Do the new lift regulations require me to upgrade my building's lift? Who pays for it?

What improvements are required

The regulation is a national one and applies equally in Catalonia. It replaces the earlier ones and requires lifts already in operation to be adapted to make them safer, without requiring them to be replaced by a new one. The measures it lays down include the following:

• The lift car must stop level with the landing, without leaving a step.
• The automatic doors must protect anyone entering or leaving as they close.
• The car must have two-way communication so that anyone trapped inside can call for help.
• The car must not be able to move in an uncontrolled way, when the motor and the control system are replaced.
• Old guide rails, whether cylindrical or wooden, must be replaced.

Almost all of them are required, with different time limits depending on the measure, when the periodic inspection finds that they are missing or after an accident. The periodic inspection is due every two years if the lift is for industrial use or is in premises open to the public, every four years in buildings with more than twenty homes or more than four floors served and every six years in all others.

If a measure is technically impossible, the owners' association can ask the Generalitat de Catalunya (the Catalan government) to grant an exemption from it, with other equivalent safety measures and a favourable report from an approved inspection body. The cost of the work, on its own, does not appear in the regulation as a ground for exemption.

What happens if they are not carried out

Failing to carry out the compulsory measures in time is a serious defect. The inspection result is unfavourable, a period of six months at most is given to correct it and, if nothing has changed at the next visit, the authorities order the lift to be shut down. If the defect is very serious, the lift maintenance company must take the lift out of service until it is repaired. It must also shut it down if the periodic inspection is allowed to lapse without being carried out.

The practical approach is to ask the lift maintenance company or an approved inspection body for a report on what the lift lacks and to have it costed before the next inspection. The regulation does not set any amount. What it costs depends on each lift and on what it lacks.

Who pays for it

The party responsible to the authorities is the owner of the lift, which in a building divided into flats is the owners' association. The Catalan Civil Code requires the association to maintain the common parts in line with the regulations, so these improvements are a common expense. If the work and the special levy have to be approved, a simple majority of the owners' general meeting is enough, because it is an improvement required for the safety of the building. Anyone who votes against pays all the same, because these improvements are compulsory and the exemption for those who vote against only applies to certain new installations that the law does not require. Owners who object without good reason to works required by the authorities, or who delay them, are personally liable for any fines imposed.

If the by-laws exempt some flats or commercial units from lift expenses, whether the exemption also covers these improvements depends on how the clause is worded.