Community fees in Spain: what they pay for and what to check before you buy

This guide explains how the fees of a community of owners work in Spain, as the law stands in October 2026. It covers what the fee pays for, how your share is fixed and the reserve fund every community must hold. It then turns to extraordinary levies, the yearly meeting, what happens when fees go unpaid, and the certificate of debts that every sale needs. The fee is one line among the yearly costs of a home, and what it costs to own a home in Spain sets it beside the others.

The law behind the fee

An apartment building, or any development where owners share parts of the property, is a community of owners under the Ley de Propiedad Horizontal, the Horizontal Property Law of 1960. It has been amended many times, most recently with changes in force from 23 October 2026. The same law also covers estates of several buildings or plots that share roads, gardens and pools, and gated communities sets out how those larger estates are run and what their gates and guards cost.

Every community has the same governing bodies. The owners’ meeting, the junta de propietarios, takes the decisions. A president, chosen from among the owners, represents the community. A secretary and an administrator keep the records and run the day-to-day, and the administrator can be a professional rather than an owner. Unless the statutes say otherwise, each appointment lasts a year.

The rules of a particular community sit in two documents. The statutes, the estatutos, form part of the deed that divided the building and can set rules on use, expenses and repairs. The internal rules, the normas de régimen interior, cover the day-to-day, such as the pool hours.

How your share is set

Each home carries a participation quota, the cuota de participación, expressed in hundredths of the whole property. It is fixed in the deed that divides the building. The basis is the home’s useful floor area, whether it faces in or out, its position, and the use it can be expected to make of the shared services. That quota sets your share of the general expenses, unless the statutes set a special rule for a particular cost.

Not using a service does not let you off paying for it. The law says so plainly, so an owner on the ground floor pays towards the lift unless the statutes provide otherwise. The quota appears in the deed, and the community’s budget turns it into a yearly figure.

What the fee pays for

The fee covers the general expenses of keeping the building, its services and its shared parts in good order. That means the gardens and pools, lifts, cleaning, security where there is any, the insurance of the building and the administrator’s fee. What a community has to run decides what it costs. A small block with a stairwell and a shared roof costs a fraction of a development with an indoor pool, a spa and a gym. The new developments with a spa and gym on the coast have more to heat, clean and maintain, and that shows in the budget.

There is no published average I would rely on, because the spread between communities is so wide. On the 24 higher-value homes I list that state a community charge, it runs from €63 a month, for Villa Camelia in Nueva Andalucía, to €1,120 a month for Villa Sienna in El Madroñal. Those are higher-value homes, so they say little about an apartment in a town-centre block. The figure that matters is the one in the accounts of the community you are buying into.

The reserve fund

Every community must hold a reserve fund of at least 10% of its last ordinary budget. Each owner pays into it by quota. It is there for conservation, repairs and refurbishment, and for certain accessibility and energy-saving works. The community can also use it to pay for an insurance policy on the building, or a maintenance contract for its installations.

The fund belongs to the community, not to the owners one by one. When you sell, your contributions stay with the building, and when you buy, the reserve the community has built up comes with the home.

A new development starts from a low base. Under the law’s first additional provision, a new community sets up its fund when it approves its first ordinary budget, with at least 2.5% of that budget. It brings the fund up to the 10% minimum with the following year’s budget. On a new build, expect the first years’ budgets to include that build-up.

Extraordinary levies: the derrama

A derrama is a one-off charge on top of the regular fee, shared out by quota, usually to pay for works. How it is agreed depends on the kind of work.

• Compulsory works. Works needed to keep the building in good condition and meet the basic standards of safety, habitability and accessibility, or ordered by the town hall, need no prior vote. The meeting only decides how the levy is shared out and when it is paid.
• Accessibility works. Works requested by an owner in whose home someone with a disability or over seventy lives or works are compulsory. The limit is that the yearly cost passed on, after any grants, does not exceed twelve months of ordinary fees. Where grants cover 70% of the cost, they are compulsory whatever it comes to.
• Energy-saving works. These are agreed by a simple majority of owners and quotas, where the yearly cost passed on does not exceed twelve months of ordinary fees.
• Improvements beyond upkeep. New installations or services that the building does not need for its upkeep, safety or accessibility need three-fifths of the owners, holding three-fifths of the quotas. Where the cost of one exceeds three months of ordinary fees, an owner who voted against does not have to pay for it.

