The role of the community administrator in Spain
and community costs, fees, and charges

Have you ever wondered what a residential community in Spain actually is? Do you know what the community administrator does? And do you know why community fees in Spain have to be paid?

In Spain properties that share central facilities, like a swimming pool, are usually arranged in residential communities. The communities are customarily established by the property developer responsible for the contruction of the properties on the community.

The community is managed by the community administrator - a legal entity, usually a business specialising in the administration of residential communities in Spain, responsible for the maintenance, upkeep, and everyday security of the community.

They will arrange for the community swimming pool to be cleaned and maintained in good working order, for the communal gardens to be tended to, and for community owned fixtures and fittings to be serviced, decorated, repaired or replaced. They appoint local contractors to carry out work required within the community.

A community administrator might also arrange for shared bills to be paid automatically, for instance to cover the cost of running a communal swimming pool, to ensure that the community areas are adequately insured against risk, or perhaps for electricity charges associated with automatic security gates or lighting community areas.

The administrator will set up the community and manage it as a limited company, collect the community charges required to pay for the shared costs of the community from residents within the community, and arrange for payments to be made from the centralised funds.

Each year the administrator invites all Spanish community residents to an Annual General Meeting. Property owners are invited to inspect the annual accounts, raise grievances, or make suggestions for expenditure in the year to come.

Owning a property that is part of a residential community in Spain can be beneficial in many ways, particularly when it comes to finance.

The communal swimming pool often provides a much larger pool at a fraction of the cost of running a private pool, and sharing the cost of repairs and servicing between other property owners can significantly reduce the long term cost of ownership of a property in Spain.

Communities tend to be focused on security and providing a safe and family-friendly environment for all, and secure gated communities that restrict entry to key holding residents are very popular today.

Community properties in attractive locations often offer great investment potential for their effortless rentability, and can be locked up and left for long periods safe in the knowledge that the property is secure.

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