1. Service Charges

It is the norm in Spain for communal facilities such as the garden, swimming pool, car park and lifts to be jointly owned by the individual proprietors of an apartment block or housing complex. When you buy your apartment or villa you also become the owner of a percentage of these facilities. The exact percentage depends on the value of your property within the complex as a whole. For example, in a complex of ten apartments with exactly the same surface area and value, each individual proprietor also owns one tenth of the swimming pool, garden, car park or any other communal facilities.

It therefore follows that each owner is also responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of his share or, more specifically, for the expenses arising from this. These expenses are similar to the service charges you may be familiar with at home. In Spain you and your neighbours form a legal body that is known as the Comunidad de Propietarios, which is similar to the residents’ associations you may have dealt with in your home country.

Being a member of this Comunidad de Propietarios means that you have certain obligations and rights. Your obligations include:

1. you must not damage the communal facilities
2. you must maintain your own property in a state of good repair
3. you must allow repairs to be carried out on your property which are of benefit to the community as a whole
4. you must allow workmen to enter your property in order to carry out repairs related to points 1 – 3 above.
5. you must pay your share of the service charge
6. you will be held accountable by the residents’ association (Comunidad de Propietarios) if you fail to observe any community or statutory regulations.

As a member of the Comunidad de Propietarios you have the right to vote and participate in making decisions and running your residents’ association.

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