Community debt certificate: what a Spanish buyer inherits

The rule in the Horizontal Property Act

The Ley de Propiedad Horizontal (LPH, Act 49/1960) governs every building divided into separately owned flats and premises. Article 9.1.e is the source of the buyer’s liability. The consolidated BOE text (last update 3 October 2026) says the buyer of a flat or premises in horizontal property, “incluso con título inscrito en el Registro de la Propiedad”, answers with the acquired property itself for sums owed to the community for general expenses by previous owners, up to the limit of those attributable to the part of the year in which the purchase takes place and the three calendar years before. The property is legally charged with that obligation (“afecto”).

Three points follow:

• It applies even if your title is registered. A clean registry extract does not protect you from these debts; see the guide on the nota simple.
• The limit is the current year plus three full calendar years. It is not an amount, and it is not a fixed number of months.
• The same article says that community claims for those instalments have preferential status under art. 1923 of the Civil Code, ahead of the creditors listed in points 3, 4 and 5 of that article, subject to the preference for wages.

What the seller must do at the deed

Article 9.1.e also obliges the seller. In the public instrument by which the home is transferred, “el transmitente deberá declarar hallarse al corriente en el pago de los gastos generales de la comunidad de propietarios o expresar los que adeude”. The seller must also provide a certificate of the debt position with the community, matching the declaration, “sin la cual no podrá autorizarse el otorgamiento del documento público, salvo que fuese expresamente exonerado de esta obligación por el adquirente”.

Two consequences:

• The notary cannot authorise the deed without the certificate unless the buyer expressly waives it. A waiver is a decision to take the risk described above; the text does not say you should take it.
• The certificate must agree with the seller’s declaration.

Who issues it and how fast

The law says the certificate “será emitida en el plazo máximo de siete días naturales desde su solicitud por quien ejerza las funciones de secretario, con el visto bueno del presidente”. Seven calendar days, therefore, counting weekends. The person who acts as secretary and the president “responderán, en caso de culpa o negligencia, de la exactitud de los datos consignados en la misma y de los perjuicios causados por el retraso en su emisión”.

In practice, ask the seller to request it as soon as the arras are signed rather than the week of the deed; see the guide on the arras deposit contract. The 7 days run from the request, so the request must be made to the community, and the seller is the one the law obliges to supply it.

Obligations after you buy

Article 9.1.i obliges the owner to tell the secretary of the community of the change of ownership. An owner who does not do so keeps answering, jointly with the new owner, for community debts that arise after the transfer, without prejudice to the right of recourse. That does not apply where a governing body of the community learns of the change by other means, or where the transfer is notorious. Article 9.1.h also asks each owner to give the secretary an address in Spain for notices; without it, notices go to the flat itself or are posted on the community notice board, and take full effect three calendar days after posting.

For owners who live abroad this matters: the text makes a notice posted on the board effective, so the address you give the secretary is the one that counts.

Property tax (IBI): a separate liability

The IBI is a municipal tax, not a community charge, and the rule is not the same. Article 64.1 of the Texto refundido de la Ley Reguladora de las Haciendas Locales (TRLRHL, a national text) says that when the holder of the rights that trigger the tax changes, for any reason, the properties “quedarán afectos al pago de la totalidad de la cuota tributaria, en régimen de responsabilidad subsidiaria, en los términos previstos en la Ley General Tributaria”.

• Subsidiary, not joint: the text says subsidiaria. This guide did not read the General Tax Act, so it does not describe when the tax authority may turn to the new owner.
• The rule covers the whole tax amount, not only the last few years.
• The notaries “solicitarán información y advertirán expresamente” to the parties in the deeds they authorise about pending IBI debts linked to the property.

So ask the seller for the last IBI receipts and ask the notary what the town hall’s information shows. The tax base is the cadastral value; see the guide on the cadastral reference.

If the previous owner leaves debts

The community can claim any common-expense debts, including the reserve fund, through the special payment-order procedure (art. 21.2), and may sue the registered holder so that enforcement falls on the registered property. The statute also allows the community to adopt deterrent measures such as interest above the legal rate, if not abusive or retroactive, and allows mediation or arbitration (art. 21.1 and 21.6).

Which professional to consult

A lawyer registered with a Spanish bar association (colegio de abogados) can read the certificate against the community’s minutes and budget, and advise on a waiver. The community’s secretary and administrator are the ones who prepare it. See the page on the property lawyer and the guide on community fees and rules.