Community Charges

Hi is there anybody out there who could help me with a query concerning our community!!!

Our community was set up about a year ago,But it was not explained to us properly about how the payments were going to be divided it says in the minutes"The community fees have been calculated with the coefficients that appear in the deed property"

So when we all received our fees bill there are big differences to what we all pay, from 66.46 euros to 164.10 euros  to be paid in two semester payments.

The properties on our community are built up of - 

3 bedroom 2 bathroom duplex's with underground garages.

3 bedroom 2 bathroom quad house's some with underbuilds and some with garages.

Not a great deal of difference, but the fees differ greatly how can we legally get around this as some of the owner's have cut their payments down to a lower amount saying "we are all paying for the same area why are we paying more" I have to say I do agree with them as they did pay more for their properties in the first place, and they do pay more Summa, electric and water. 

many thanks

By law you pay community fees based on the coeffiecient as shown on your deed, which is usually worked out based on the square meterage of your property. The only way to change the way you pay your fees would be, I believe, by unanamous vote at a general assembly of the community.

Individual owners cannot just decide to pay less than their legal quota - by doing so, they risk having their properties embargoed and sold to recover the debt.

If those with higher quotas are to pay less, those currently paying less, will have to pay more to compensate (logically). If everyone is OK with that, I suggest calling a meeting to vote on a change to the community statutes. Any such change would have to be properly registered to be legally binding and to avoid any future conflicts (e.g. when properties change hands).

Can someone please advise.

I would like to know how community charges are calculated on a mixed golf resort?  This does not include the direct costs just the general resort costs.  These figures are in my deeds.  I am just trying to find out how I can confirm if my community fees are calculated correctly.

Our budget for the year is 3,000,000.00 (general resort budget)

Our Parcela cuota is 2,044019 %

Our cuota de partisipation is 11,204674 %

My apartment cuota is  4,307176 %

We have been told by our administrator that the fees are being calculated by this method:

there are two types of shares: one is the sub-
Community quota (based on the surface of the plot that a given sub-Community
occupies within the General Community); and another based on the square metres of the
property itself (living area).

In 2006, only the plot quota was used since most of the Resort was not completed yet. A
quota that still did not exist could not be used yet. However, the specific expenses for
the apartment blocks were assigned to each block, as it had to be done according to
Law.

At any rate, any comparison must use the same parameters. You cannot compare the
apartment surface with plot surface of the villas. There are expenses distributed
according to the plot quota, and others according to the property surface quota.

Six weeks ago,  This document related the calculus of the shares with a document from the
Town Council, and this was like that because they coincide. However, our calculus is
not based on the Town Council documents but rather on the property deeds, where the
same square metres are collected as in the Town Council documents.

With regards to the sharing of the cost, I would like to a paragraph from article 5.2 of
the Spanish Law of Horizontal Property, which reads as follows:

“The quota of participation will be based taking into account the usable surface of each
property or unit in relation to the total of the building, its location interior or exterior,
and its location in relation to the rational use expected of the common services and
elements".

This Administrator has made an interpretation with respect to the Administration fees,
thus dividing them on equal shares to all, and this has been done for the following
reasons:

1.- Because it is already anticipated in the Law since the rational use of the
administration services is the same for an apartment and for a villa.
2.- Because the Law that applies to Official Boards of Community Administrators (the
sole profession specialized in Community of Property Owners administration) speaks
of one same price per property.
3.- Because this has also been established by rulings of the Spanish Superior Courts of
Justice.
4.- And most important of all: Because no one would accept that a villa would pay
eight times more than an apartment for the same 20 page letter issued by this
Administration, or for an invoice sent to the bank, or for a reply to an email

Sorry its a long posting, but can anyone help with this?

Thanks

Ian

Sorry, what was the question?

We have just been told the long explanation in my previous post that this is the way our fees are calculated?

