When buying or selling a home within a community of owners, the certificate of debts shows the owner’s position regarding community payments. To review the building’s accounts, works and rules, you also need to consult the relevant supporting documents. Below, we explain what the certificate confirms and how to request it.
What is the owners’ community certificate?
In a sale and purchase, the relevant certificate confirms the state of the owner’s debts to the community. It is not a general audit of the accounts, building works or the building’s regulatory compliance.
Why the community certificate matters
- Debt position: the certificate reports the owner’s debts to the community. To assess the community’s overall financial position, also request its accounts, budgets and resolutions on fees and special assessments.
- Knowledge of works and projects: meeting minutes, budgets and resolutions on works allow you to check completed or planned works and their costs. This information should be reviewed separately from the certificate of debts.
- Supporting information: the statutes and meeting minutes help explain the community’s rules and resolutions. The certificate of debts does not guarantee compliance with all regulations.
- Communal services: review the statutes and rules of use. The certificate of debts neither creates nor guarantees rights of access to gardens, swimming pools or other facilities.
The certificate of debts and supporting documents
It is important to distinguish what the certificate of debts confirms from the additional information that should be checked in other community documents:
- Community details: Name, address and contact details of the community’s governing body.
- Debts and accounts: the certificate confirms the owner’s debt position. The community’s overall income, expenditure and budgets should be reviewed in the relevant accounts and resolutions.
- Works and projects: request the meeting minutes, budgets and resolutions documenting completed or planned works, their costs and the approved payments.
- Community rules: these can be checked in the statutes and resolutions; they are not certified by a document concerning debts.
- Communal services and areas: consult the statutes and rules of use to understand the conditions applying to the facilities; the certificate of debts does not certify those rights.
How to obtain the community certificate:
To obtain the owners’ community certificate, follow these steps:
- Contact the community’s governing body: The first step is to contact the community’s president or administrator to request the certificate.
- Identification and representation: provide the owner’s and property’s details and, if acting on the owner’s behalf, evidence of your authority to represent them. Ask the community’s administration what documentation it needs to process the request.
- Issue and signature: the certificate of the state of debts is issued by the person acting as secretary, with the president’s approval, within a maximum of seven calendar days of the request.
- Delivery of the certificate: Finally, the certificate will be given to the applicant for use in property transactions.
Conclusion: checking debts to the community
Request the certificate of debts before the sale and purchase, and supplement it with meeting minutes, budgets and special assessments. The buyer may expressly waive its provision when the deed is executed, but that waiver does not eliminate potential liabilities.
If you need the certificate or property advice, contact our estate agency in Mallorca. We are here to handle legal and administrative matters relating to your properties. We hope this overview clarifies the importance of the certificate. Contact us if you have any questions! We will be delighted to help you.
To complete your review of paperwork and payments, see Documents to sell a home in Mallorca: a detailed guide and IBI property tax: what buyers and sellers should check.
