Renovating a flat in a block: working with the comunidad

What is a comunidad de propietarios?

When a building or development is divided into separately owned units, Spanish law treats it as a horizontal property. The owners together form a comunidad de propietarios, which is responsible for the shared parts of the building. It has a president (an owner), usually an administrador (a professional manager) and general meetings where decisions are taken.

For a renovator, the community matters in three ways. It must be told about your works in advance. It controls the shared elements, which you cannot alter without its agreement. And it may have internal rules about working hours, use of lifts and common areas. Most disputes during renovations in apartment blocks arise from one of these three, and almost all of them are avoidable with an early conversation.

What does the law allow you to do inside your own flat?

Article 7.1 of the Ley de Propiedad Horizontal states that the owner of each flat or unit may modify its architectural elements, installations or services provided this does not impair or alter the building’s safety, its general structure, its exterior configuration or condition, or harm the rights of another owner — and that the owner must inform whoever represents the community before carrying out those works.

In plain terms: a new bathroom, a new kitchen, new floors, new partitions and new wiring inside your flat are generally your business, as long as you give notice. Anything touching the structure, the façade or other owners’ property is not. Notice is normally given to the president or the administrador, in writing, with a short description of the works and the expected start date.

Which parts of the building are shared elements?

Shared elements are those that serve the building as a whole. Which ones they are exactly depends on the building’s title and statutes (to be verified for your building), but they typically include:

• The structure: foundations, columns, beams, floor slabs and load-bearing walls.
• The façade, including its appearance, and often the window openings and railings.
• The roof and roof terraces.
• Main service runs: the shared soil stack, rising water mains and common electrical supplies.
• Common areas: entrance, stairs, lift, corridors and gardens.

Replacing your section of waste pipe up to the stack is part of your renovation; replacing the stack itself is a community matter. Changing windows or enclosing a terrace often needs community approval as well as town hall permission.

What rules apply to working hours and noise?

Two layers apply. The municipal noise ordinance sets general limits on noisy activities, and the community may have its own internal rules — normas de régimen interior — with stricter working hours, quiet periods or seasonal restrictions. Some coastal developments restrict noisy works during the summer season. Hours and restrictions vary by building and town (to be verified with your administrador and ayuntamiento).

We plan the noisiest tasks — strip-out, cutting chases, breaking tiles — within the permitted hours and, where possible, in a block at the start of the job, so that the disruption to neighbours is concentrated rather than spread out. A short note to neighbours before work starts goes a long way.

How are lifts, common areas and debris handled?

Many communities require lifts to be protected with panels during works, or restrict their use for materials. Some ask for a deposit against damage to common areas. Debris must leave the building without blocking access, and in many towns a skip on the public road needs its own permit from the town hall.

We protect the lift and the route from the entrance to your door, bag debris and take it out at agreed times, and clean the common areas we use at the end of each working day. If your building has a concierge or porter, we coordinate deliveries and access with them. These practical details are often what determine whether your neighbours remember the renovation as tolerable or not.

Does any of this apply to villas and townhouses?

Often, yes. Many villas and townhouses on the Costa del Sol sit within an urbanisation that is itself organised as a community, sometimes with several layers: a sub-community for a group of houses and a main community for the whole development. The same principle applies — your property is yours to renovate inside, but shared roads, gardens, pools, perimeter walls and sometimes the external appearance of the houses are community matters.

Some urbanisations have design rules on façade colours, roof tiles, fences or external lighting, and some require prior notice for any works involving contractors’ vehicles. Ask the administrador for these before you finalise the scope. External work on villas is covered on our sister site reformavillascostadelsol.eu.

How should you prepare before work starts?

1. Read your community’s statutes and internal rules, or ask the administrador for a summary of anything affecting works.
2. Write to the president or administrador describing the works and the start date, as article 7.1 requires.
3. Flag anything touching shared elements — windows, terrace, stack, façade — and seek approval before including it in the scope.
4. Ask about lift protection, deposits and access times.
5. File the town hall notification separately; community notice does not replace it. See our permits guide.

We point out, at the first visit, any part of the job that may involve shared elements, so you can raise it with the community before the quote is final. For apartment-specific renovations, our sister site reformapisosmalaga.eu covers logistics in blocks in more depth, and our partial renovation page explains smaller scopes.

Official sources

• Ley 49/1960 de Propiedad Horizontal, consolidated text – BOE
• Town hall guidance on filing a declaración responsable for works (Monachil)