Anna Montserrat

Lawyer

Anna Montserrat Rincón graduated in law from the University of Barcelona in 2004. That same year she did her university work placement at the Barcelona court offices and, between 2004 and 2005, took the postgraduate course in legal practice at the School of Legal Practice of the Barcelona Bar Association (Ilustre Colegio de la Abogacía de Barcelona). In April 2005 she was admitted to the Barcelona Bar Association, where she remains a member and in practice today.

She joined Alburquerque Abogados in April 2005 and has been a partner in the firm since 2015. Since June 2019 she has been head of the litigation department. Throughout her career she has kept up her legal training, taking part regularly in courses, master's programmes, seminars and conferences organised by various institutions and bodies in the sector, with particular attention to civil law, insolvency law and company law.

Her practice is concentrated in procedural law, and in particular in the civil and commercial courts, a field to which she has devoted herself since the start of her career. She also has solid experience in property and contract law, with particular dedication to real estate and housing, including landlord and tenant, condominium law, civil liability and construction disputes, as well as in insolvency matters. She advises and defends real estate companies, “administradores de fincas” —the managing agents of condominium buildings—, financial institutions, companies in various sectors and individuals, both in preventing and managing disputes and in defending their interests before the courts.

Practice areas

Publications

Litigation

MASC and possession claims: case-law criteria on content, form and time limits

Since 3 April 2025, the “Ley Orgánica 1/2025” —LO 1/2025— has introduced, as a general rule, a pre-action requirement consisting of a prior attempt at negotiation or of recourse to an appropriate means of dispute resolution —a “medio adecuado de solución de controversias” or MASC— in civil proceedings on the merits. In the field of residential and commercial tenancies, this requirement has given rise to significant practical problems: the identity between the out-of-court demand and the claim, evidence of the attempt at negotiation, its relationship with the demand that bars reinstatement of the tenancy, and the way it operates in rent claims and in possession claims based on expiry of the contractual term. In Catalonia, some courts, such as the Civil Division of the “Audiencia Provincial” of Girona, the provincial appellate court, have begun to define criteria on the content, the form and the timing of the MASC required in possession claims, thereby shaping a new map of procedural prerequisites for tenancy claims.

What went unsaid in the first lawsuit can no longer be pleaded in the second. Res judicata and preclusion against the reopening of an owners' association resolution

A company that owned a flat sought to argue for a second time, nine years on, whether the by-law prohibition on tourist use in its building applied to it. It tried with new packaging, challenging what had been said at a later general meeting and relying on an administrative-court judgment it had obtained in the meantime. The court upheld the plea of res judicata raised by this Barcelona law firm in defence of the owners' association, ordered the dismissal of the proceedings at the pre-trial hearing itself and awarded costs against the claimant. The lawsuit ended without a trial.

Can a restructuring be imposed on those who vote against it? The cram-down of creditors and shareholders

One of the most significant features of the new restructuring regime introduced by Spain's “Ley 16/2022” and by Directive (EU) 2019/1023 is that, on certain conditions, a court-confirmed plan may affect creditors that have not supported it and even, in certain situations, entire classes of creditors or the shareholders themselves. This mechanism —“arrastre” in Spanish, cram-down or cross-class cram-down in English-language terminology— does not mean that a majority may freely impose any solution it wishes. It is conditioned by the correct formation of classes, by the valuation of the business, by the treatment of dissenting creditors and by the comparison with the insolvency alternative. An understanding of these elements is essential to grasping how decision-making power is structured in a restructuring and what legal limits there are on imposing sacrifices on those who vote against.

Tourist-use dwellings and owners' associations in Catalonia: the four-fifths majority, acquired rights and the effectiveness of by-law prohibitions

The prohibition by owners' associations of the tourist use of privately owned units has become one of the central issues in Catalan condominium law. The regime of the “Código Civil de Cataluña” —the Catalan Civil Code—, which allows such prohibitions to be approved by a four-fifths majority, has become settled in contrast with the Spanish state model of art. 17.12 LPH —the “Ley de Propiedad Horizontal”—. The case law of the “Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Cataluña” —the High Court of Justice of Catalonia— and the recent decisions of the “Dirección General de Seguridad Jurídica y Fe Pública” —the directorate-general that rules on appeals against land registrars' decisions— have refined key questions such as registration at the Land Registry, the non-retroactivity of the restrictions and the protection of the acquired rights of those already carrying on the tourist activity. This article examines, from a practical standpoint, the majority required, enforceability against third parties, the distinction between owners before and after the resolution, and the role of the registrar's review (“calificación registral”).

Beyond the LOE time limits: architects' contractual liability and owners' associations' standing after Supreme Court Judgment 860/2026

Judgment 860/2026 of 4 June of the “Tribunal Supremo” —Spain's Supreme Court— deals with a case in which an owners' association brought together ten-year liability actions under the “Ley de Ordenación de la Edificación” —the LOE, Spain's building legislation— and contractual actions under article 1101 of the “Código Civil”, the Spanish Civil Code, against an architect and a technical architect. The LOE actions against the two professionals were barred by limitation, but the Supreme Court confirms that this does not necessarily extinguish the contractual route and recognises the association's standing to bring the actions which originally belonged to the developer cooperative. The decision qualifies the obstacle posed by article 1257 CC as regards successive purchasers and owners' associations and makes it possible to clarify the difference between the LOE guarantee periods, the limitation period under article 18 LOE and the limitation period for the contractual action.

