Can she be elected to office?

Q. I have just bought the new 2015 edition of ‘You & the Law in Spain,’ which I am finding very informative. However, I have a question for which I cannot find an answer. Can I be elected to a Community Committee if I do not live in the urbanisation, but still own a property there?

L.P. (Costa del Sol)

A. Yes, you can be elected to the Committee or even as President of your Community if you own a property.  The registered owner of the property, not the inhabitant, is the member of the Community.

When a flat is rented, for example, the owner may possibly give a Proxy Vote power to the tenant, but the owner is the member, not the tenant.  If you own two properties, you have two votes and you pay two sets of Community fees.

This can lead to a situation where the property developer or an investor owns a number of properties and so has a number of votes, sometimes enough to run the Community in favour of his own interests.

The answer to your question is in fact contained in the Horizontal Law section of the book, where it points out that only an owner and member of the Community can be elected to office.

Send your questions for David Searl through lawyers Ubeda-Retana and Associates in Fuengirola at Ask@lawtaxspain.com, or call 952 667 090.