Owning a home does not mean that you can freely change its exterior appearance, especially when the house is part of a community of neighbors and has to maintain a similar aesthetic to the rest of the properties. In many cases, if you do things that affect the aesthetics of the buildingthe community can force it to be undone, as in the case of this Australian woman who painted the roof of her house red and now will have to paint it again, because her neighbors consider that the color clashes with the rest of the homes.
According to information published by ABC Radio Brisbane, The house was located in a residential area where there were 64 other homes, and after changing the color of the roof, the owner received several complaints from neighbors, who described the new tone as “strident,” “disturbing” and “strange.”
The administration of the community of owners informed her that she had failed to comply with community regulations and that she would have to repaint the roof, but she refused and the case ended up before the authorities, where they agreed with the neighbors.
You will have to repaint the roof because the red color damages the aesthetics of the development
According to the owner, when she asked the community about the shades allowed to paint the roof, they did not indicate any specific color and the only instructions she received were to consult a professional to choose one similar to that of the neighboring homes.
However, after painting the roof red, the community sent him two notices for violating the development’s regulations, considering that the new color significantly altered its external appearance.
In fact, thirteen residents made allegations against the roof, although the woman assured that none of them had personally come to her house to complain.
Given their refusal to change it, the community took the case to the Office of the Commissioner for the Administration of Homeowners’ Communities, also alleging that the color could also harm the sale value of the other homes.
Finally, the owner was ordered to repaint the roof in its original color within three months, also at the expense of repainting it.
Can a community of owners in Spain force you to change the color of the roof?
If this case had occurred in Spain, something similar would have happened, since the Horizontal Property Law establishes in its article 7.1 that owners can make modifications to their homes, as long as these do not affect security, the general structure or the external condition of the building.
Taking this into account, changing the color of the roof to a different tone from that of the rest of the homes could alter the aesthetics of the residence.
A community of neighbors gets the court to force an owner to remove two enclosures from his terrace to repair the humidity on the floor below
The residents of a building have been living among scaffolding for six years that prevent them from opening the windows and leave their homes without natural light.
The Supreme Court has already ruled on a similar case in its ruling STS 2463/2014 of April 4, 2014, in which it was made clear that modifying the color of the common elements that are part of the façade requires authorization from the community of neighbors, even if these do not cause damage to the building.