Community
Law Corner:
Article 17
The Minutes of the Meeting
by José Luis Navarro www.intercala.com
The Solicitor and Property Administrator for Intercala Administration
and
Pete Woodall (Woody's Los Boliches)
This article first appeared in the Euro Weekly News, Costa del Sol Edition November 2012
Minutes can be defined as the written notes that recount the transactions that occurred at a meeting.
In Spain the minutes for any general meeting of the community of owners are recorded in an
official book called a Libro de Actas.
This is a serious book that should be properly registered and could even be cited in a court of law.
It is the official version of a meeting of owners. By law certain points should always be recorded in the “actas de asamblea” or minutes of the general meeting.
There is no obligation to record chapter and verse everything that goes on at a community meeting, nor to include letters or documents that any of the owners may wish to have entered in the minutes. That is not the purpose of the minutes.
Minutes are there to reflect the decisions taken by the general assembly in response to the proposals listed on the agenda.
The governing law for all communities of properties in Spain, the Law of Horizontal Property as it is known,
states in article 19:2 that the following points must be minuted.
The date and place of the meeting; the names of those who called or promoted the meeting; the nature of the meeting, i.e. was it an ordinary or extraordinary general meeting. In addition to this, the minutes must also list those who attended the meeting and state if any, their position or office within the community; include any owners represented by proxy, noting their respective cuota (percentage ownership). The minutes must record the points on the agenda and the nature of each decision taken. Furthermore if relevant, indicate who voted for and who voted against each proposal and their percentage ownership. In short, the minutes record the results of who voted for what, where and how, and when they did it.
Apart from these key points it is not necessary to record any further information although it is common practice to sometimes indicate, for greater clarity, just how some decisions have been reached by noting down the major points of the discussion. The only exception would be if an owner or group of owners were to contest a vote then this too must be recorded in the minutes.
Either at the end of the meeting or within ten days, the minutes must be signed off by the same president and the secretary who opened the meeting, even if both or either were released from their posts during the meeting and replacements elected.
In some cases a request maybe made - for whatever reason - to make an actual recording of a meeting or for a Notary to be the one to take down the minutes but regardless of who made them, the minutes will still be the ones signed by the secretary and the president and any video or tape recording is only in addition to the official minutes.
Should the minutes be read out at the beginning of the following meeting of owners - which is always advisable - and an objection to their validity or accuracy arises, then the minutes maybe amended. Paragraph 3 of article 19 of the Law of Horizontal Property allows for errors and defects in the minutes to be rectified but there is a strong condition which stipulates an amendment is only permitted provided all of the above legal conditions for the first meeting have been 100% and unmistakeably been fulfilled.
As always we the lawyers for Intercala Community Administration strongly recommend you seek out competent legal advice in all matters regarding the law in Spain.
The Minutes of the Meeting
by José Luis Navarro www.intercala.com
The Solicitor and Property Administrator for Intercala Administration
and
Pete Woodall (Woody's Los Boliches)
This article first appeared in the Euro Weekly News, Costa del Sol Edition November 2012
Minutes can be defined as the written notes that recount the transactions that occurred at a meeting.
In Spain the minutes for any general meeting of the community of owners are recorded in an
official book called a Libro de Actas.
This is a serious book that should be properly registered and could even be cited in a court of law.
It is the official version of a meeting of owners. By law certain points should always be recorded in the “actas de asamblea” or minutes of the general meeting.
There is no obligation to record chapter and verse everything that goes on at a community meeting, nor to include letters or documents that any of the owners may wish to have entered in the minutes. That is not the purpose of the minutes.
Minutes are there to reflect the decisions taken by the general assembly in response to the proposals listed on the agenda.
The governing law for all communities of properties in Spain, the Law of Horizontal Property as it is known,
states in article 19:2 that the following points must be minuted.
The date and place of the meeting; the names of those who called or promoted the meeting; the nature of the meeting, i.e. was it an ordinary or extraordinary general meeting. In addition to this, the minutes must also list those who attended the meeting and state if any, their position or office within the community; include any owners represented by proxy, noting their respective cuota (percentage ownership). The minutes must record the points on the agenda and the nature of each decision taken. Furthermore if relevant, indicate who voted for and who voted against each proposal and their percentage ownership. In short, the minutes record the results of who voted for what, where and how, and when they did it.
Apart from these key points it is not necessary to record any further information although it is common practice to sometimes indicate, for greater clarity, just how some decisions have been reached by noting down the major points of the discussion. The only exception would be if an owner or group of owners were to contest a vote then this too must be recorded in the minutes.
Either at the end of the meeting or within ten days, the minutes must be signed off by the same president and the secretary who opened the meeting, even if both or either were released from their posts during the meeting and replacements elected.
In some cases a request maybe made - for whatever reason - to make an actual recording of a meeting or for a Notary to be the one to take down the minutes but regardless of who made them, the minutes will still be the ones signed by the secretary and the president and any video or tape recording is only in addition to the official minutes.
Should the minutes be read out at the beginning of the following meeting of owners - which is always advisable - and an objection to their validity or accuracy arises, then the minutes maybe amended. Paragraph 3 of article 19 of the Law of Horizontal Property allows for errors and defects in the minutes to be rectified but there is a strong condition which stipulates an amendment is only permitted provided all of the above legal conditions for the first meeting have been 100% and unmistakeably been fulfilled.
As always we the lawyers for Intercala Community Administration strongly recommend you seek out competent legal advice in all matters regarding the law in Spain.