Who pays the service charges on a rented flat?

Question

José Manuel Alburquerque · Accepted Answer

If the tenancy agreement says nothing, they are paid by the landlord, who is the one who owes them to the owners' association. It can be agreed that the tenant will pay them, but only if the term is in writing and states their annual total at the date of the agreement. In principle, special levies for extraordinary works fall outside that term. Even if the tenant has taken them on, the owners' association claims them from the landlord, who can then claim them from the tenant. How it must be agreed The term can be in the tenancy agreement or in a signed annex, but it must state the annual total of the charges at the date of signing. A clause saying, for example, that the service charges (owners' association fees) are for the tenant and that at the date of the agreement they total 1.080 euros a year, that is, 90 euros a month, is valid. One that merely says that “the service charges shall be borne by the tenant” is not. Without that figure, the landlord continues to pay them. The term is also subject to these limits: If the building is under the condominium regime (“propiedad horizontal”), that is, divided into flats with their own owners' association, the tenant can only be charged what corresponds to the flat according to its share of ownership, which is the percentage the flat represents in the building. If the building is not under the condominium regime, for example because the whole building belongs to a single owner, service charges cannot be passed on to the tenant in agreements signed or renewed since 8 October 2026. During the first five years of the tenancy, or seven if the landlord is a company or another legal entity, the agreed amount can only go up by agreement, once a year and never by more than twice the percentage by which the rent may rise. If the owners' association raises its fees by more, the landlord pays the difference. What is not included Special levies, which are extraordinary contributions to pay for works on the building. In principle they cannot be passed on to the tenant, because they are not ordinary maintenance costs and are not included in the agreed annual amount. In agreements signed or renewed since 8 October 2026, the IBI —the local property tax— and the other taxes on the home owed by the landlord. Metered utilities, such as water, electricity and gas. They are not part of this term because they are always for the tenant. Non-payment and stressed residential market areas Whatever the tenancy agreement says is binding only between landlord and tenant. If the tenant does not pay the charges he or she took on, the owners' association will claim them from the landlord. The landlord can then claim them from the tenant and even seek eviction, just as if the tenant had stopped paying the rent. Before suing, the law requires an attempt at negotiation. Barcelona and much of Catalonia are stressed residential market areas (“zonas tensionadas”), where the law caps rents. There, if the home was let at any time in the last five years, a new tenancy agreement cannot pass on to the tenant expenses that the previous one did not. In addition, in Catalonia, to check whether the maximum rent is being respected, the housing act counts as rent the fees and expenses passed on to the tenant, so they may count towards that limit.