Working out Community Fees

Hi,

I am just home from Spain and our community meeting.

Last October 2008 it was our first meeting and it was voted that, since it was the first year, it would be easier to make each flat pay an equal amount rather than a percentage, so this was voted in .  It was to be for one year only.  We had an ''interim'' meeting in July to decide thaqt after this years meeting on October it would be changed to July to allow for more flat-owers who are non-resident to attend the meeting. At this meeting I had with me my contract and asked if we would be returning to payment of fees, as per Spanish law, according to the percenage of property size owned.  Alot of the owners said it had already been decided that we pay equally and someone else spoke up to say they had attended the previous meeting and that was only for the first year, although it does not state this clearly on the minutes.  Anyway, I brought it up at our meeting last week an d stated the same to our administrator who answered that again , we had agreed the previous year to pay equally, but that I was correct that it was Spanish law and in both my contract and deeds.  He then  went on to say that only ONE vote from one person had to raise their hand to keep it the same, so of course someone raised their hand as they own a large property with a large patio area and are obviously not paying what they should be if the quota were enforced.  I told him then that this voting system meant that it would never be changed back if all it took was one vote to keep it the same.  To that he just shrugged his shoulders.  I asked that it be noted in the minutes that I was not happy and would be contesting this decision.  My fees are now 420 euros per year, but I reckon that they should be well under 300 euros per year.

Surely I can do something legally about this as it is clearly in both my deeds and contract??  There are others who are not happy either, I am not on my own.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Yes, I understand.

But at Oc tober 2008 meeting it was voted to pay equal shares for one year only....I know of at least one couple at the meeting who agreed to this...now the administrator is saying that because it was voted to change for good, that a vote to change it back had to be unanimous...which it will never be because too many people are now underpaying.

I'm trying to tell the administrator that if it had been stated to change it to equal payments for ever, then he would never have had a unanimous vote last year to change it in the first place, as I know of at least 5 or 6 couples who did not vote to change it forever , it was only unanimous as the voters thought it was for one year until we got up and running.but the minutes just say it was voted to change...not for a year OR forever.  Can we now say that this was an in correct change made last year and have it reverted back to percentage shares ??

I hope you can understand what I am trying to explain!!

It seems to me that if what 'spanish solicitor' has posted is true then this means that your administrator has turned the law on its head.  It requires a unanimous decision to agree to equal payments - if you dissent (which you obviously do) then the decision is no longer unanimous and an alternative based on proportionality would have to be devised.  Contrary to the one vote being able to stop this it is the lack of one vote (or one vote against) which will stop it.  All you need to do is get a vote called. 

BTW - why is this an adminstrator decision anyway - surely the president of the community is the authorative power, the administrator should be the servant of the community. 

Yes, but no-one dissented last year as they thought it was for one year only equal shares.

Now this year, because that was not minuted correctly last year,  it looks as thought it was unanimious to bring in equal shares, although the vote was for equal shares for one yearc and not forever.,therefore we will never be able to turn it back.  I am looking for a way to overturn last years vote as we were not voting for the correct thing.

Does that make sense to you ??

It seems to me that these laws can be stated as much as you like but no-one is taking a blind bit of notice of them. 

This message was last edited by spanishsolicitor on 20/10/2009.

Yes, But I understand.

But, it does not state for ONE year on theminutes...that is why it only took one dissenting vote to keep equal shares rather than go back to percentage shares, I am sure though that we would win a 'majority' vote  if it had stated ONE year as we have enough people in 'smaller' properties.

So, what I wish to know is...do I go back to the legal advisor for our administarator and say that the vote in  2008 was only unanimous because we voted for one year but as the minutes state only that it was voted to change to equal shares, but does not mention any time, that in fact the vote was not correct..???....because as you stated if it had b een  stated in the minutes ONE year then  we could have won a majority vote.  If people had known we could not change it back because only one peron dissented it would never have been voted, but again, the dissention vote was taken because the minutes are worded wrongly. How do  go about this now???  Do I just try to explain it this way?

I have also emailed you privately, Mr. Spanish Solicitor, in hopefully a shorter version.

Hope I'm not going on too much, but I do want to clarify the situation.

Thanks.

If it is not stated in your minutes that the vote would only stand for one year, then I do not think you will be able to change it. If you had disagreed with the minutes you could have disputed them for a certain period afterwards but I would expect that period to have passed by now so you may be stuck with this.

This message was last edited by spanishsolicitor on 23/10/2009.