Community
Law Corner:
Article 14
Your Community, The Town Hall and The Mancomunidad
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 July 2012
Anyone buying a property in Spain knows or soon finds out that they have to pay rates to their town hall and usually fees to their community. The surprise comes when they find they are also paying a bill from something called a “Mancomunuidad”.
Most properties are either part of an urbanisation or an apartment building where the owners form a community and are collectively responsible for the internal running costs of their community – maintenance, insurance, administration etc. These costs are then divided between the owners and each pays their share. In municipal areas, the town hall will pay for the external running costs - rubbish collection, street cleaning, lighting, public gardens and similar. The residents then pay their rates or IBI, as it is known and maybe one or two other taxes to cover these costs. With town hall rates no extra charges are suddenly levied to cover breakages, theft or extraordinary work. All fairly normal and understandable.
In some communities and urbanisations, responsibility for road repairs, street lighting, neighbourhood cleaning, sewage pipes etc has not been adopted by the town hall and the cost of these facilities and services must be paid by the local community themselves. However if such facilities are used by more than one urbanisation or community, then the costs and the responsibility falls to all the communities involved and a Mancomunidad or EUC must be formed.
Just as an urbanisation is a community of owners, a Mancomunidad is a community of communities or urbanisations. It is governed by the same laws and acts in the same way, taking responsibility for the costs and the running of shared facilities. It can form committees, appoint an administrator and make decisions, its members are the elected presidents of the communities involved. It is a commonwealth of mutual interest, that pools responsibility and resources. The Mancomunidad also send out bills to their communities.
A home or business owner in such a situation will have to pay out to, their town hall, their community and their Mancommunidad. Mancomunidad bills unlike the town hall rates also include the costs incurred for extraordinary works plus unforeseen and additional expenses that are associated with these maintenance or repair costs. As a Mancommunidad is not part of the town hall, nor therefore its budget, sensible communities and their Mancomunidad will have a financial reserve, a buffer, as cost can be steep and sudden. In some areas the Mancomunidad is even responsible for the large mains electrical substations, the transformers.
Owners may complain why should I pay these Mancomunidad fees as well as town hall rates? Quite simply the local town hall, may not be and never has been, responsible for the facilities and up-keep of certain areas within their municipality.
Permission to commercially develop an area may have only been granted, provided the developers and subsequently the owners, accept responsibility for the community facilities. Which again, could include the roads that link the urbanisations, the foot paths, its street lighting sewage and drains. In other cases developers, especially at the end of the property boom, may have - legally or otherwise - just run off, leaving the owners high and dry, literally as the dust settled or simply done such a poor job in the first place it now needs replacing or finishing.
Although these costs of the Mancomunidad may not have been made clear to a new owner at the time of purchase or for a later re-sale, the fact remains they are responsible. So as always, it is good to find out how deep the water is before jumping in when buying a property.
As usual,
We at Intercala Administration strongly suggest you always seek proper and competent advice in all matters regarding the law.
Your Community, The Town Hall and The Mancomunidad
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 July 2012
Anyone buying a property in Spain knows or soon finds out that they have to pay rates to their town hall and usually fees to their community. The surprise comes when they find they are also paying a bill from something called a “Mancomunuidad”.
Most properties are either part of an urbanisation or an apartment building where the owners form a community and are collectively responsible for the internal running costs of their community – maintenance, insurance, administration etc. These costs are then divided between the owners and each pays their share. In municipal areas, the town hall will pay for the external running costs - rubbish collection, street cleaning, lighting, public gardens and similar. The residents then pay their rates or IBI, as it is known and maybe one or two other taxes to cover these costs. With town hall rates no extra charges are suddenly levied to cover breakages, theft or extraordinary work. All fairly normal and understandable.
In some communities and urbanisations, responsibility for road repairs, street lighting, neighbourhood cleaning, sewage pipes etc has not been adopted by the town hall and the cost of these facilities and services must be paid by the local community themselves. However if such facilities are used by more than one urbanisation or community, then the costs and the responsibility falls to all the communities involved and a Mancomunidad or EUC must be formed.
Just as an urbanisation is a community of owners, a Mancomunidad is a community of communities or urbanisations. It is governed by the same laws and acts in the same way, taking responsibility for the costs and the running of shared facilities. It can form committees, appoint an administrator and make decisions, its members are the elected presidents of the communities involved. It is a commonwealth of mutual interest, that pools responsibility and resources. The Mancomunidad also send out bills to their communities.
A home or business owner in such a situation will have to pay out to, their town hall, their community and their Mancommunidad. Mancomunidad bills unlike the town hall rates also include the costs incurred for extraordinary works plus unforeseen and additional expenses that are associated with these maintenance or repair costs. As a Mancommunidad is not part of the town hall, nor therefore its budget, sensible communities and their Mancomunidad will have a financial reserve, a buffer, as cost can be steep and sudden. In some areas the Mancomunidad is even responsible for the large mains electrical substations, the transformers.
Owners may complain why should I pay these Mancomunidad fees as well as town hall rates? Quite simply the local town hall, may not be and never has been, responsible for the facilities and up-keep of certain areas within their municipality.
Permission to commercially develop an area may have only been granted, provided the developers and subsequently the owners, accept responsibility for the community facilities. Which again, could include the roads that link the urbanisations, the foot paths, its street lighting sewage and drains. In other cases developers, especially at the end of the property boom, may have - legally or otherwise - just run off, leaving the owners high and dry, literally as the dust settled or simply done such a poor job in the first place it now needs replacing or finishing.
Although these costs of the Mancomunidad may not have been made clear to a new owner at the time of purchase or for a later re-sale, the fact remains they are responsible. So as always, it is good to find out how deep the water is before jumping in when buying a property.
As usual,
We at Intercala Administration strongly suggest you always seek proper and competent advice in all matters regarding the law.