Patricia López

Lawyer

Patricia López Alba graduated in law from the Autonomous University of Barcelona and went on to complete her training with a master's degree in business law. She began her professional career in 2013 in civil litigation, and for six years worked at firms specialising in that field.

In 2019 she joined Alburquerque Abogados and has been a partner in the firm since 2022. Her practice is concentrated in civil and commercial law, with particular dedication to property and contract law. She advises on contractual and real estate matters, landlord and tenant and condominium law, as well as on insurance law, succession and insolvency and restructuring. She also has extensive experience in litigation, acting in court proceedings in defence of the interests of individuals and companies.

Practice areas

Publications

Landlord and tenant

The new Catalan regime for temporary letting and letting by rooms: evasion of the law, rent control and the limits of legislative competence

Catalan Laws 11/2025 and 11/2026 reshape seasonal tenancies and letting by rooms, linking them to rent control and to the notion of a permanent dwelling, the Spanish “vivienda permanente”. This paper examines the new arts. 66 bis and 66 ter —from the first— and 66 quater and 66 quinquies —from the second— of Law 18/2007, their interaction with the “Ley de Arrendamientos Urbanos” —the LAU, Spain's urban tenancies act— and the Civil Code, and the questions of legislative competence they raise, concerning the “causa de temporalidad” —the temporary purpose of the contract—, the burden of proof, the chaining of contracts and the civil effects of a possible finding of unconstitutionality.

Not all creditors may be grouped as one sees fit: class formation in restructuring plans

The formation of classes of creditors in a restructuring plan is not a formal question or an engineering exercise at the debtor's service. It is a central decision that determines how voting power is distributed among the various groups of creditors, what majorities are needed to approve the plan and, ultimately, whether the plan can be confirmed by the court and withstand challenges. The consolidated text of the Spanish Insolvency Act —the “texto refundido de la Ley Concursal”, TRLC—, following the transposition of Directive (EU) 2019/1023, has incorporated detailed rules on class formation, based on the existence of a common interest within each class and on objective criteria of the rank and nature of the claim. Understanding this logic is essential in order to design workable plans and to prevent an incorrect classification from jeopardising their confirmation.

The new European harmonisation of insolvency: where insolvency law is heading

Insolvency has ceased to be a strictly national phenomenon. From Regulation (EU) 2015/848 on insolvency proceedings, which harmonises jurisdiction, recognition and applicable law, to Directive (EU) 2019/1023 on preventive restructuring frameworks, discharge of debt and disqualifications, the European Union has been building a common “law of business distress”. The new directive adopted in 2026, aimed at harmonising certain substantive aspects of insolvency proceedings, does not start from scratch: it builds on that existing framework and extends it to matters such as avoidance actions, asset tracing, pre-pack, directors' duties and creditor involvement. Rather than an article-by-article commentary, what matters is understanding what Europe is seeking to bring closer together, which areas may be affected in the coming years and why these questions form part of a trend towards European insolvency systems that are increasingly connected.

Informed consent and loss of chance: the new basis for assessing damages in Supreme Court Judgment 374/2026

Judgment 374/2026 of 10 March of the “Tribunal Supremo” —Spain's Supreme Court— introduces an important refinement in medical civil liability where informed consent has been breached without any technical malpractice. In a case of vaginal birth after a previous caesarean, the lower courts had compensated the lack of information as free-standing non-pecuniary damage (“daño moral”), in amounts of around 10,000 to 15,000 euros, detached from the serious bodily injury suffered by the daughter. The Supreme Court corrects that approach and applies the doctrine of loss of chance, shifting the focus towards what the patient might have decided had she received full information. Quantification comes to depend on the seriousness of the risk not disclosed, on the therapeutic alternatives, on whether the medicine was necessary or elective and on the probability that the patient would have refused the procedure.

