Spain’s Horizontal Property Law (LPH — Ley de Propiedad Horizontal) is the legislation that governs co-ownership and the management of multi-owner residential buildings in Spain. It was enacted in 1960 and has been amended on several occasions. The most recent significant reform was in 2025: Organic Law 1/2025, which came into force on 3 April 2025, introduced important changes relating to tourist rentals, accessibility, and the digitalisation of general meetings. Despite this, many owners are not clear on what the law actually says or how it affects their day-to-day life.
This article explains the most important provisions of the LPH in plain language: your rights as an owner, your obligations, how general meetings work, and what happens when someone does not comply with the rules.
What does the LPH regulate?
The Horizontal Property Law sets out the fundamental rules for buildings held under the horizontal property regime — that is, buildings where multiple owners share common elements (entrance hall, stairwell, lift, roof, façade…) whilst each holds exclusive ownership of their individual flat or commercial unit.
It covers, among other things:
- What is yours exclusively and what belongs to everyone
- How decisions are made collectively
- What you must pay and how expenses are apportioned
- What happens if someone does not pay or does not comply with the rules
- How general meetings are organised and who has authority within the community
Private elements vs. common elements
One of the central concepts of the LPH is the distinction between what is yours and what belongs to the community as a whole.
Private elements (yours exclusively): the interior of your flat or commercial unit, including partition walls, floors, interior ceilings, doors, windows, and everything within your space.
Common elements (shared by all): the entrance hall, stairwells, the lift, the roof, the façade, shared pipes and conduits, communal garage areas, the swimming pool, garden areas — and also load-bearing walls, even if they run through your flat.
This means you cannot carry out works affecting common elements without the community’s permission, even if they affect only your flat. And the community is responsible for maintaining common elements in good condition, at the collective expense of all owners.
Participation quotas: why not everyone pays the same
Each owner is assigned a participation quota — a percentage that reflects their proportional share in the common elements. This is normally calculated on the basis of the flat’s surface area and its location within the building.
The quota determines:
- How much each owner contributes to communal expenses
- How many votes they have at a general meeting
- How much they are entitled to in the event of the building or a common element being sold
The quota is stated in the constitutive title of the horizontal property arrangement (normally the deed of horizontal division) and can only be changed by unanimous agreement of all owners.
The general meeting: how it works
The general meeting is the community’s supreme decision-making body. All major decisions are taken there. There are two types:
Annual General Meeting (AGM): held at least once a year. It approves the accounts for the previous year, the budget for the new year, and elects the community’s officers.
Extraordinary general meeting: convened when there is something urgent or important to decide outside the ordinary annual cycle.
Any owner may request that the chair convene an extraordinary general meeting if they gather the support of owners representing 25% of the participation quotas.
Majorities required to pass resolutions
Not all resolutions require the same level of support:
- Simple majority (more than half of those present, representing more than half the quotas): for most ordinary decisions.
- Three-fifths majority (three-fifths of owners and quotas): to install telecommunications infrastructure; to restrict, condition, or prohibit the use of tourist rental accommodation (VFT) in the building; and to install renewable energy systems in common areas.
- Unanimity: to amend the bylaws, change the constitutive title, or pass resolutions affecting the rights of specific owners.
Community officers
The LPH establishes three mandatory offices in every community:
The chair: represents the community and presides over its meetings. Elected by the owners at a general meeting, normally on a rotating basis among the flats. They may be replaced by a secretary or property manager if the meeting so decides.
The secretary: takes the minutes of general meetings and is responsible for the safe-keeping of community documentation. In many communities, the property manager also acts as secretary.
The property manager (administrador): manages the community’s day-to-day affairs — collecting service charges, paying suppliers, handling maintenance issues, convening general meetings, and so on. They may be an owner or an external professional (a registered property manager, administrador de fincas colegiado).
Owner obligations
As an owner within a community, the LPH imposes the following principal obligations on you:
- Pay service charges approved at general meetings by the agreed deadlines
- Contribute to special levies approved for extraordinary expenditure
- Maintain your private element in good condition so as not to cause damage to others
- Permit urgent repairs affecting common elements to be carried out, even if they pass through your flat
- Not carry out activities that are a nuisance, dangerous, or unlawful within your flat
- Comply with the community’s bylaws and internal regulations
Owner rights
In return, the LPH confers the following rights on you:
- Use the common elements in accordance with their intended purpose
- Attend the general meeting and vote (unless you are in arrears)
- Request information about the state of the community’s accounts and resolutions adopted
- Challenge resolutions that are contrary to the law or the bylaws, or that are seriously prejudicial to your interests
- Carry out works within your private element without authorisation, provided they do not affect common elements or the building’s structure
What happens if someone does not pay?
An owner who fails to pay their service charges may be sued via the fast-track debt recovery procedure (procedimiento monitorio), which is the quickest and most cost-effective judicial mechanism for recovering community debts. They also lose the right to vote at a general meeting for as long as the arrears persist.
If the debt affects the community’s ability to meet its expenses, the general meeting may approve a special levy among the remaining owners to cover the shortfall, and then seek recovery from the delinquent owner.
Challenging a resolution at a general meeting
If you believe a resolution adopted at a general meeting is unlawful, contrary to the bylaws, or prejudicial to you, you may challenge it before a court. The time limits are:
- 3 months if the resolution is contrary to the law or the bylaws
- 1 year for all other challengeable resolutions
To challenge a resolution, you must have voted against it (or objected) at the meeting, or have been absent and unrepresented. If you voted in favour, you cannot challenge that resolution.
You may also find these useful
- How to hold an online HOA meeting in Spain
- HOA meeting minutes: template and requirements
- Request a free FixrOS demo
Reference source: Full text of Spain’s Horizontal Property Law on the BOE
The 2025 LPH reform: what changed
Organic Law 1/2025, of 2 January, entered into force on 3 April 2025 and amended several articles of the LPH. Here are the most important changes you should be aware of:
Tourist rental accommodation (VFT)
The new Article 7 expressly regulates tourist rentals within communities. From 2025, the community may restrict, condition, or prohibit tourist lets with the affirmative vote of three-fifths of owners representing three-fifths of the quotas. Before this reform, the legal position was far more ambiguous.
Enhanced accessibility requirements
Article 17.5 strengthens the obligation to remove architectural barriers when requested by an owner aged 70 or over, or with a recognised disability, provided the annual cost does not exceed the equivalent of 12 ordinary monthly contributions.
Digitalisation of meetings and communications
The reform modernises the regime for notices and minutes: electronic-only methods are now permitted, and remote voting is legally consolidated for all categories of resolution.
Arrears
Article 21 strengthens the tools available against non-payment: the procedure for recovering debts under €2,000 is simplified, and the rules on interest accrual and loss of voting rights during a period of arrears are clarified.
Conclusion
The LPH is the backbone of community living in Spain. Understanding its key provisions helps you defend your rights, fulfil your obligations, and make sense of why things work the way they do in your residential community.
If you are a property manager looking to digitalise the management of your communities — remote general meetings, automated collections, document management — request a free FixrOS demo.