The health crisis has affected all areas of our lives, and as it could not be otherwise, it has also affected the Neighborhood Communities. Article 16 of the Horizontal Property Law indicates that " the Board of Owners will meet at least once a year . "
It is a law from 1960 and Covid-19 has shown that it is an obsolete norm ; a new law is needed that adapts to social reality.
The impossibility of holding meetings of neighbours during the female database pandemic has given rise to many problems , which have been suffered above all by property managers. Not being able to hold face-to-face meetings has prevented the approval of annual accounts, new budgets, and fee increases. If any reforms have had to be carried out, it has been and is difficult to approve an extraordinary levy. Or it has simply not been possible to change the president of the Community.
It is best if your community has a property manager who can help you in these types of situations, such as: solufincas.com .
Neighborhood Board
As meetings of more than 6 people are prohibited, it has not been possible to hold Neighborhood Meetings. The Horizontal Property Law, as we indicated above, only contemplates face-to-face meetings and those who cannot attend must delegate their vote to a third person, but it does not say anything else.
Therefore, if a meeting was held without the presence of all the residents or was held telematically, the agreements that had been adopted in these circumstances could be annulled .
Solutions
What can a Community of Owners do to hold its annual meeting? The simplest and least common solution is to hold meetings by videoconference, as long as this option has been included in the Community Statutes. If it is approved within the statutes, there is no problem. It would be stated in the call that due to the health situation and to avoid the risk of contagion, videoconferencing will be used.
The problem arises when this option is not contemplated in the bylaws (which is the case in most cases). The meeting may be held by videoconference if approved by a simple majority and all owners must be notified that this method will be used at the next meeting, unless someone objects. If someone objects, the meeting cannot be held by this means .
Another solution would be to adopt agreements without a meeting while the restrictions last. But this could also lead to some owners not agreeing and could be annulled judicially.
Making urgent decisions
What happens if an urgent repair needs to be done in the Community? Or if contracts need to be renewed? In these types of cases, the President has the power to make these decisions. This is stated in article 10 of the Horizontal Property Law, which contemplates certain cases in which prior agreement by the Board of Owners is not necessary. Such as the works and constructions that are necessary for the adequate maintenance and fulfillment of the duty of conservation of the property; or the works and actions that are necessary to guarantee reasonable adjustments in terms of universal accessibility, among others.