Horizontal property law is the regulation that regulates communities of owners and establishes their obligations and rights. Specifically, the rule, which dates back to 1960, orders horizontal property that the Civil Code defines in its article 396: “the different floors and premises of a structure or the areas within them that are vulnerable to independent use due to having their exit to an element. Common to that or the public road, may be the subject of separate property, which will inherently have a right of co-ownership over the common elements of the building.”
What are its objectives, and what topics does it address?
Horizontal property law aims to regulate the relationships between a building’s co-owners, establishing their rights and duties and the regime of action of the communities of owners.
The standard addresses aspects such as granting the constitutive title of the property, extinction of horizontal property, the establishment of coexistence rules, the powers of the owners’ meeting, community positions, meeting holding, the majority necessary to adopt agreements, or the functions of the property manager.
Private and common elements in the horizontal property regime
The essential characteristic of horizontal property is that each owner is the owner of a private part of the property and, at the same time, is the co-owner of the common elements of the building.
Thus, each owner of a flat or premises in a building under a condominium regime is responsible for:
On a private basis: the apartment or premises of which you are the owner, with the annexed spaces that you use exclusively (such as a storage room, for example). As defined by the horizontal property law, it corresponds to “the singular and exclusive right of ownership over a space that is sufficiently delimited and susceptible to independent use, with the architectural elements and facilities of all kinds, apparent or not, that are included within its limits. And exclusively serve the owner and the annexes that have been expressly indicated in the title, even if they are located outside the delimited space.
Under co-ownership with the rest of the owners of the flats or premises: the common elements of the building. Included in this concept are the floor, flight, foundations and roofs, structural components, facades, portals, stairs, goals, patios, elevator enclosures, conduits and pipelines, collective antennas, and easements, among other elements.
Depending on the characteristics of the apartment or premises he owns, each owner is assigned a participation fee relative to the total value of the property, which will determine his participation in the burdens and benefits generated by the property.
Leading figures in horizontal property law
The horizontal property law refers to the governing bodies of the community of owners: the Board of owners, the president (and, where appropriate, vice president), the secretary, and the administrator. For their role, we highlight two prominent figures:
Owners’ Board: the body that represents all the owners of the apartments and premises of the property. Among its responsibilities are:
- Appoint and remove the president, vice president, secretary, and administrator,
- Approve Budgets and Accounts,
- Approve the execution of works,
- Approve or reform the community statutes,
- Agree on the rules of the internal regime and
- Know and decide on other matters of general interest to the community.
Administrator: This position can be held by an owner (whether or not compatible with that of a secretary) or delegated to a natural or legal person who can legally assume these functions (property administrators). The administrator will be in charge of:
- Ensure the excellent condition of the building,
- Prepare the foreseeable expense plan,
- Take care of the maintenance and conservation of the property,
- Execute the Board’s agreements related to the execution of works and
- All other powers conferred by the Board.
Now, the right of property, a topic of particular importance in the present case, has unique characteristics in the field of public economic law. For Gaspar Arino, the necessary budget for financial freedom and, therefore, for political freedom is property since only to that extent can the power to order one’s life be exercised in accordance with one’s desires or ideals, which It would be in any case the definition of freedom that we must handle. In the subjective sphere, then, property allows the exercise of individual freedom in all its facets.
Property is, therefore, untouchable, and the only way someone can be deprived of it is by a legal sentence. This prohibition is fundamentally directed at the State. Property has then been considered a preferred right within the constitutional plexus of personal rights in national and comparative law.