Rules for business premises in Spain
Special levy (derrama)
A derrama is a one-off sum shared out among the owners in a Spanish owners' community to pay for a specific piece of work or improvement, on top of the regular service charge. The Horizontal Property Act uses the word in its arts. 10.2.a) and 17.11 without ever defining it.
Also known asderrama · special assessment · one-off levy · extraordinary contribution
Where it appears in the law
The word appears twice in Ley 49/1960, the Spanish Horizontal Property Act. Works needed to preserve the building, and safety, habitability and accessibility works, are compulsory and need no prior resolution; the owners pay for them, and the owners' meeting merely decides “the distribution of the relevant levy and the terms of its payment” (art. 10.2.a). For improvements, the levy is borne by “whoever is the owner at the time the sums fall due” (art. 17.11).
Beyond those two sentences, a levy follows the rules of whatever it pays for. A repair, ordinary or extraordinary, is approved by the owners' meeting (art. 14.c). An improvement that is not needed to preserve the building can be agreed by three fifths of the owners holding three fifths of the shares, but if it is not compulsory and the installation cost per owner exceeds three months of ordinary service charges, those who voted against are not bound to pay (art. 17.4).
An example involving a business: the town hall orders the façade to be redone. It is necessary work, so there is no vote on whether to do it; the owners' meeting shares out the levy and sets the payment dates. The shop on the ground floor pays according to its share, unless the deed of division or the community's rules say otherwise (“or as specially established”, art. 9.1.e).
Worth knowing
A special levy is not the same as the reserve fund. The reserve fund is topped up every year through the budget; the levy is a separate payment for a specific job. If you buy a unit with an improvement levy already approved, it is paid by whoever owns the unit when payment can be demanded, not by whoever voted for it: read the recent minutes before you sign.
A change with a date: art. 10.1.b) makes certain accessibility works compulsory depending on public grants. Until 22 October 2026, when they reached seventy-five per cent of their cost; from 23 October 2026, under Ley 4/2026, it is enough for the grants actually awarded to reach seventy per cent.
Sources
Related terms
- Horizontal property (propiedad horizontal)Horizontal property (propiedad horizontal) is the Spanish legal regime for a building divided into flats or commercial units: each has its own owner and shares the common parts with the rest according to its share. It is governed by Ley 49/1960 (LPH), except in Catalonia, whose Civil Code has its own rules.
- Property manager (administrador de fincas)The administrador de fincas is the person who manages an owners' community in Spain: drafts the budget, sees to upkeep, orders urgent repairs and collects and pays. The Horizontal Property Act simply calls this role the ‘administrador’ and lets an owner or a professional fill it (arts. 13 and 20).
- Reserve fund (fondo de reserva)The fondo de reserva is the money every Spanish owners' community must set aside for upkeep, repairs, renovation, accessibility and energy-efficiency works. The Horizontal Property Act sets its minimum at 10 per cent of the latest ordinary budget (art. 9.1.f); Catalonia has its own rule.