Spain: High community fees in small buildings

Seven units, one elevator, and €7,931 in annual expenses

[P]Reducing community fees seems like common sense: fewer services, lower bills. But in the seven-unit building with a single elevator described by the neighbor starting this debate, the fee is €118 per month per owner. The sum of the nineteen accounting items for 2021 he provides totals €7,930.89 annually, about €94 per unit per month. The gap between these figures is the first unanswered question.

[P]The core conflict is arithmetic. Fixed costs for a building—insurance, administration, elevator, cleaning—do not divide better when there are few owners; they divide worse. With seven doors, each bill weighs much more than in a fifty-unit building.

Where does the money go in a seven-unit community?

[P]In four items. Elevator maintenance costs €1,376.20 per year, and stairwell lighting €1,478.84, which practically includes most of the elevator's consumption. Cleaning (€1,103.16) and comprehensive insurance (€1,072) complete the block. Just the elevator and its electricity exceed €2,850, more than a third of the total budget.

[P]The management structure adds the next layer: €917.40 in administrative fees, €242 for data protection, €182 in bank commissions, €214.96 for vehicle passage tax, €129.84 for income tax withholding, and even €1.05 for photocopies. The fire extinguisher item appears duplicated—€441.95 and €80—when a new six-kilogram extinguisher costs around €50.

[P]Contrast with communities of similar size dismantles the "this is what it is" excuse. A ten-door building with seven neighbors declares about €750 in annual total expenses: €100 for lighting without an elevator, €340 for liability insurance, €160 for commissions, and cleaning based on usage. Another, with the elevator disabled and four vacant units held by a fund, sustains itself with €20 per month per owner. Without an elevator, some pay €170 a year, others €80.

[P]The background noise is always the same: every supplier raises rates, every regulatory obligation adds a new line, and the bill grows without anyone comparing alternatives.

Why does the maximeter reduce the elevator bill?

[P]Because contracted power is often oversized relative to actual consumption. The most cited method involves switching elevator billing to maximeter, a system that charges based on the power actually demanded at any given moment. In a community that applied this change, savings were estimated at about €500 annually.

[P]The procedure is more tedious than expensive: request the electrical CUPS code and distributor access, download power curves from the last two years, and locate the real peak and how frequently it occurs. With this data, an electrician or engineer advises on the appropriate power, a consultation costing between €50 and €100. Switching fluorescent lights to LED and adjusting lighting completes the package.

Can you do without a property manager?

[P]Yes, and some communities already do. A ten-owner building eliminated fees, receipt commissions, and postal charges: each owner makes their monthly transfer, and management is handled by a neighbor for free. They pay €65 per month and close the year with a surplus of €500 to €1,000, even carrying a delinquent payer.

[P]Against this weighs the administrative burden. Business activity coordination, data protection, and accounting do not disappear because a neighbor takes them on, and an accident involving the cleaner without proper documentation turns savings into a legal problem. The argument in favor lies in comparison: the same management, with a professional, can raise a fee from €30 to €80 monthly without adding any service.

[P]At larger scale, the effect dilutes. Ninety units with three elevators can pay €60 per month, and sixty-six owners accumulate €100,000 over two fiscal years. Economies of scale exist; the problem is that seven neighbors never reach them.

Expenses almost no one reviews

[P]Bank commissions are the clearest case: one community dropped from €240 to €120 annually just by changing banks, and some have agreements with managers' associations that adjust conditions. Comprehensive insurance allows review of coverage duplicated with home policies. The collective TV antenna costs €96.27 a year even though each neighbor has had their own for over a decade.

[P]Regarding obligations, data protection is billed at €242 in one building and €60 in another, and business activity coordination ranges from €160 to whatever the current provider says. These are small items separately but a drain when summed.

[P]The next general meeting is imminent, and none of the nineteen items has been crossed off yet. With these numbers, the community fee looks less like an inevitable expense and more like a menu no one has reread since signing up. How many of those items would survive a simple question: what is each one for?