Homeowners' associations
Problems between neighbours wear you down. We help you resolve them in an orderly way, whether you are the association or an owner.
What it involves
A homeowners' association (comunidad de propietarios) brings together the owners of a building or housing development to manage the common elements: entrance hall, lift, façade or swimming pool. Its decisions are taken at the owners' meeting (junta) and bind all the owners. When someone does not pay or a decision harms you, there are ways to make a claim or defend yourself.
Is this your case?
- A neighbour has built up unpaid fees and the association wants to collect them.
- The owners' meeting approved building work or a special levy (derrama) that you consider unfair.
- You have damp coming from a common area and nobody is fixing it.
- A neighbour makes noise or carries on a disruptive activity that nobody stops.
How we help
We work both for associations, through their president or property manager, and for individual owners. We review the minutes, the community rules and the accounts, prepare the claim for unpaid fees and, if necessary, the court claim. If you want to challenge a decision, we check whether it was adopted correctly and act without letting the deadline pass. We can help you in Spanish, Arabic, Tamazight, French and English, at our offices in Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Málaga and Barcelona or online, wherever you are in Spain.
To recover overdue fees we usually use the order for payment procedure, and if you rent out your flat, we can help you with the lease.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a derrama and do I have to pay it?
- It is an extraordinary payment approved by the owners' meeting for a specific expense, such as building work. If the decision is valid, it generally binds all the owners, even those who voted against it. If you think it is not valid, the right thing to do is to challenge it, not to stop paying.
- What do I do if a fault in a common area causes damage in my home?
- Notify the president or the property manager in writing and take photos of the damage. If the source is a common element, such as a downpipe or the roof, the association or its insurance is normally liable.
- I am an owner but live abroad. How do I find out about the meetings?
- You can give the property manager an address or an email for notices and delegate your vote to another person. If you don't, you could miss important decisions. We can advise you before each meeting if you need it.
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Tell us about your case.
A first conversation — confidential and without obligation — to understand whether we can help, and how.
We speak Spanish, Arabic, Tamazight (Berber), French and English.