Installing air conditioning at home can be a necessity, especially for older people or those who have health problems and who may be affected more than usual by high temperatures. But when you live in a community of neighbors, you have to have the authorization of the owners meeting to install it if it affects other neighbors or the aesthetics of the building. This is exactly what happened to a 76-year-old retiree in France, who asked to install air conditioning in her home for health reasons and was met with refusal from her community.
As detailed in the judgmentthe elderly woman had suffered three strokes that left her with scars, and since the heat could worsen her health conditions, she asked the neighborhood community for permission to install air conditioning.
Despite this, the community refused to install it because the retiree intended to put the outdoor air unit on one of the private terraces of the building. On the one hand, they considered that this could disturb the neighbors and, on the other, it could alter the aesthetics of the building. Given the refusal, the woman decided to go to court to obtain authorization, but the court ended up ruling in favor of the neighbors.
The neighbors refused because the air conditioning could cause noise and alter the aesthetics of the building.
Although the community had initially authorized the installation in September 2021, with a series of conditions, a year later it changed its decision and refused to allow the device to be placed.
From what the woman explained, the compressor would be located at the back of her terrace, hidden from the street, and would produce a maximum noise of 48 decibels, so she considered that it would not cause inconvenience to the other owners.
However, the community of neighbors assured that it could affect the tranquility of the nearby homes, especially because one of the apartments had two bedrooms with windows close to the place where it was intended to be installed.
The neighbors also argued that the installation could alter the harmony of the building and that the community regulations prevented the placement of elements that would harm its external appearance.
Your health problems are not sufficient to allow installation
After the court also rejected her request, the elderly woman went to the Court of Appeal, the equivalent of the Spanish Supreme Court, using as her main allegation that the heat could negatively affect her state of health.
As he defended in court, high temperatures could aggravate his situation, so having air conditioning at home was necessary to avoid suffering another relapse.
Despite this, the court considered that having poor health was not a sufficient reason to allow him to be installed under the conditions he requested, violating the rules of the neighborhood community.
The magistrates pointed out that the woman had not demonstrated that installing a device with an external compressor was the only possible solution to air condition her home. Additionally, although they acknowledged that noise would be reduced, it could disturb neighbors, especially at night.
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.
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For this reason, it was rejected that the outdoor device could be placed on the terrace of the building.