Well, I would be going around in circles trying to understand this, we have cuota's in our deeds and the articles of assocation have been set up and says all about cuota's, so would our fees not be worked out on our cuota's, instead of this plot for one surface for another and then we are paying a fixed fee for the admin?  I would need to have a degree to work this out!!

Any advice would be great.

Thanks

Ian

I agree about needing a degree! I wasn't being flippant when I asked what was the question, I was just baffled by the explanation you've been given.

I understand the bit about the administrator's fees. I think it's quite normal for an administrator to base his fees on a simple € amount per property, so, say he charges €5 per property and theres 100 properties in the community, then his fee is €500 in total. However, I would expect this total to be included in the overall budget, and then each owner to pay an % amount (based on their quota) of the total budget. But I do see the logic - the cost of sending a letter to an apartment is the same as to a villa, so why not charge each owner the same (i.e. the original €5)? It just means calculating each owner's bill a bit more complicated, I suppose, although if you use spreadsheets, not so much really.

As for the other issue (plot quota, apartment quota etc.) the only thing I can think is that it has to be calculated in such a way because there are certain facilities or services within the community (urbanisation?) that some owners "participate" in and others do not. For example, if there is a communal pool available for all owners, then all owners will contribute to it's maintainance. However, if some properties are villas, and others are apartments in blocks with lifts, it is reasonable that villa owners do not contribute to the maintainance of those lifts. So the apartment blocks may need a separate budget for such things.

As an owner, you are perfectly entitled to view the accounts and budgets in detail. If your administrator has offices nearby where you can go, perhaps they will be willing to show you everything and explain it in more detail?

Roberto,

Thank you for your reply to my question. 

We do have our own budget for the direct costs for the apartments, and this we have been told is calculated on our cuota, the costs include lift maint, cleaning, garage cleaning. 

So I don't understand this surface/plot explanation for our general resort costs.  We have I think 14 pools on the resort and this is within the general resort costs as all owners have the use, including semi and villas.

Have you every heard of this before using surface/plot size instead of cuota which we have in our deeds?  In the first year of administration we were charged cuota for our costs, and this has now changed, and owners have not had a vote on this.

This is their explanation, we had a different one over a month ago, their must be some standard way to work out community fees?

Cheers

Ian

As far as  I know, your quota as shown on your (individual) deed, is calculated based on the square metres of your apartment, so it follows that your quota for participation in general resort expenses should be calculated in a similar way. As to where the actual figures came from I couldn't say, but maybe they relate to figures given in the master deed for the whole development? I'm sure the administrator will be able to explain (whether they want to or not is another matter of course). Failing that, maybe the lawyer you used when buying can shed some light?

Roberto,

Spanish rule #1: "If its simple, make it complicated".  Then, if some poor soul, fails to understand the system, tie it up in decrees, paperwork, systems and legal jargon and sooner, or later the confused just give up.  That's my experience of Spain.  Our apartment is one of 32 in a block  that was in a community of 5 blocks.  The developer in their wisdom?? decided that this was too simple and divided the community into 3 (which includes splitting responsibility for a shared pool).  However, we now find ourselves a community of 32.  All apartments are of much the same size (as shown on our deeds) so, you would think, the community fee will be about equal.  Oh no! we are on the ground floor and don't use the lift etc, but forget that, we have a basement, which is basically a damp hole in the ground (the Spanish don't believe in damp courses), so that makes it twice the size of other apartments so we pay twice as much. Forget that it's a damp, bare block and concrete, unfinished area and that we can't store things in it or they go rusty / mouldy, or that it's not in the deeds, it's space and makes it cheaper for everyone else and we have no right to argue the point.  Typical perverted thinking, but hey, we are in Spain.

I am thinking of starting a "Grump of the day" thread, so i can really say what I think!

mike

Volunteer as president, then you can join Room 101 and be as grumpy as you like!

Damp course? perdoname, no entiendo. ¿Curso mocado? Is this a course you go on to learn how to be damp? Surely zee Engleesh don't need to learn this, as they are born to be damp.