How does the owners' association claim unpaid service charges in court? From what amount and who pays the costs?

What needs to be prepared

• The debt must appear in the accounts approved by the general meeting, because the certificate has to state that it matches them. The usual practice is for the meeting also to approve the statement of the debt, which is the account of what the owner in arrears owes, with each payment and its date. The same resolution should authorise the president or the managing agent to claim it. A simple majority is enough, provided that the matter is on the agenda.
• A formal written demand for payment to the owner in arrears, by a means that leaves a record. Catalan law requires it to be recorded in the certificate of the debt. In the same letter, it is advisable to make a genuine invitation to negotiate, because since April 2025 an attempt to reach an agreement must, in general, be made before suing. The courts disagree on whether this also applies to the “monitorio”.
• The certificate of non-payment, signed by the association's secretary with the president's approval. It must state the amount of the debt, that it is due and payable and that it matches the accounts approved by the general meeting. It must also record the demand for payment made to the owner in arrears.

The “monitorio”, step by step

• The application is filed with the court together with the certificate. No lawyer or court agent is needed for that application.
• The court requires the owner in arrears to pay or object within twenty working days. They are served at the address they have given for the association's affairs or, if they have not given one, at the flat.
• If they pay, the matter ends there. If they neither pay nor object, the court closes the “monitorio” and the owners' association can apply for enforcement, that is, the attachment of their bank accounts, their salary or other assets, including the flat.
• If they object, the matter goes to court proceedings in which the judge decides who is right. Under the “Ley de Enjuiciamiento Civil”, Spain's Civil Procedure Act, if more than 2.000 euros is claimed, a lawyer and a court agent are needed in those proceedings. If more than 15.000 euros is claimed, the owners' association has one month from being notified of the objection to file the claim for ordinary proceedings (“juicio ordinario”), the type that corresponds to those amounts. If it does not file it in time, the court closes the case and orders the association to pay the costs.

Who pays the costs

• Interest from the date each payment was due is claimed along with the debt. The application usually also includes the documented costs of the demand for payment, such as the “burofax” (a certified letter with proof of content).
• If there are court proceedings and the owners' association wins, in principle the owner in arrears pays the costs. What can be charged to them for the association's lawyer is capped at one third of the amount claimed.
• If the owner in arrears pays or does not object, the owners' association might not recover what it has paid to a lawyer or court agent who was not compulsory. In the rest of Spain, the Horizontal Property Act (“Ley de Propiedad Horizontal”) allows those fees and all the costs of the claim to be charged to them, but it is not clear that the courts apply this to owners' associations in Catalonia.