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Spain: Community Properties

Overview

Properties in Spain with common elements (whether a building, amenities or land) shared with other properties are owned outright through a system of part-ownership, similar to owning a condominium in the US. Community properties include apartments, townhouses, and single-family (detached) homes on a private estate with communal areas and facilities. Almost all properties that are part of a development (urbanización) are community properties. In general, the only properties that don’t belong to a community are detached houses built on individual plots in public streets or on rural land. Owners of community properties not only own their homes, but also own a share of the common elements of a building or development, including foyers, hallways, passages, lifts, patios, gardens, roads, and leisure and sports facilities (such as swimming pools and tennis courts). When you buy a community property you automatically become a member of the community of owners, which includes some two-thirds of foreign property owners in Spain.

Many community developments are located in or near coastal resorts and offer a range of communal facilities such as a golf course, swimming pools, tennis courts, a gymnasium or fitness club, a bar and restaurant. Golf homes are popular, as no one can build in front of you and spoil your view and you can consider the golf course as your lawn and garden. They also usually include discounts on green fees or even ‘free’ golf membership. Most developments have landscaped gardens and some also offer high security and a full-time concierge (portero). At the other extreme, cheaper, older developments may consist of numerous cramped, tiny studio apartments with few, if any, amenities. Note, that many community developments are planned as holiday homes and aren’t attractive as permanent homes.

If you’re buying a holiday home that will be vacant for long periods (particularly in winter), don’t buy in an apartment block where heating and/or hot water charges are shared, otherwise you will be paying towards your part-owners’ bills. This is unusual in resort areas, although water and rubbish collection may be charged communally. You should also check whether there are any rules regarding short or long-term rentals or leaving a property unoccupied for long periods. Note that when buying in a large development, communal facilities may be inundated during peak periods, e.g. a large swimming pool won’t look so big when 100 people are using it and getting a game of tennis can be difficult during peak periods.

To find out more about community ownership you can obtain a copy of The Community of Owners published by the Foundation Institute of Foreign Property Owners (www.fipe.org. You and the Law in Spain by David Searl (Santana Books) also contains comprehensive information about communities.

Advantages

The advantages of owning a community property include increased security; lower property taxes than detached homes; a range of community sports and leisure facilities; community living with lots of social contacts and the companionship of close neighbours; no garden, lawn or pool maintenance; fewer of the responsibilities of home ownership; ease of maintenance and the opportunity to live in an area where owning a single-family home would be prohibitively expensive, e.g. a beach front or town centre.

Disadvantages

The disadvantages of community properties may include excessively high community fees (owners may have no control over increases), restrictive rules and regulations, a confining living and social environment and possible lack of privacy, noisy neighbours (particularly if neighbouring properties are let to holiday-makers), limited living and storage space, expensive covered or secure parking (or insufficient off road parking), and acrimonious owners’ meetings where management and factions may try to push through unpopular proposals. Note that unless it’s prohibited under the community rules, anyone can buy up community properties and turn them into timeshares.

Checks

Before buying a community property it’s advisable to ask current owners about the community. For example:

• Do they like living there?

• What are the fees and restrictions?

• How noisy are other residents?

• Are the recreational facilities easy to access?

• Would they buy there again (why or why not)?

• Is the community well managed?

You may also wish to check on your prospective neighbours and if you’re planning to buy an apartment other than on the ground floor you may want to ensure that the building has a lift. Upper floor apartments are colder in winter and warmer in summer and that you may incur extra charges for the use of lifts (they do, however, offer more security than ground floor apartments). An apartment that has other apartments above and below it will generally be more noisy than a ground or top floor apartment.

If you’re planning to buy a community property, it’s important to ensure that it’s well managed and that there aren’t any outstanding major problems. If there are, you could be liable to contribute towards the cost of repairs, which could run into many thousands of euros.

More pages

Page 1: Overview
Page 2: Unfinished Urbanisations
Page 3: Maintenance & Repairs

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