Community
Law Corner:
Article 23
Buy the House Buy the Obligations
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 April 2013
Buy the House Buy the Obligations
The current financial crisis has taken its toll on many communities throughout Spain leaving many strapped for cash.
Other communities of owners with savings and reserves have faired better, enabling them to find the money for essential repairs, painting and so on.
Accumulated savings and reserves belong to the community, if an owner sells their property they have no recourse to these funds and likewise with any bank deposits and investments that a community has made. An owner selling up and leaving a community can not claim back their share of the savings, deposits or similar investments just because they no longer live there. If the community as a whole decides to liquidate an investment and share it out amongst the owners then that is a different matter.
When a property is sold the new owner assumes all the rights and the obligations of the previous owner
and these rights will extend to any community funds that the previous owner has contributed to.
For example, communities may have steadily collected money over the years for a specific project,
that will inevitably come up, like road re-surfacing, better street lighting or new drains. The credit for these contributions will pass on to a new owner, they go with the property, likewise with obligations and payments, a new owner assumes the previous owners share. Even if a payment relates to a situation that occurred before the new owner took possession of the property, the obligation remains.
For example, a worker employed without contract and social security has an accident and starts a compensation claim for 110,000 Euros against the community in November 2011. Time goes on and by 2012 one of the properties within the community has been sold. Finally the case comes to court in January 2013, the judge finds in favour of the injured employee and awards the 110,000 Euros and in turn the community approves the extraordinary payment for the compensation asked for. The new owner - who did not buy until 2012 - is obliged to pay their share of the compensation as well. Even though the accident and the start of the court case took place in 2011 well before the purchase date.
Article 9.1.e of the law of Horizontal Property establishes the obligation of an owner to pay community fees and charges and the article 21.1 of the same law states: “Obligations mentioned in sections e) and f) of article 9 should be fulfilled by the owner of the house or premises in the time and way determined by the general meeting.” The important point is that whoever owns the property at the time when the community asks for the payment is the one who will be obliged to pay.
Likewise when buying a property. If a previous owner has made some illegal improvements or changes and there is an order by a judge to demolish the work, then it does not matter at all if the owner bought the property mistakenly thinking that the work was undertaken in a proper legal manner.
In short, if you buy the house, you buy the rights and you buy the obligations that go with it.
With cases and situations like this, we the lawyers for Intercala Administration, strongly suggest potential buyers seek competent legal advise about the rights and obligations of any property they are interested in before the purchase is made. A quick look before you leap often pays off.
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.
Buy the House Buy the Obligations
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 April 2013
Buy the House Buy the Obligations
The current financial crisis has taken its toll on many communities throughout Spain leaving many strapped for cash.
Other communities of owners with savings and reserves have faired better, enabling them to find the money for essential repairs, painting and so on.
Accumulated savings and reserves belong to the community, if an owner sells their property they have no recourse to these funds and likewise with any bank deposits and investments that a community has made. An owner selling up and leaving a community can not claim back their share of the savings, deposits or similar investments just because they no longer live there. If the community as a whole decides to liquidate an investment and share it out amongst the owners then that is a different matter.
When a property is sold the new owner assumes all the rights and the obligations of the previous owner
and these rights will extend to any community funds that the previous owner has contributed to.
For example, communities may have steadily collected money over the years for a specific project,
that will inevitably come up, like road re-surfacing, better street lighting or new drains. The credit for these contributions will pass on to a new owner, they go with the property, likewise with obligations and payments, a new owner assumes the previous owners share. Even if a payment relates to a situation that occurred before the new owner took possession of the property, the obligation remains.
For example, a worker employed without contract and social security has an accident and starts a compensation claim for 110,000 Euros against the community in November 2011. Time goes on and by 2012 one of the properties within the community has been sold. Finally the case comes to court in January 2013, the judge finds in favour of the injured employee and awards the 110,000 Euros and in turn the community approves the extraordinary payment for the compensation asked for. The new owner - who did not buy until 2012 - is obliged to pay their share of the compensation as well. Even though the accident and the start of the court case took place in 2011 well before the purchase date.
Article 9.1.e of the law of Horizontal Property establishes the obligation of an owner to pay community fees and charges and the article 21.1 of the same law states: “Obligations mentioned in sections e) and f) of article 9 should be fulfilled by the owner of the house or premises in the time and way determined by the general meeting.” The important point is that whoever owns the property at the time when the community asks for the payment is the one who will be obliged to pay.
Likewise when buying a property. If a previous owner has made some illegal improvements or changes and there is an order by a judge to demolish the work, then it does not matter at all if the owner bought the property mistakenly thinking that the work was undertaken in a proper legal manner.
In short, if you buy the house, you buy the rights and you buy the obligations that go with it.
With cases and situations like this, we the lawyers for Intercala Administration, strongly suggest potential buyers seek competent legal advise about the rights and obligations of any property they are interested in before the purchase is made. A quick look before you leap often pays off.
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.