How to claim unpaid community fees: the monitorio process

To recover unpaid fees, a Spanish community approves a statement of the debt at an owners' meeting, notifies the owner and files a monitorio payment claim with the secretary's certificate (LPH article 21). No lawyer is needed for the initial petition, and the debtor has twenty days to pay or object.

The debt in flat 3B is not really being paid by flat 3B. Every fee that owner skips comes out of the shared funds, which the punctual neighbours keep topping up. If the non-payer is abroad and never answers letters, the procedure below still works, but only if every step is on paper.

Step 1: the meeting and the debt statement

Call a meeting, ordinary or extraordinary, with the settlement of the debt as an express agenda item. Approve the exact figure and, ideally, authorise the president or administrator to take legal action. The court will scrutinise the certificate of that resolution, so the minutes must state who owes the money, for which periods and the exact amount. If the figure does not add up, the claim is rejected and the community starts again with another meeting, which in a building where half the owners live abroad can easily cost a season.

Step 2: formal notice to the owner

Notify the resolution at the address the owner gave the community for notices or, failing that, at the flat itself. A burofax with acknowledgment of receipt and certified content proves what was sent, when and that it arrived.

Keep that receipt. It is exhibit one.

Legal note: if notification at that address proves impossible, it is posted on the community notice board with a note signed by the secretary and countersigned by the president, and takes full effect after three calendar days (article 9.1.h). An owner living abroad who never gave the community another address can be notified this way.

Step 3: the debt certificate

Once the payment period expires, the secretary issues a certificate of the settlement resolution, with the president's approval, showing the amount owed and its breakdown (article 21.3), and it is filed together with proof that the debtor was notified. Attach a month-by-month breakdown: a single global figure invites the debtor to object on accounting grounds. If receipts are kept in community software such as Vecinly, that breakdown comes straight from each flat's history.

Step 4: the prior settlement attempt

Since 3 April 2025, Organic Law 1/2025 requires an attempt at an out-of-court solution (direct or lawyer-led negotiation, conciliation, mediation or a confidential binding offer) before a civil claim is admitted. The monitorio is not among the exceptions; only the European payment order is. In practice this means sending the debtor a serious settlement proposal and keeping proof of the outcome, even if it is silence.

Step 5: filing the monitorio

File with the Court of First Instance of the debtor's domicile or, at the community's choice, where the property is located (Civil Procedure Act, article 813). No lawyer or court representative is needed for the initial petition, whatever the amount (article 814.2). If the community does use them, article 21.5 of the LPH makes the debtor pay their fees, within the limits on legal costs, whether the debtor pays after being served or ignores the claim. The court then gives the debtor twenty working days to pay or file a reasoned objection. If they pay, the case closes. If they neither pay nor respond, the community asks for enforcement and can have assets seized. If they object, the case continues as a verbal trial up to 15,000 euros or an ordinary one above that (article 250.2), and the community can ask for a precautionary seizure without posting a bond (LPH article 21.4).

Buying a flat with debts

This matters to buyers as much as to communities. Under article 9.1.e, the buyer's flat answers for the seller's unpaid fees for the current year and the three previous calendar years, even if the purchase is registered. At the notary, the seller must declare they are up to date and produce a certificate of debts from the community, issued within seven calendar days, unless the buyer expressly waives it. Do not waive it.

What defaulters leave unpaid usually comes out of the reserve fund or a special levy.

Chasing a neighbour is one of the most draining parts of the job, especially in communities that run without a professional administrator; doing it by the book also protects whoever signs, as we explain in the president's liability. If you manage several buildings, see our page for property managers.

Information updated September 2026. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.