Rules for business premises in Spain
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.
Also known asLPH · Spanish Horizontal Property Act · owners' community · Spanish condominium law
What it is exactly
Ley 49/1960, the Horizontal Property Act, regulates “the special form of ownership established in article 396 of the Civil Code” (art. 1). There is no exact British equivalent; the closest idea is a condominium. Each flat or unit carries two rights at once (art. 3): sole ownership of its own space, with the installations that serve only it, and joint ownership of everything else —foundations, roof, façade, entrance hall, lifts, downpipes— with a share of participation expressed in hundredths. That share is the yardstick for dividing costs and benefits.
The Act also applies to communities that meet the requirements of article 396 even if they never executed a deed of division (art. 2.b). Its governing bodies are the owners' meeting, the chair, the secretary and the property manager (art. 13), and the money put aside for future works is the reserve fund.
For a business, the practical point is this: a unit on the ground floor of a block of flats is one more privately owned element. Its owner may alter its own installations as long as this does not affect safety, the structure or the outside appearance, informing the community's representative beforehand; in the common parts it may not change anything (art. 7.1). So a café that wants to run its extractor flue up the light well has to go through the owners' meeting. And neither the owner nor whoever occupies the unit may carry on activities banned by the community's rules or “harmful to the property” (art. 7.2).
Worth knowing
It does not apply in the same way across Spain. In Catalonia, horizontal property is governed by Book Five of its own Civil Code (Ley 5/2006, arts. 553-1 onwards), with its own rules, for example on the reserve fund. And the LPH says nothing about residents' WhatsApp groups: notices of meetings go out as its art. 9 requires. What a community has to inspect and service is covered in the rules for residents' communities.
Sources
Related terms
- ColivingA coliving is a building of private rooms or studios with a shared kitchen, lounge and work areas, run by an operator with services included and a community life. It is aimed mainly at young professionals and stays of several months. In Spain it has no national law of its own.
- Habitability certificateA habitability certificate (cédula de habitabilidad) is the document certifying that a home meets the minimum conditions to be lived in under the habitability rules of its Spanish autonomous community. In Catalonia, for example, it is needed to occupy, sell or let the home and to sign up for utilities.
- 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).
- 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.