Once you buy your apartment or villa in Spain, if it is on a building complex, you are part of a community of owners. A community of owners deals with the management of the common areas and services, such as: gardening, pool maintenance, security, common electricity and water supplies, cleaning, etc.

In Spain, the communities are regulated by the Horizontal Property Law (Ley de Propiedad Horizontal) which determines how the communities of owners should be managed and how to solve conflicts.

The Statutes and the Internal Rules of the community
Apart from this Law, the community could establish additional Statutes and internal rules for the community. These rules and Statutes cannot go against the Horizontal Property Law or any other Spanish law. The statutes could also mention the architectural elements that an individual owner can or cannot change.

The important difference between the Statutes and the internal rules (normas de regimen interior) is that changing the statutes requires the unanimous vote from the owners whereas the internal rules only require the majority vote from the owners.

The Statutes protects the rights but also states the general duties of the individual owners. The internal rules focus mainly on practical community regulations like noise after a certain hour of the evening, times for swimming pool use or handling of pets within the common areas.

The Quota – Share of participation
Each dwelling has a quota or percentage of the common elements, which determines the percentage of the general budget to pay every month in order to maintain the community. You can find this percentage in the purchase title deeds.

Annual General Meetings (AGM) and Extraordinary General Meetings (EGM)
At least once a year an AGM will be called to approve the budget, accounts, election of President and Administrator, and other issues related to the community. An EGM may additionally be called at anytime, needing 25% of the unit owners’ quotas.
All the owners are invited to attend these meetings, which they are informed about a few days in advance. If an owner cannot attend and would like to be represented, a proxy vote can be granted.