Proposed amendment to Horizontal Property Law in Spain
Property administrators in Spain are trying to bring communities into the 21st century with new legislation
There could soon be changes to the law governing how community meetings in Spanish resorts and urbanisations are conducted, along with other important legal changes for those who own property in Spain.Recently, it has become known that an amendment (specifically, amendment number 430) has been presented to the Royal Decree - Omnibus Law, proposing certain modifications that would affect the Horizontal Property Law (Ley de Propiedad Horizontal in Spanish).
The Horizontal Property Law regulates relations between property owners in a community in Spain, whether it’s an apartment building, a gated resort or otherwise. The law lays out how the president is elected, how meetings of homeowners are to be convened, how complaints and quarrels between neighbours are to be dealt with, what work may or may not be carried out to properties, among many other things.
The current amendment being proposed for the Horizontal Property Law seeks to modernise how this process happens by implementing some of the requests that, over the last few years, have been made by the associations of property administrators.
In particular, regarding digitalisation and modernisation, there are proposals to enable a form of electronic contact with the owner (article 9.1.h); attendance at meetings via videoconference or holding of joint meetings (article 15.1); and the keeping of digital minute books (article 19.2), as well as other suggestions that would bring communities of owners into the digital age.
Not just that, but other changes have been suggested too. Regarding agreements and meetings, it has been proposed to simplify the majorities in the agreements of article 17, specifically those not included in sections 1 to 6; it is ratified that the agreements are executive from their adoption (article 17.9).
It is also being proposed to give a longer period for the preparation of meeting minutes (from the current 10 calendar days to 20 working days) and the amendment also proposes to clarify the procedure for calling a general meeting by 25% of owners (article 16).
Expert community administration company Resortalia, commented, “It is clear that the LPH needs to be modified and adapted to the current times, and these proposals are therefore well received by the sector of property administrators.”Even before the legal modifications to the Horizontal Property Law have been voted on and agreed, Resortalia is already ahead of the curve, having organised AGMs and other community meetings via videoconference and using other state-of-the-art equipment to allow a greater degree of freedom and technological specification for property owners.
For more information or for help with property administration for your Spanish community of owners, contact Resortalia today: