WHAT CAN AND CANNOT DO THE PRESIDENT OF A COMMUNITY OF OWNERS UNDER THE LAW IN SPAIN?

26 Dec WHAT CAN AND CANNOT DO THE PRESIDENT OF A COMMUNITY OF OWNERS UNDER THE LAW IN SPAIN?

 

Functions

The president’s duties are as follows:

– The representation of the community of owners;

– The convening of the board of owners (GM);

– Perform the functions of secretary and administrator unless the statutes or the board of owners, by majority agreement, provide for the provision of such positions separately from the presidency.

Among other functions, it is for the President to require judicially, when authorized by the board, payment by the co-owners of overheads, and those arising from the obligation to contribute to the endowment of the reserve fund. Compliance with this obligation may be required, if the owners’ board so agrees, through the judicial proceedings

Community representation:

The president represents the community in trial and beyond. This representation extends to all matters affecting the community, without the need for authorization from the board.

Such representation is not the ordinary one between representative and represented, but of an organic nature, because the will of the president, projected abroad, is equivalent to the will of the community.

However, he is not entitled to any action merely by holding the office of president, as he cannot supplement or correct the will of the community expressed in ordinary or extraordinary GM

The representative mandate of the President is not absolute, for an obligation assumed by him to be effective in front of each of the community owners; it is necessary to be based on an agreement adopted by the owners’ board.

The President cannot impart commands belonging to the board. It has no binding authority with respect to the community and third parties in matters in which, by law or by statute, it is obliged to obtain prior consent from its representatives. Therefore, the president lacks powers without the agreement of the owners’ board to hire and execute works that exceed the concept of general expenses.

The president has the authority to grant powers (e.g. to lawyers) and also to bring non-judicial actions aimed at obtaining payment of fees or spills by the owners. But the need for a prior agreement from the owners’ board expressly authorising the president of the community to bring legal proceedings in defence of the community is required. This rule supports two exceptions:

– That the President does not act as such but individually as co-owner;

– That the statutes expressly provide otherwise.

In the general case in which the Board of Owners is to authorize the President as stated, a generic authorization made by the Board of Owners to the President is allowed, which is the authorization that is done by not specifying detailed cases rather than a set of cases not detailed or individually listed.

For greater abundance, here are some of the more specific limitations of a president, in line with the above:

• The President must be specifically authorized by the Owners’ Board for the appropriate legal action, to defend the Community from a possible challenge. This authorisation shall also apply if it is made generically but always by the relevant Community agreement (GM).

• The President may propose for approval works that are necessary for the proper maintenance and fulfilment of the duty of preservation of the property and its common services and facilities, including in any case those necessary for meet the basic requirements of safety, habitability and universal accessibility.

•  The President may propose for approval the distribution of the necessary spills through a Board of Owners to attend to those works that are necessary.

• All expenditures made by the President not foreseen in the budget and which do not correspond to expenditures set out below shall be endorsed and approved in advance at the General Meeting. It is this one who has the capacity to establish additional proposals as set in the Law that says verbatim: “It is up to the Board of Owners to approve the budgets and execution of all the repair works of the place , whether ordinary or extraordinary”.

I now quote cases other than the previous ones in which the President CAN act without the agreement of the Board of Owners

The following performances shall be mandatory and shall not require prior agreement of the Board of Owners, even if they imply or not the modification the constituent title or the statutes, when they are imposed by the Public Administrations or requested at the request of the owners:

The works and tasks that are necessary for the proper maintenance and fulfilment of the duty of conservation of the property and its common services and facilities, including in any case, those necessary to meet the basic security requirements , universal habitability and accessibility, as well as ornate conditions and any other conditions arising from the imposition by the Administration of the legal duty of conservation.