Can anyone advise on communal areas?

I have been told that communal areas such as swimming pool ,gardens and car parks are a seperate issue from the house or flat and can take up to a year longer to complete.I would assume that the entrance ,corridors,staircases and elevators are also communal. Any ideas?

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Hi Fredmorey,

Not sure about how much longer they may take to complete, surely hallways, stairs etc., must be complete before anyone can move in safely?

As for swimming pool ares, green areas etc., the builder should complete them to what he has specified on the plans, sometimes they may not be planted with shrubs etc., this may be up to the community. Obviuosly the swimming pool area has to be completed to a certain safety level too.

Out of interest, did you know that if you have a terrace in an apartment block, that area is communial? you shoud read up on The Horizontal Property Laws in you have an apartment. Those laws are specific to apartments.

It becomes private once it is galssed in and the is technically part of your living space.

This means, that by rights, you should not hang anything on the terrace walls and we know how many people love to hang Spanish china in these areas don't we.

some of the communial rules are quite unbelievable, I would suggest you speak with Roberto on this forum, he is an expert on community matters.

I hope this helps,

Kind regards,

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There are Court Decisssions of the Supreme Court by which it is stated that completion means that everything needs to be finished ( including communal areas) and threfore a lack of those at the completion date is a breach of contract.

Best,

Maria

_______________________

Maria L. de Castro, JD, MA

Lawyer

Director www.costaluzlawyers.es

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To clarify  Maria's comment, (and Fibby's) in order for the Licence of First Occupation to be issued, the entire development ought to be completed as per the project which was submitted and approved by the relevant authority (town hall/planning dept.) If the project included 57 different varieties of shrubs to be planted, then these ought to be planted in order for the project to be signed off as completed and the licence issued. As has been stated over and over in other threads, you should not, and are under no obligation to, complete on your property until the licence is issued.

Having said that, and this being Spain, in practice it's not always as clear cut. For example, in our community, several members maintained that the developer had not fulfilled his obligation to deliver a completed garden, but since nobody has ever been able to produce any detailed plans of what was supposed to have been provided, it was pretty much left up to us to beat a path through the jungle to reach the pool (which by the way, was finished perfectly!) See part 3 of A Year In The Life of The President for the story.

If you have concerns about any communal areas/fixtures/facilities etc. that appear to be unfinished, I suggest you raise the issue with the president (if the community has already been formed) but be nice to him! It's no fun taking on developers over this kind of thing.

Fibby wrote:

Out of interest, did you know that if you have a terrace in an apartment block, that area is communial? you shoud read up on The Horizontal Property Laws in you have an apartment. Those laws are specific to apartments.

It becomes private once it is galssed in and the is technically part of your living space.

This means, that by rights, you should not hang anything on the terrace walls

With respect, I don't know where she got this idea from. If you have a terrace, it is yours alone and will be detailed on your escritura (deed). The size of your property may sometimes be referred to by constructed M2 and sometimes utilized M2, the latter referring to the communal element of the building allocated to your property for the purpose of working out your %contribution to the community. This could be construed as part of your property being communal I suppose, but rest assured, you do not have to share your terrace with the neighbours! As for glassing it in, to do so you technically (to coin Fibby's phrase) need planning permission, and almost certainly permission from the community also. This will be stated in the estatutos (statutes) of the community, which you should have a copy of. These will also tell you things such as what colour toldos are permitted, and whether or not you can hang your china plates on the walls. In our municipality it is now illegal to hang clothes on terraces where they would be visible from the street, and I recently had to deal with a neighbour who had boxes of merchandise piled high on their terrace (see part 6, coming soon!) but it would be a pretty stuffy community which bans china plates on walls.

By the way, the Horizontal Laws are applicable to any property where there are shared communal assets, not only apartments. It's basically the same in the UK, or Dubai I imagine, wherever there is "co-ownership". If you would like a copy (PDF) of the Horizontal Laws (in English) PM me an e-mail address, since I still can't find where Justin has put it on the website. How about a donation to baby Emma for every request I get, Justin? You better get your cheque book ready, I'm getting loads of requests!

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Aside from the municipality law banning hanging clothes in visible areas, our estatutos also mention this. A Chinese neighbour in our community strung a line up across their terrace to hang clothes on. It was brought to my attention (as president) and I had to go ask them to not hang clothes out. They seemed to understand, and complied without an argument. The next day the clothes were gone - and in their place they had hung several ducks up to dry. There's no mention in the estatutos about ducks, and besides, I love peking Duck, so I decided to let them get away with that one!

Quack quack!

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Hi Roberto,

Can I please have  copy of the Horizontal Property Law?

suechester@blueyonder.co.uk

Our Presidente told us about the terraces being communial. It came about when one member wanted to tile the wall below the railings (not visible from outside) and was told, no, this is comminial property. So I stand corrected on this point, that's why I need a copy please!

I already contribute to Emma's fund but would be more than happy to give something more for the file you have.

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www.duquesavillage.net     www.KeyDubai.com

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Fibby, although your terrace is your property, there may well be a stipulation in the statutes which says that you cannot make any alterations to the fachada (facade), much the same as there may be rules, for example, on whether you can install an air conditioner or a satelite dish on your terrace. Your front door is also your property, but you may come up against objections if you want to replace it with a pink one! Putting tiles on a part of the wall not visible seems a little pedantic, but communities can be that way I guess. The problem is, if you allow one owner to deviate slightly from the rules, the floodgates can open. For example, if Fibby's neighbour is allowed to have tiles on the wall, why can't I hang my ducks out to dry?!

Interesting what Pitby has to say about Dubai. I wonder if there is any government body overseeing the management companies in order to protect the property owner's rights etc.? Doesn't seem such a bad system to me - at least I would never have to be president. What's the weather like there now?.............

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Hi Roberto,

Yes, some of the rules can be pedantic, however, I do agree with most of ours in our community.

Especially the one about hanging washing over balconies, this does look pretty grim if you see a block of apartments with lots of g strings, bloomers, vests etc., swaying in the breeze!!!

The life of a Presidente, if they do their job correctly, can be alarming at times! To enforce the rules, it's they who have to confront the owners and some can be very intimidating, so I applaud you and your kind!

Kind regards and thank you for mailing me the file,

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Hi Maria

Have you got more details of the Supreme Court decisions re completion

Regards Fred

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