For improvements, the law puts the levy on whoever owns the home when the payment falls due. So a levy agreed before you buy but payable after completion can fall to you. Find it in the minutes before you sign, and settle it in the price or the contract. A levy already voted is not a reason to walk away. It is a number to deal with.

The yearly meeting

The owners must meet at least once a year to approve the budget and the accounts. The president can call other meetings, and so can a quarter of the owners, or owners holding a quarter of the quotas. Notice of the yearly meeting goes out at least six days ahead, with the agenda and a list of the owners who are behind with their payments.

• Attending from abroad. You can attend in person or through someone else, and a letter signed by you is enough to appoint them.
• Voting. An owner who is behind with payments can take part in the discussion but cannot vote, unless the debt has been challenged in court or deposited.
• Majorities. Ordinary decisions need a majority of the owners who also hold a majority of the quotas. At a second call, a majority of those present is enough, as long as they hold more than half of the quotas present.
• Owners who stay away. An owner who was properly called and did not attend counts as a vote in favour, unless they object in writing within thirty days of being told of the decision. The law excludes some decisions from this rule.
• The minutes. The president and secretary sign them within ten days, and they are sent to every owner.
• Challenging a decision. An owner can go to court within three months, or within a year where the decision breaks the law or the statutes. They must first be up to date with the fees, or deposit what is owed.

One duty matters most to an owner who lives abroad. You must give the secretary an address in Spain for notices. Without one, notices go to the home itself, and if they cannot be delivered there they are pinned to the community’s notice board and take effect three days later. You can give the address of your lawyer or another representative in Spain.

When you buy: the certificate of debts

The home answers for its own unpaid fees. Under article 9, a buyer’s home is liable for what previous owners failed to pay towards the general expenses. The limit is the part of the current year already due and the three calendar years before it, and it applies even once the purchase is registered. Those debts also count in law as preferential debts.

The same article sets out the protection. In the deed, the seller must declare that they are up to date with the community, or state what they owe, and hand over a certificate of the debts that matches the declaration. Without it the notary cannot authorise the deed, unless the buyer expressly lets the seller off. The secretary issues the certificate within seven calendar days of the request, with the president’s approval, and both answer for its accuracy. Never waive it. Your lawyer asks for it alongside the accounts and the minutes, as part of the legal checks before you buy.

After completion, tell the secretary that the home has changed hands. A seller who does not tell the community stays jointly liable with the buyer for the fees that fall due afterwards. So it is in both sides’ interest to give notice in writing on the day.

When fees go unpaid

Fees carry interest from the day they fall due. The meeting can set measures to discourage arrears, such as a higher rate of interest or suspending the use of shared facilities, provided they are not abusive and do not affect whether the home can be lived in. The community can then claim through a fast court procedure, the monitorio, can ask for the debtor’s assets to be frozen if the claim is opposed, and recovers its lawyer’s costs from the debtor. The accounts show how much other owners owe, and a small figure there is a good sign.

Tourist lets and the community

Since 3 April 2025, an owner who wants to start letting a home to holidaymakers needs the community’s prior approval, given by three-fifths of the owners holding three-fifths of the quotas. By the same majority, the community can raise the share of the expenses paid by a home used for tourist lets, by up to 20%. The tourist licence guide covers the licence itself and the rest of the rules.

What to ask for before you commit

• The current budget and the accounts for the last two years.
• The balance of the reserve fund.
• The minutes of the last two meetings, for any levy approved or proposed and any dispute.
• The statutes and the internal rules, for what the community allows.
• The certificate of debts, which the seller produces for the deed.

How I handle it

Before you make an offer I ask the administrator for the budget, the last two years’ accounts and the minutes, and I read them with you. I check the reserve fund against the legal minimum and look for any levy voted or under discussion. I also note what the statutes say about letting, pets and works, so nothing in the community comes as a surprise after the keys.

On a new build I ask the developer how the community will be set up, what the first budget is expected to be and how the shared spa, pools or gardens will be run. I get the answers in writing. At completion I make sure the certificate of debts is in the notary’s file and that the community has your address in Spain for notices. To talk through the community behind a home you are considering, book a call. Buying with me sets out how I work.

General guidance, not legal advice. The rules described are those of the Ley de Propiedad Horizontal in the consolidated text published by the BOE, checked on 24 October 2026. A community’s own statutes can add to them, so your lawyer reads both.

Common questions