When you live in a community of owners in Spain you will have several rights. For example, you can carry out works in your property as long as they don't affect the security of the building. But with rights there are always a few obligations that must be fulfilled, for instance contributing with the quota corresponding to the general expenses of the building.
How is the participation quota that each owner has to pay as an ordinary expense of the community calculated?
As a general rule, the constitutive title of the building states the quota assigned to each floor or premises. "In order to fix it, the useful surface area is taken as a base in relation to the total of the building, its situation and location, as well as the use that is presumably going to be had of the common elements," assures the Professional Association of Property Administrators of Madrid (CAFMadrid).
However, the law leaves the door open for a different expense distribution system to be employed. It could be that the owner/developer of the block of flats sets a criterion of expense distribution, through the title or the statutes, different from that of the participation coefficient. For example, the expenses are paid in equal parts or are excluded from the payment to certain owners, as happens with the premises when they do not have access through the main entrance because they are located on the ground floor.
The regulations also establish an exception to the owner payment contribution system, when it is a question of expenses that can be individual. In this case, it is applicable when systems are installed, for example, water meters or heating meters, which allow the consumption to be individual, and therefore its expenditure too.
At this point, what happens when in the same community all the flats, regardless of their meter squared, pay the same fee? Can the expense distribution change? Except for what is specifically established in the community statute, the owner will contribute to the payment of general expenses according to their participation coefficient. To modify the payment of one or more expenditure items, in this case involving a modification of the payment system established in the statutes, it will be necessary to come to a unanimous agreement.
Another of the most debated questions is whether the premises are obliged to participate in all the expenses of the block, including the elevator, even if they do not use it. "If there is no clause exempting the owner of the premises from the payment of certain expenses or an agreement adopted unanimously on the matter, they are obliged to contribute to the payment of the maintenance expenses of the services or common elements of the property even if they do not use them since not using does not exempt from payment", CAFMadrid states.
In any case, if an owner does not fulfill their obligations, the community can impose a penalty for late payment. For the Association of Property Administrators there is a doctrinal discrepancy on the imposition of defaulting interests by the community to owners in arrears. However, the doctrine that is favorable is inclined to impose an interest that does not exceed the legal interest of money because if it exceeds this amount it would be an unjust enrichment for the community. Therefore, it will be necessary for the community to adopt an agreement to this effect by simple majority, being applicable only as of its approval and not retroactively.