If a flat is sold, who pays a special levy approved beforehand: the seller or the buyer?

Question

José Manuel Alburquerque · Accepted Answer

The “Código Civil de Cataluña”, the Catalan Civil Code, has no express rule for this situation. In principle, as far as the owners' association (the “comunidad de propietarios”) is concerned, the instalments of the special levy that fell due before the sale are owed by the seller and those falling due afterwards are paid by the buyer, who is by then the owner. In addition, the flat itself is answerable for what was owed, so the owners' association can recover the debt from the flat even if it was the seller's. What the seller and the buyer agree is valid between them, but not against the owners' association. That is why it is advisable to find out before signing whether any special levies have been approved and to state in writing in the contract who pays them. What falls due before and what falls due after A special levy is an extraordinary contribution approved by the owners' general meeting to pay for works or an expense that was not in the budget. It is often paid in several instalments. What matters is when each one falls due, that is, from when the owners' association can demand it. An example: In March, the owners' general meeting approves a special levy for the façade. A flat's portion is 3.000 euros, in six instalments of 500 euros falling due on the 1st of each month, from April to September. The flat is sold on 15 June. The April, May and June instalments, 1.500 euros in total, fell due before the sale and are owed by the seller. The July, August and September instalments, another 1.500 euros, fall due when the flat already belongs to the buyer. The owners' association will collect them from the buyer. If the seller did not pay the instalments that had fallen due, the owners' association can claim them from the seller. But it can also recover them from the flat, because in Catalonia the flat itself is answerable for debts owed to the owners' association for the current year and the four previous years, even if it changes hands. If the buyer pays that debt to prevent this, the buyer can then claim it back from the seller. Before signing To avoid surprises, it is advisable: For the buyer, before making the down payment, to ask the seller for written confirmation from the managing agent of any approved special levies still outstanding, any works under consideration and any meetings called to approve them. For the seller to provide, when the deed is signed, the statement of debts owed to the owners' association (certificate of being up to date), issued by the secretary, normally the managing agent. In Catalonia, that certificate must also include expenses that have been approved but have not yet fallen due, such as the outstanding instalments of a special levy. Without it the deed cannot be signed, unless the buyer and the seller expressly waive it, which is not in the buyer's interest. For the contract to state who pays each instalment of the approved special levies. If the seller takes them on, the safest course for the buyer is to deduct them from the price or to withhold that amount on signing. What the seller and the buyer agree What they agree is only valid between them. If the contract makes the special levy payable by the seller and the owners' association collects it from the buyer, the buyer will have to pay it, but can claim it back from the seller. It is in the seller's interest to disclose any approved special levies, because a seller who conceals one is exposed to a claim from the buyer for whatever the buyer has to pay. In the rest of Spain, where the flat is only answerable for the debts of the current year and the three previous years, the Horizontal Property Act (“Ley de Propiedad Horizontal”) does say that special levies for improvements are paid by whoever is the owner when they become payable.