Who keeps the minute book and how is it legalised?

Question

José Manuel Alburquerque · Accepted Answer

It is kept by the secretary of the owners' association (the “comunidad de propietarios”), who is the managing agent when the association has a professional one. In Catalonia, minute books are kept for thirty years. The book is legalised (officially stamped) at the “Registro de la Propiedad”, the Land Registry, for the area where the building is located, at the request of the president or of the managing agent on the president's instructions. A new one cannot be legalised until the previous one has been used up, unless it is lost, destroyed or stolen. Who keeps it and for how long The “Código Civil de Cataluña”, the Catalan Civil Code, entrusts the safekeeping of the minute books to the secretary. If the association has a professional managing agent, the agent also acts as secretary and is the one who keeps them. They must be kept for thirty years while the condominium (“propiedad horizontal”) exists or, if it comes to an end, for five years from then. Notices of meetings, communications, proxies and accounting records are kept for at least five years. When the managing agent is changed, the outgoing agent must hand the books over to the new one. In the rest of Spain, the Horizontal Property Act (“Ley de Propiedad Horizontal”) sets no period for minute books and requires notices of meetings and other meeting documents to be kept for five years. How it is legalised It is legalised at the Land Registry for the area where the building is located, before it starts being used. Legalising it means that the registrar stamps the book and records in it which association it belongs to and how many sheets it has. The procedure follows these rules: It is requested by the president or, on the president's instructions, by the managing agent. In that case, the application must state that the agent is acting on the president's instructions. The association does not need to be entered in the Land Registry. Legalising the book is not the same as registering the condominium. A new book is not legalised until it is shown that the previous one has been used up. If the book is lost, destroyed or stolen, a new one can be legalised. To do so, the president or the secretary must declare, before a notary or before the registrar, that all the owners have been told it is missing or, if it has been stolen, that the theft has been reported. In principle, loose sheets can be used instead of a bound book, if the owners' general meeting agrees to this beforehand and the Land Registry accepts them. The previous book must be presented so that it can be closed. What goes into the book The resolutions of each meeting are transcribed into the book. The secretary draws up the minutes, which the secretary and the president sign within five days of the meeting. They are then sent to all the owners within ten days of the meeting. The minutes must be written at least in Catalan, or in Aranese in Arán, which does not prevent them from also being in Spanish.