I own a garage in a building with 30 apartments. A meeting has approved repairs to the facade, and I have been told that I need to pay my share of the special assessment. My question is: do I have to pay it all at once, or can I pay it in installments over the course of a year? It would be 108 euros, as I pay 9 euros monthly.

Source: El Confidencial

According to your data, rents in the high-end area (4.9%) and in Ciutat Vella (2.8%) have decreased. However, the center of Barcelona remains the most expensive district per square meter, at 20.8 euros.

Special assessments are extraordinary and one-time payments not included in the community’s budget. The most typical example of a special assessment is for conducting work on the building. However, the Horizontal Property Law (LPH) does not specify what the money from these assessments should be used for.

The approval of such extraordinary payments must be put to a vote at the owners’ meeting. In this regard, the LPH distinguishes between the majorities required depending on the type of work to be undertaken; thus, we will explain the two main categories of work as recognized by legal doctrine to understand which majorities are needed at the owners’ meeting.

The first category is conservation work, which is necessary for the proper maintenance of the building to ensure safety and habitability, as outlined in Article 10.1 of the LPH.

On the other hand, there are improvement works, which are carried out not to maintain the building in terms of safety, habitability, and accessibility, but simply to introduce innovations or enhancements to the building.

Conservation works are mandatory, so any owner can request their completion, and all owners must contribute to their payment. However, the completion of such works may be subject to a vote at the meeting.

For this, according to Article 17.7 of the LPH, a simple majority of the total number of owners is required for approval, and in a second call, a majority of those present at the meeting.

Improvement works, as they are not mandatory, require an agreement that reaches the majorities specified in Article 17.4 of the LPH, i.e., 3/5 of the total number of owners (representing 3/5 of the participation quotas).

However, in this case, if the cost of such works exceeds three ordinary monthly contributions for common expenses, any owner can refuse to pay the special assessment.

In your case, it seems that you are dealing with a conservation work, so you are obliged to pay the special assessment set at the meeting.

As for the payment method, the law does not specify a form of payment, so you should consult with the owners’ meeting to confirm whether you can pay monthly or in a single payment.