The owners’ meeting is the most heavily regulated event in the life of a homeowners’ association and, at the same time, the one that is still most often prepared by hand. A property manager with twenty communities goes through two meeting seasons a year in which everything runs through them: working out the notice period, drafting the agenda, finding the attachments, checking who is up to date with payments, preparing the sign-in sheet, adding up ownership shares on a calculator, applying the right majority to each resolution and, afterwards, writing the minutes.
Each of those steps has a legal rule behind it, and each one is a place where the mistake that ends in a legal challenge can be made.
The notice period is not the same across Spain
Let us start with the first point where things go wrong, and one that many people are unaware of. The general rule in the Spanish Horizontal Property Act (LPH) is that notice of the annual ordinary meeting must be given at least six days in advance, and for extraordinary meetings with as much notice as possible (art. 16.2 LPH).
But Spain has regional civil law systems. In Catalonia, Book V of the Civil Code of Catalonia applies, which regulates horizontal property with its own, stricter deadlines and a different regime for the minutes book. A property manager who runs communities on both sides of the regional border cannot apply the same figure to all of them.
In FixrOS the community knows which territory it is in, and the meeting notice wizard warns you using the minimum number of days that applies to that specific community, not a generic figure. It is one of those checks nobody misses until a meeting notice is challenged on a formal defect.
Calling the meeting: agenda, attachments and delivery with proof
The notice is built on an agenda with predefined items for the usual matters (approval of accounts, budget, appointment of officers, special assessments) and free items for anything specific. Each item is marked as votable or non-votable, because art. 19.2 LPH requires the minutes to record the resolutions adopted, and not everything discussed at a meeting is a resolution.
The documents owners need in order to vote with sound judgement are attached to the notice: the accounts, the budget, the quotes for building works. And it is sent with proof of delivery, which is the requirement that really matters if someone later argues that it never reached them.
Before sending, the system validates what can be validated: that the notice period is met, that the person calling the meeting is entitled to do so and that the agenda is complete.
Meeting day: live quorum
This is where the change is most noticeable. Traditionally the quorum is worked out with a printed sheet, a pen and a calculator, while people are walking in through the door.
In FixrOS attendance is taken on a tablet at the entrance, a signature kiosk where each owner signs in, and the quorum recalculates itself as the room fills up. At any moment you can see:
- How many owners are present out of the total.
- What percentage of participation shares they represent.
- Whether the quorum for the first call has been reached or the meeting has to go to the second call.
The calculation takes in two things that are a constant source of errors on paper. The first is proxies: who represents whom and with what ownership share. The second is owners without voting rights. Art. 15.2 LPH establishes that those who are not up to date with payment of all overdue debts to the community at the time the meeting begins may take part in the deliberations but will not have the right to vote. The system knows the debt as of that day and separates them automatically, without anyone having to cross-check the list of owners in arrears against the list of attendees by hand.
In person, online or hybrid
The meeting can be held in the usual building lobby, entirely online with a built-in video room, or in a hybrid format with some people in the room and others connected remotely. The quorum is calculated the same way in all three cases, because what counts is the owner and their ownership share, not the channel through which they attend.
Voting: the article 17 majorities engine
No part of the meeting causes as much uncertainty as the applicable majority. Art. 17 LPH does not set one majority but several, depending on the type of resolution, and it also distinguishes between first and second call.
FixrOS has a majorities engine that applies the relevant rule to each type of resolution and performs the double count the law requires: owners and participation shares at the same time. It is not enough for the majority of those present to vote in favour; for many resolutions they must also represent the majority of the participation shares.
Each category of resolution carries its own legal citation, so the minutes do not say «approved by majority» but state the specific article that supports that quorum. Among those rules is the one introduced by LO 1/2025, in force since 3 April 2025, which added section 12 to art. 17: approving, limiting, placing conditions on or prohibiting tourist rental activity requires the favourable vote of three fifths of the total number of owners who, in turn, represent three fifths of the participation shares.
Closing: the minutes and the signatures
Once the meeting is over, the minutes are generated from what actually happened: attendees and ownership shares, proxies, agenda, resolutions with the direction of the vote and the majority applied. Art. 19.3 LPH requires them to be closed with the signatures of the president and the secretary at the end of the meeting or within the following ten calendar days, and the system tracks the status of those signatures.
There is an important design detail: in FixrOS the «held» status is set when the meeting is constituted, not when it ends. What closes the door to new attendance signatures is the minutes, not the start of the session. It is the difference between the kiosk still admitting a latecomer and telling them the meeting is already over when it has only just begun.
Once the minutes are closed, they are sent to the owners following the procedure in art. 9 LPH and filed in the community’s documentation, available to any owner who asks for them.
Frequently asked questions about the meetings module
How far in advance must the ordinary meeting be called?
Art. 16.2 LPH sets a minimum of six days for the annual ordinary meeting, and for extraordinary meetings as much notice as possible. In Catalonia, Book V of the Civil Code of Catalonia applies, with its own stricter deadlines. It is always advisable to check the regime that applies to the specific community.
Can an owner in arrears attend the meeting?
Yes. Art. 15.2 LPH allows them to take part in the deliberations, but they have no right to vote if they are not up to date with all overdue debts at the time the meeting begins. They must be recorded in the minutes as an attendee without voting rights, not left out.
Can a meeting be held entirely by videoconference?
Yes, provided the requirements for identifying attendees and recording the votes are met. The meeting can be in person, online or hybrid; what matters is that the owner’s identity is guaranteed and that there is a record of how they voted.
What majority is needed to prohibit tourist rental flats?
Art. 17.12 LPH, introduced by LO 1/2025 and in force since 3 April 2025, requires, in order to approve, limit, place conditions on or prohibit that activity, the favourable vote of three fifths of the total number of owners who, in turn, represent three fifths of the participation shares.
When do the minutes have to be signed?
Art. 19.3 LPH requires them to be closed with the signatures of the president and the secretary at the end of the meeting or within the following ten calendar days. That deadline is for closing them; sending them to the owners is governed by the procedure in art. 9 LPH.
What is a universal meeting?
One in which all the owners are present or represented and unanimously agree to hold it and to its agenda. Since everyone is in attendance, the defects in the notice that could invalidate an ordinary meeting do not come into play.
You may also be interested in
- FixrOS for property managers
- How to call an owners’ meeting online
- Meeting minutes: template in Word and PDF
- The Spanish Horizontal Property Act, explained
The meetings module is probably the one that most sets platforms apart from one another. If you are in that process, this guide on how to choose property management software details what to check before signing.
Conclusion
A meeting is not ruined by one big failure but by a small oversight: six days that should have been eight, an owner in arrears who voted, a simple majority applied where three fifths was needed, minutes signed late. Automating the meeting is not only about saving time, although it does that too: it is about closing, one by one, the doors through which a legal challenge gets in.