Works in your community: when you need the neighbours' vote

Can you change the windows without asking permission? Do you need a vote to put solar panels on the roof? And for the lift? Works in a comunidad de propietarios (community of owners) are governed by the Ley de Propiedad Horizontal (the Horizontal Property Act), and not all of them need the same agreement: some need no vote, others demand different majorities. Here's the basic map.

Important note: this is general, educational information, not legal advice. The exact majorities depend on the type of work and each case: faced with a specific work, consult the property manager (administrador de fincas) or a lawyer.

Works that need no vote: compulsory conservation

Works needed for the proper maintenance and conservation of the building are compulsory and require no agreement of the junta (the owners' meeting): keeping the facade in shape, repairing the roof that lets water in, fixing deteriorated communal installations. They're driven by the chair (normally through the property manager) and owners are obliged to allow them and pay for them according to their cuota (ownership share).

The moral: if your community has gone years without doing maintenance "to avoid spending", the problem isn't the lack of agreement: it's that nobody has demanded what the law already obliges.

Accessibility: simple majority

Works to remove architectural barriers (ramps, lifts, stairlifts) have a favourable regime: a majority of owners who in turn represent the majority of the cuotas suffices. What's more, owners with disabilities or over a certain age can demand them under certain conditions, and part of the cost can be imposed even on those who voted against, with limits set by the law.

It's the case most protected by the rules, and with good reason: nobody should be trapped in their home by some stairs.

Communal installations (fibre, solar panels): one third

Installing communal telecommunications or energy infrastructure (fibre optic, solar panels for communal areas, charging points) requires the favourable vote of one third of owners representing one third of the cuotas. It's a deliberately low majority: the law wants to make it easier to modernise buildings.

Mind the nuance: this covers installations for communal use. If you want panels just for your home using the communal roof, the regime is different and you'll need a specific agreement: check before contracting anything.

Improvements and innovations: three fifths

For other non-compulsory improvements (changing the entrance hall for looks, landscaping communal areas, installing a video entry system where there wasn't one), the vote of three fifths of owners representing three fifths of the cuotas is required. It's the most demanding majority because these are works nobody is obliged to do: if there's no broad support, they don't happen.

What's more, whoever voted against a non-compulsory improvement doesn't have to pay for it in certain cases (although they won't be able to use it either if it's a separable service). Another reason to prepare these votes well: with clear budgets in writing.

Works inside your flat: do you need permission?

Inside your home you can do whatever works you want as long as they don't affect communal elements or the building's structure nor harm other neighbours. But there are limits many people don't know about:

• You need to notify the community if the work affects communal elements (downpipes, facade, structure) or may cause a nuisance (noise, rubble through communal areas).
• You can't touch the structure (load-bearing walls, pillars, floor slabs) without a technical project and, normally, the community's agreement.
• Changing windows that face the facade, enclosing terraces or installing air conditioning with a visible outdoor unit do affect communal elements and require permission: they're the most typical conflicts.
• And remember the municipal licence: many interior works need at least a declaración responsable (a responsible declaration, a simplified licensing procedure) at the town hall.

Golden rule: before calling the builder, ask the property manager. Five minutes of consultation avoids months of conflict (and a possible demolition order for what was built without permission).

If you're the neighbour who disagrees

You have the right to challenge junta agreements you consider contrary to the law or the statutes, but there are short deadlines for doing so, so don't leave it. And a practical tip: most community conflicts are resolved by talking before the meeting, not shouting during it. Ask for budgets and proposals to be circulated in advance: voting blind is the recipe for confrontation.

Living in a community is sharing decisions about a common asset. Knowing which majority each work needs makes you a better-informed neighbour: neither the one who blocks everything on principle nor the one who signs without reading.

Buying a flat in Cullera or La Safor and want to know what community you're getting into? At Llevant Patrimonial we help you review the community's situation (cuotas, pending derramas — extraordinary levies, planned works) before buying. Opening soon.