter. But because too many people do not understand what a Community of Owners stands for or confuse it with the promoter, constructor or seller or thinks the Community of Owners is a part of the promoter or …, therefore we continue here explaining some more about Communities of Owners in Spain.
To start a large Community of Owners
is very difficult as you might understand. Especially when most owners are from other countries and different countries and therefore have different points of view. Because they do not know the Spanish system (enough) and because different countries have different systems.
Because the promoter is the designer of the whole plan, he puts forward his ideas about how the Community of Owners should be run. As he is, at the start of the Community of Owners, the major owner, his vote is in the beginning the one that decides.
To get and keep a Community of Owners up and running there will have to be appointed a minimum of 2 persons: a President and an Administrator. In a General Meeting they are elected. A Secretary mostly is not appointed, for secretary matters the Administrator is being used. In larger Communities a Board of Owners can be elected to let us say ‘control’ the President. The existence of Vice-presidents is also optional. His appointment will be carried out through the same procedure than the one for the President's appointment. The Vice-president(s) should substitute the President in his absence, vacancy or impossibility, as well as help him in the exercise of his functions in the terms established by the Owners Board.
Officially every owner will be by turn President for one year, but practically a President every year is elected by majority of votes.
A President is needed to represent the Community of Owners to keep things going, because you can not have a General Meeting every month to vote on daily matters. That’s what he’s for, for daily matters.
A President represents the Community, he may sign contracts on behalf of the Community. He is the spokesman of the Community. He is elected and can be re-elected every year as long as the Community does not vote by majority for someone else as President. He does not have any power as if he decides what happens with the urbanization. The (Board of) Owners decide and the President is there to see upon it things are really happening, that the Administrator really does the job. The President is the one that may call meetings and chair them.
And an Administrator does, let’s say, all the work. He contracts services and/or prepares contracts, sees to it contracted parties get paid and on the other side sees to it that the owners pay their contribution fee. He is responsible for administrative, financial and technical administration of the Community and in fact needs for everything the permission of the owners i.e. a signature of the President.
The Administrator is the only one of the two who gets paid for this job. Why? He is the only professional as this is his job and he is thus the most experienced in these matters. Mostly Communities are run good or bad depending on the Administrator.
In Spain the Administrador is a free and independent professional who on a regular and continue basis administers Communities of Owners. He is whether someone with an universal degree in law or economics or someone who has the academic title of the Official School of Administers of Communities of Owners (11 Universities in Spain).
The Administrator gets paid, because he is the one that stays for years as keeping an administration is not as easy as it seems. Especially if you have hundreds of owners, you can imagine that every exception or different way of payment will occur. If every year someone else would have to do that, it will get quite a mess.
If the Community of Owners is not happy with their Administrator they can vote for someone else in a General Meeting. The majority of votes is what counts and owners that pay their contribution fee are the only ones that can vote.
Back to that difficult beginning. As long as you don’t pay, you will not have any influence on who is the President or Administrator or which services are being contracted by the Community. And things stay as in the beginning of the Community. Anyone who is unhappy about actual situations, should start by paying his members fee. Who pays is allowed to vote. You can, most people do, have yourself represented by another owner that attends a meeting in person. It is normal to hold meetings with about one hundred owners who represent several hundreds of owners. If there are a few owners who possess relatively the majority of the Community because they pay and most of the rest don’t, they decide what happens in the Community. That's why it's so important that people pay their fee. The way a Community is being run should be a reflection of what all owners want and this can only be achieved if all pay.
The LAW
As in any country people are supposed to know the law. One could never have the excuse that he didn’t know. As we all know, very few people do really know the law (enough). Therefore we would like to explain some more.
According to the law anyone who owns real estate property in Horizontal Property regime in Spain is supposed to have a Spanish address or to have a representative in Spain (is also a Spanish address). One of (new) owners’ obligations is to inform within a fortnight after signing the Title Deed the Administrator of the Community. By default, the property within the Community will be considered the address for notifications and calls and is considered to be legally sufficient.
If the Administrator on behalf of the Community out of courtesy sends notifications and calls to addresses abroad does not effect this rule. If there is no reaction, then certified notifications and cards to the address of the property within the Community are sufficient. Even is there's not even a house on that plot. So neither a legal excuse is that one didn’t receive anything. It is the responsibility of the owner to inform the Community how to contact him.
Special agreements with promoters, constructors or sales companies do not affect the obligation of paying contribution fees to the Community of Owners. As you can read in Article 2 of the Bylaws of your Community which you should have received when signing the Title Deed: The main object of the Community of Owners of the Residential Complex "Mazarrón Country Club" is the conservation, maintenance and improvement. The Community of Owners is a completely independent entity and the system has been made the way it is to protect the Community i.e. the joint property of all owners against the personal arbitrariness of any particular owner. If the majority would not pay, this could severely damage the Community and lead to a deterioration of the Community which will be of negative influence on the value of your property. Every owner is legally obligated to pay their fees and therefore is liable for all consequences of not paying.
Because especially in the beginning it is difficult to get things started, every promoter, of course also out of his own interest, tries it’s best to not let the development stagnate. After all, if there is not enough money coming in at the Community and the Community can not pay for maintenance, this all will have negative consequences. That’s why so often you see, that the developer pays out of his own pocket, what actually already should be paid by the Community. Later on, when the Community really is up and running he will charge the Community for this. At that moment having a professional Administrator is very important, because he can neutrally advice about what should be paid and how that could be done. That Administrator is after all being paid by all of you; any other lawyer would only preach for his own parish.
We all want a very nice Community. You decide!
Hopefully we explained enough so people understand these matters. One final thing is, that in the General Meeting of 1 June 2007 it has been approved by a majority of votes that the administrator has the obligation to take legal steps in case of non payment. Doing so only will cost more and finally could result in taking legal hold of your property. This ultimate step is absolutely not necessary and should be avoided. Therefore the kind but very urgent request to pay your fee. Because it’s YOUR Community. Pay it and enjoy it!
By the way, if you still have some doubts, than do not doubt one thing: Contact the Administrador! He actually is quite reasonable: administrador@mazarron.cc