Sale of the former home after a separation: when the reinvestment exemption in personal income tax is retained

The disposal of the family home after a separation, divorce or annulment raises a recurring problem under the “IRPF”, Spain's personal income tax: can the spouse who had to leave the home continue to benefit from the exemption for reinvestment in a principal residence laid down in article 38 of Law 35/2006 of 28 November on personal income tax —the LIRPF—, when he or she sells his or her share and acquires a new dwelling? The judgment of the Third Chamber of the “Tribunal Supremo”, Spain's Supreme Court, of 27 May 2026, Second Section, cassation appeal 6833/2024, confirms and consolidates the doctrine begun by STS 553/2023 of 5 May and answers in the affirmative: the spouse who leaves the home under a court decision may satisfy the occupation requirement for the exemption where the other spouse and the couple's children have continued to live there. The key lies in a systematic interpretation of the concept of principal residence in article 41 bis of the “Reglamento del IRPF” —Spain's personal income tax regulations, the RIRPF—, approved by Royal Decree 439/2007 of 30 March, and in treating the family home as the point of reference.

International inheritance in 2026: habitual residence, professio iuris and proof of foreign law

International successions have become an area of great technical complexity in 2026. The Court of Justice of the European Union, in its judgment in Isergartler, C‑618/24, of 26 March 2026, has once again given a broad interpretation to the concept of succession under Regulation (EU) 650/2012, reinforcing its vocation as a comprehensive body of rules. In parallel, a Decision of the “Dirección General de Seguridad Jurídica y Fe Pública” —the DGSJFP, the directorate-general responsible for land registry and notarial matters— of 27 April 2026 has dealt with a cross-border estate and has insisted on the correct determination of the deceased's habitual residence, of the law applicable to the succession and of proof of foreign law, drawing a careful distinction between the European Certificate of Succession and national certificates of succession. For Catalonia, the combination of the European Regulation, foreign nationality, residence in Catalonia and Catalan “vecindad civil” —regional civil-law status— adds a further level of complexity.

Selling the business before its value is destroyed: transfers of business units in situations of insolvency

A company's insolvency does not necessarily mean that its business has no value. An activity may be economically viable and yet be trapped in a financial structure that can no longer sustain it. Spanish insolvency law has evolved precisely in order to allow the business, in such cases, to be separated from the insolvent company and transferred as a business unit to a third party, preserving assets, contracts, activity and, where possible, jobs. The key lies in acting far enough in advance: the longer the financial deterioration continues, the more the value that could have been transferred is destroyed.

E-scooters, electric bicycles and compulsory insurance: the new map of civil liability in personal mobility in 2026

Law 5/2025 has thoroughly reformed the regime of compulsory civil liability insurance for the use of motor vehicles and has also created a specific compulsory insurance for light personal vehicles, with effect from 2 January 2026. The reform widens the statutory concept of a motor vehicle, incorporates the changes flowing from Directive (EU) 2021/2118 and strengthens the system for the protection of injured parties, redefining the role of the “Consorcio de Compensación de Seguros”, Spain's insurance compensation fund. This new framework has a direct impact on e-scooters, electric bicycles and other forms of micromobility, and raises practical questions as to which vehicles must be insured, the liability of the owner and of the driver, accidents involving pedestrians and the overlap with home or family civil liability policies.

MASC in the management of mass claims: how to meet the pre-action requirement without turning it into a formal step

The requirement to have recourse beforehand to an appropriate means of dispute resolution, a “medio adecuado de solución de controversias” or MASC, has introduced a new stage in a large part of civil claims. Where hundreds or thousands of case files are being handled, the challenge lies in systematising that negotiation without depriving it of content, while ensuring traceability, control of time limits and analysis of the particular features of each matter.

Three court levels for a revised rent to take effect from the agreed date: the judgment does not create the contract, it declares it

The court of first instance declared void the contract on which our claim was founded and ordered our client to pay the costs. The “Audiencia Provincial”, the provincial appeal court, set that decision aside, declared the contract valid and fixed the rent sought, but limited its effects to the date of its own judgment, three years after the agreed date. The “Tribunal Supremo”, Spain's Supreme Court, in a judgment of December 2025, quashed the appeal decision and upheld the claim in full, with a clarification of general scope for rent-review clauses: a judgment declaring that an agreement exists does not constitute it, it merely recognises it, and the agreement therefore takes effect from the date fixed by the parties.

Can cohabitation automatically make the survivor an heir? The intestate succession of Catalan stable partnerships before the Constitutional Court

The “cuestión de inconstitucionalidad” 8613‑2024 —a court's reference on the constitutionality of a statute—, admitted by the “Tribunal Constitucional”, Spain's Constitutional Court, and still pending, has placed the intestate succession rights of Catalan unmarried couples at the centre of the debate. The model of the “Código Civil de Cataluña” —the Catalan Civil Code, the CCCat— constitutes a “pareja estable”, a stable partnership, automatically by cohabitation and confers on the surviving cohabiting partner the status of heir on intestacy in the absence of descendants, placing him or her on the same footing as the surviving spouse. This article examines the scope of that assimilation, the problems of evidence and of personal autonomy to which it gives rise, the conflict between parents and cohabiting partner and the possible effects of a declaration of unconstitutionality, should one be made, on successions already opened, in a context of high potential for litigation.

Adoptio imitatur naturam: the Barcelona appeal court allows the adoption of an adult son by the man who acted as his father from earliest childhood

The “Audiencia Provincial” of Barcelona, the provincial appeal court, allowed the appeal brought by this firm and constituted the adoption of an adult in favour of the man who had been his father since he was less than a year old. The court of first instance had refused it on the ground that the statutory requirement of uninterrupted cohabitation was not met.