Tomorrow the water will be cut off from eight to two. A hundred and twenty homes have to be told, and they have to be told today. The traditional method is to print a sign, tape it up in the lobby and hope for the best. The next day, three residents call in outrage because nobody told them. And they are right: nobody can prove that they were told.
The notice on the lobby notice board is the most widely used channel in the sector and the only one that leaves absolutely no record.
Three different things that are all sent equally badly
A community communicates things of a very different nature, and the notice board treats them all the same:
- Urgent notices: a water cut, a lift out of service, building work that starts tomorrow. What matters is immediacy.
- Circulars: the summary of the owners’ meeting, the community fee reminder, the summer swimming pool rules. What matters is that it reaches everyone.
- Formal demands: to the resident whose leak is damaging the flat below, to the one who owes four community fees, to the one who has carried out building work without authorisation. Here what matters, above all, is being able to prove it was sent.
Putting all three on the same sign is the reason residents stop looking at the notice board: if everything looks the same, nothing seems important.
Sending to the whole community in one click
In FixrOS a communication is written once and sent to the whole community, to a group or to one specific resident. You attach whatever documents are needed (the minutes, the quote, the technical report, the invoice for the damage) and it goes out through the channels the recipient has active.
The types are told apart visually by colour, so the resident sees at a glance whether what has just arrived is an urgent notice or the circular about the swimming pool rules. It is a minor detail with a big effect: it gives the notice its meaning back.
What really changes: knowing who has read it
The substantial difference from the sign in the lobby is not the convenience of sending. It is the read receipt.
Every communication has a panel showing, out of the total number of recipients, how many have opened it and who they are: “read by 94 of 120”. And it is not an aggregate figure: the record keeps the channel through which it was opened and when, combining the reads with the history of opens.
This is useful for two very different things. The first is operational: if twenty-six people have yet to read about the water cut, there is still time to insist through another channel or to put the sign up in the lobby, this time knowing who needs to be found. The second is defensive: when a resident claims they were not told, there is a record with a date and a time.
The formal demand, which is a different kettle of fish
We need to be precise here, because this is where people get most confused. Having a communication recorded as read on the platform is useful evidence, but it is not equivalent to the legally certified means of notification that certain procedures require.
The Spanish Horizontal Property Act (LPH) establishes in its art. 9.1.h the obligation of every owner to notify the secretary of an address in Spain for the purposes of summonses and notifications, by any means that provides a record of its receipt. And the same provision regulates what to do when that address is not on record or the summons proves impossible: the flat or commercial unit in the community is taken as the address and, as a last resort, the communication is posted on the notice board, which produces full legal effects after three calendar days.
In other words: for certain acts (calling an owners’ meeting, notifying resolutions, a formal demand prior to legal action) the procedure in art. 9 has to be followed and, where the case requires it, a burofax or whatever means provide legally certified proof must be used. The platform helps to document the sending and the reading, and to know when an attempt has not worked; it does not replace the certified means when the law or prudence requires it.
Fewer calls, which is the real goal
There is a side effect that firms notice straight away. A significant share of the calls coming into a property management firm are from people asking for information that has already been communicated: when the owners’ meeting is, how much the special assessment is, what day the water comes back.
When the resident receives the communication on their mobile phone, with the attachment inside and accessible whenever they look for it, those calls go down. They do not disappear, they never disappear, but they stop taking up half the day.
Frequently asked questions about communications to the community
Is it valid to notify an owner by email?
Art. 9.1.h LPH requires the owner to notify the secretary of an address in Spain for the purposes of summonses and notifications, by any means that provides a record of its receipt. When the owner has designated an electronic means and there is a record of receipt, it is a valid channel. For acts that require legally certified proof, it is advisable to back it up with a burofax.
What happens if an owner has not notified any address?
Art. 9.1.h LPH resolves it in two steps. If no address has been notified, the flat or commercial unit in the community is taken as such, and delivery to the occupant has full effect. If the summons at that place proves impossible, the communication is posted on the community notice board or in a visible place of general use set aside for that purpose; carried out in this way, it produces full legal effects after three calendar days.
Does the read receipt work as evidence?
It is documented, dated evidence of the sending and of the opening, far better than having nothing. Its specific weight will depend on the matter and on the court’s judgment. For demands with significant legal consequences, the burofax remains the standard.
Can only part of the community be notified?
Yes. Some communications affect one entrance, one staircase or the owners of parking spaces, and sending them to everyone creates unnecessary noise.
Can documents be attached?
Yes: minutes, quotes, technical reports or invoices. Attaching the document to the notice avoids the round of calls asking “can you send it to me”.
Do you still have to put the sign up in the lobby?
For the acts where the law provides for publication on the notice board, yes. And as a backup for those who do not use digital channels, also yes. What changes is that it stops being the only channel and the only trace.
You may be interested in
- FixrOS for property managers
- Legal requirements for calling an owners’ meeting
- Owners in arrears in the community: what to do step by step
- FixrOS for homeowners’ associations
The read receipt is one of those features you do not miss until you need it. This guide to property management software covers the rest of what you should ask of a platform.
Conclusion
The sign in the lobby informs, but it proves nothing. A communication that goes out to the whole community with its attachments, is distinguished by type and records who has opened it turns the notice into a documented fact. And for whatever the law requires certified proof of, the burofax is still needed: the tool helps to document, not to replace the rule.