Lifts, accessibility and the allocation of expenses: the Supreme Court's new case law and its contrast with the CCCat

The installation of lifts and accessibility works have traditionally been one of the focal points of conflict in condominium law (“propiedad horizontal”), both because of the need to remove architectural barriers and because of the allocation of the expenses and the possible exemptions. STS 277/2026 of 23 February, a judgment of the “Tribunal Supremo”, Spain's Supreme Court, has clarified, under the state “Ley de Propiedad Horizontal” —the LPH, the Spanish national condominium act—, that resolutions directly linked to the installation of the lift, including the allocation of expenses and the exemptions, are subject to the same majority as that required for the principal resolution, even where they involve amending the deed of constitution or the by-laws. The interest for Catalan law lies in analysing whether the regime of the “Código Civil de Cataluña” —the Catalan Civil Code, CCCat— leads to an equivalent solution or whether it calls for different treatment, in the light of arts. 553‑25 and 553‑26 CCCat and of the specific accessibility rules.

The date of the insured event in life and disability insurance: illness, incapacity and the INSS declaration after Supreme Court Judgment 283/2026

Judgment 283/2026 of 23 February of the “Tribunal Supremo” —Spain's Supreme Court, hence STS— returns to a key question in life insurance with disability cover: when the date of the insured event is to be fixed where the illness manifests itself and is treated while the policy is in force, but the administrative declaration of permanent incapacity comes after the contract has come to an end. The Chamber regards it as decisive that, under the policy and in the light of the medical circumstances, the irreversible condition determining the disability had manifested itself while cover was in place, so that the subsequent decision of the “INSS”, Spain's social security authority, is not necessarily conclusive. The criterion carries a high potential for litigation as regards the temporal scope of the insurance, non-payment of premiums, pre-existing illnesses, the tension between medical reality and administrative declaration and life policies linked to mortgage loans.

The dies a quo in medical liability: uncertain diagnosis, stabilisation of the sequelae and limitation after Supreme Court Judgment 182/2026

Judgment 182/2026 of 10 February of the “Tribunal Supremo” —Spain's Supreme Court— strengthens the case law on when time begins to run for limitation purposes in medical negligence claims where the diagnosis and the extent of the sequelae remain uncertain for years. In a case of neurological injury to a minor, the medical reports spoke of a “possible” or “probable” diagnosis or of a “suspected” one, and definitive confirmation came later. The Court insists on the principle actio nondum nata non praescribitur: limitation does not begin to run until the injured party has sufficient material genuinely to know the nature and the extent of the harm. It also stresses that the party relying on limitation must clearly establish the dies a quo and that doubts are not to be resolved to the detriment of the injured party, which is of particular importance in neurological injury in children, progressive harm, sequelae that take time to stabilise and subsequent official recognitions of disability.

Condominium law and electric mobility: how far an owners' association may go against a private charging point

The expansion of electric mobility has carried into condominium law —“propiedad horizontal”— the conflict between the individual right to install charging points and the protection of the common elements. The “Tribunal Supremo”, Spain's Supreme Court, in a judgment of December 2025, has construed the state “Ley de Propiedad Horizontal” —the LPH, the Spanish national condominium act— as meaning that the installation of a charger in an individual space requires only prior notification to the owners' association, even where the cable crosses common elements, unless there is unnecessary, disproportionate or harmful interference. In Catalonia, where Book Five of the “Código Civil de Cataluña” —the Catalan Civil Code, CCCat— applies, that solution cannot be transposed mechanically. The legal interest lies in comparing the state model with arts. 553 et seq. of the CCCat and in determining the scope of the individual right to install charging infrastructure within the framework of Catalan condominium law.

Dividing is not parcelling out the co-ownership: a judgment on the limits of condominium (“propiedad horizontal”) as a way of dividing jointly owned property

No one is obliged to remain in a co-ownership. That is the starting point of Article 552-10 of the “Código Civil de Cataluña”, the Catalan Civil Code, and the raison d'être of the action for division. From that follows something that seems obvious but is often disputed in practice, a division that leaves the co-owners sharing the resulting properties all over again does not fulfil the purpose of the action. The judgment obtained by this Barcelona law firm confirms this and declares the property physically and legally indivisible, over the opposition of the majority co-owner, who was seeking precisely that.