Community of owners without an administrator: what Spanish law says

Buy a flat in Spain and within a week someone will tell you that the building must have an administrador de fincas, a professional property administrator, because "the law requires it". It is one of the most persistent myths in Spanish community life, and it is wrong: Spain's Horizontal Property Act (LPH) does not oblige a community of owners to hire an administrator; the president performs those duties by default, unless the owners' meeting decides otherwise. That rule sits in article 13.5 and has been there for decades.

Going without a professional, however, erases none of the legal duties. The annual meeting, the accounts, the reserve fund and the tax office expect exactly the same from a self-managed building as from one with an agency behind it. This guide covers what the law actually says, who takes on each role, how a self-managing president's year is organised and when the do-it-yourself route stops making sense.

Is a property administrator mandatory in Spain?

No. Article 13.5 of the LPH states that the duties of secretary and administrator are carried out by the community's president, unless the statutes or the owners' meeting, by majority agreement, decide to fill those positions separately. Article 13.6 completes the picture: if the meeting does appoint an administrator, the role can go to any owner or to a person with sufficient, legally recognised professional qualifications. Nowhere does the law demand membership of a professional body; Spanish courts have confirmed that registration with a colegio cannot be imposed as a requirement. The myth survives on habit: in larger buildings an administrator is so common that what is frequent ends up looking compulsory.

The decision also works in both directions.

The same simple majority that votes for self-management today can hire an agency next year if the experiment disappoints, with no need to touch the statutes or chase unanimity.

Who acts as secretary without an administrator?

The president, by default. Convening meetings, drafting and closing the minutes, issuing debt certificates and keeping the paperwork all land on that desk. Minutes must be closed within ten calendar days of the meeting, and notices, proxies and other relevant documents must be kept for five years, as article 19 of the LPH requires.

Nothing stops the community from sharing the load: the meeting can appoint another owner as secretary and leave the presidency as a representative role. In practice it works well — the president signs and fronts the community, while a neighbour with a head for paperwork runs the minutes and the files. The job burns people out far less that way.

The minutes book itself is not optional: it must be legalised at the Registro de la Propiedad, the land registry where the building is registered. It is a one-off formality per book, it costs little, and without it any agreement is on shaky ground if someone later challenges it.

Which annual obligations remain?

Exactly the same ones as with an administrator; what changes is who executes them, not their content. The non-negotiable core:

• Hold the ordinary general meeting at least once a year to approve the budget and the accounts, as article 16 of the LPH requires
• Fund the reserve with at least 10% of the last ordinary budget, the minimum set by Royal Decree-Law 7/2019
• Obtain the community's own tax number (NIF), applied for with form 036, to open a bank account and deal with suppliers
• Hold a digital certificate and watch the electronic mailbox: article 14.2 of Law 39/2015 obliges entities without legal personality, which communities are, to deal with Spanish public administrations electronically

That last point catches out many first-time presidents: tax notifications no longer arrive in an envelope, and deadlines keep running whether or not anyone opens the electronic mailbox. Assign someone to check it regularly, or switch on email alerts the day you obtain the certificate.

Legal note: the LPH does not require insurance, but several regions do. In the Community of Madrid (Law 2/1999) and the Valencian Community (Law 8/2004) every building must be insured against fire and third-party damage. Check your region's rules before renewing the policy — and especially before cancelling it.

The self-managing president's annual calendar

On paper it looks like a lot of moving parts; laid out as a calendar, each stretch of the year has one or two clear tasks:

• January: close the financial year. Reconcile last year's accounts, check balances and list unpaid fees
• February: file modelo 347 if any supplier was paid more than 3,005.06 euros including VAT the previous year; utilities such as water or electricity and insurance premiums are excluded
• March and April: prepare the annual accounts and next year's budget, and check the reserve fund meets the legal minimum
• The ordinary meeting: convene it with at least six days' notice, approve accounts and budget, and renew the offices, which last one year unless the statutes say otherwise
• The following ten days: close the minutes, transfer them to the book and notify absent owners of the agreements
• All year round: issue fee receipts, renew the insurance, keep up mandatory maintenance such as the lift inspection and check the electronic mailbox

Half of that list is recurring paperwork, and that is where community management software such as Vecinly saves the role the most hours: notices, minutes, receipts and accounting are produced and archived in one place, so the next president inherits tidy records instead of a box of loose paper.

How much does a self-managed community save?

Typical agency fees in Spain run between 4 and 9 euros per owner per month, depending on size, city and the services included. For a building of twenty flats, that is roughly 1,200 to 2,000 euros a year, before extras such as extraordinary meetings, which many firms bill separately. In a small community that sum can match the entire cleaning budget for the entrance hall.

The saving is paid for in someone's hours, though, and there are scenarios where the maths stops working:

• Large communities or complex services: garage, pool, concierge, sports areas
• Communities with employees: payroll, social security and health-and-safety compliance are professional territory
• High arrears or entrenched conflict: chasing a neighbour face to face wears people down, and a neutral third party earns its fee
• Major works or special levies under way: quotes, permits and certifications demand experience

Self-management fits the small building with simple accounts and a good atmosphere. If your community ticks two or three boxes on that list, the administrator is not an expense: it is insurance.

The law leaves the decision where it belongs: with the owners' meeting. An administrator is not compulsory, and doing without one is not a leap of faith; it is an organisational choice thousands of Spanish communities exercise quite normally. Decide with the accounts on the table rather than by inertia, knowing you can always reverse course with a simple majority vote.

Information updated July 2026. This article is for general guidance on Spanish law and does not constitute legal advice.