Auditor Resigns over missing cash receipts

Hi all

On a 40 townhouse community. One of the Spanish residents who has been the auditor has resigned saying he cannot sign off accounts as the receipts relating to 30,000 Euros of expenditure have gone missing. At the last AGM the Administrator & the now ex President sheepishly said they had accepted and paid out on a 44,000 Euro quote for building work but hadn't noticed that the IVA wasn't included!

Have another EGM coming up in a few days. On the agenda is a new auditor. At the last AGM it was noted that myself and a few other Brits didn't accept the accounts. what rights do we have in raising the matter that the auditor has refused to certify the accounts. Could we ask the Administraor to resign? Do we have the right to video and record the EGM as they are very keen on passing resolutions when no1 seems to actually vote as well!

Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.

Hi Brian

Welcome to the forum.  While not an expert on Community law I am learning every day but if I am wrong I am sure that there will be someone out there who will be able to advise.

What a terrible situation!  Was your Auditor paid or just an owner trying to be helpfull.  I, as President of our Urbanisation (just over 100 dwellings) keep a tight reign on our accounts and the Adminstrators (very good ones by the way) do not have over all control of the finances.  The Accountant at the Administrators signs the cheques but my monika is also needed.  Have you spoken to your President over these concerns can she/he advise you.

Normally to do anything and I quote from your posting.

"Could we ask the Administraor to resign? Do we have the right to video and record the EGM as they are very keen on passing resolutions when no1 seems to actually vote as well!·"

you need the President to propose it.  You can however call your own E.G.M. and write your own agenda if more that 25% of owners so wish and in this case it would be 10/11 of you, do you have this many.

Remember items NOT on the agenda at your next E.G.M. cannot be voted on, they can be discussed but not voted on.

If you did not agree with anything passed at your Annual General Meeting, either items passed or the accounts, then you had 12 weeks to say so.  Once this has passed I am not sure if you can do anything about if but perhaps Maria or Roberto can advise.

You really need to speak with your President this is a vast amount of money for a Community your size and Administrators should always keep receipts and bank records.

As to recording the E.G.M.  I can see no reference in the Horizontal Land Law to it at all so maybe you will be okay unless you had a previous vote banning it.

Hi and thanks for responding.

The auditor or "censor" as they describe him is a retired Spanish gentleman who lives on the urbanisation.  At the last AGM both the President and the Administrator both admitted authorising a quote which didn't include IVA, although we had other quotes which did. This was contrary to what had been agreed at previous meetings.

Subsequently the auditor wrote to every household saying that he was resigning as he had been asked to certify accounts for which no invoices/receipts were available. This amounted to about 30,000 Euros. We had a President previously who was English and she said that payments were being made without her authority. I wonder if the fellow who quit is jumping ship before it all hits the fan. I am going to try and make sure it does hit the fan!

The strange thing about the Spanish here is that there are a lot of minor feuds going on and a lot of them seem happy to cut off their noses to spite their own faces.

I saw mention of a PDF of the Horizontal Laws does anyone have a copy?

Hi Brian

Thanks for the update.  If you have voted by majority to accept one quote and another was taken in its place then of course this was wrong.  However, if the work was done satisfactory and the price paid was similar to the other quotes than maybe there is little point pursuing this and better to concentrate on the future.

I have never come across an independent auditor is he/she being paid for something that surely you as an Urbanisation  are paying the Administration for, it would be interesting to know what your annual charges are?  If it is an owner doing a voluntary check on the situation then that is of course a different matter and only wish that our owners had such commitment!

Is it just the one process (the building work that did not include i.v.a.) or several as I find it very strange that the Administrators do not have the receipts most including ours are very keen on this as they want everything to be above board and Presidents, including myself and the many others I know also insist on this for the same reason.

I am not doubting your past President but have to ask how payments can be made without her authority?  The Administrator works for the Community i.e. President not the other way round.  I also applaud your interest in Community matters but you will have to be careful that it does not take over the enjoyment of your home in Spain as it so easily can.

As for the Spanish.... well sorry to quote a phrase but this is Spain.  Spaniards are well known for their feuding and sticking to their principles and hey why not it is part of their culture and something we would never be able to change.  Luckily on our Urbanisation our twenty or so Spanish owners are happy to live and let live but when they are not boy do they let me know.  I have been threatened with court action by our Spanish owners four times in the last two years and on each occasion I have had to back down and bow to their greater knowledge.

If you put horizontal land law into the search facility you should come up with it but if not you can find it on our Community website http://solgolf.blogspot.com

Just a thought, have you considered standing for President, it is hard work but very worthwhile.

Thanks for the pointers.  I have been doing some research and it would seem that our Administrator is feared locally and I have been advised not to push this too hard. It appears that there is big money involved with the building contracts and it's all quite heavy. One further point. Is it normal for community funds to be kept in the Administrators Bank Accounts. Is this normal?

Thanks again

Hi Brian

I have sent you a private message but you may need to post more before you can access this.  Administrator are employed by you, you are paying them if you do not want them then the Community must sack them and employ others that they do want.

No it is not normal for YOUR money to be in an Administrators account the Community must have its own bank account.

Were are you Roberto, Karensun and the others?

Brian.....where in Spain are you??

Velez Malaga

Hi Deniseatnycs

In one of your post you quoted this

If you did not agree with anything passed at your Annual General Meeting, either items passed or the accounts, then you had 12 weeks to say so.  Once this has passed I am not sure if you can do anything about if but perhaps Maria or Roberto can advise.

Did you get comfirmation of this point?

Many thanks

28SAC

Hi 28 SAC

Think we need Maria in on this one.  Section 18 paragraph three states that within three months all items voted in at the meeting will become law.  The previous two paragraphs talk about objecting and starting court action/denuncia against what has been proposed.  The Law is written in Spanish and we therefore need someone fluent if you are going to quote it. 

Anyone out there who can help?