Community Law Corner: Article 1
Why you should inform your community when you sell. 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 . 19 May 2011 One of the obligations to your community that all owners have to obey, in accordance with the Law of Horizontal Property is to notify the community administrator that a property has been sold. Until such a notification is properly made to the administrators, as the previous owner you will continue to be held responsible for any unpaid community fees, furthermore the community still has the possibility to claim these unpaid fees either
Many people would consider that it is totally unfair to be obliged to pay community fees on a property you no longer own, unfair it may be, but according to the law, you would be jointly responsible with the new owner if you breach the above mentioned obligation of notifying your administration of the sale. All you could do would be to pay any debts and afterwards try to claim the money back from the actual owner. The Law of Horizontal Properties stipulates however that there would be no responsibility for payment by former owners if the officers of the community knew that a property had been sold or if the change of ownership is common and public knowledge. It is The Law of Horizontal Property - article 9, number 1, paragraph i, that regulates this particular obligation by the owners . This is the only way to prevent any future responsibility for community fees and consequently in view of this obligation, you would serve yourself well by not forgetting to notify your community when you sell and avoid any little future surprises. As usual We at Intercala Administration strongly suggest you seek proper and competent advice in all matters regarding the law. |
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