The Provincial Court of Alicante has confirmed that an owner cannot demand payment of community fees from his tenant if the contract does not specify in writing the annual amount of said fees. Therefore, it rejects the claim for 20 euros corresponding to a community monthly payment that the landlord made to the tenant when considering that the legal requirements to pass on that expense were not met since it had not been correctly specified in the contract.
According to the ruling of March 2025, the landlord sued his tenant demanding various concepts, including compensation for damages, application of the penal clause and unpaid rentin addition to the 20 euros for the aforementioned community fee.
The Court of First Instance rejected the claim for the 20 euros community fee, considering that the owner had not proven that he had previously paid that amount to the community of owners, understanding that only after that payment could he take over the position of creditor and demand it from the tenant.
The community can only claim payment from the owner
The Alicante Provincial Court first recalled that, in accordance with article 9.1.e) of the Horizontal Property Law (LPH), the person obliged to pay the community of owners is always the owner of the property. That is, even if the apartment is rented, the community cannot go against the tenant to demand unpaid fees.
This means that the responsibility towards third parties falls exclusively on the owner, regardless of what has been agreed in the rental contract.
However, he stressed that in the rental contract between the parties, it can be agreed that the tenant assumes community expenses. But for this agreement to be valid, article 20 of the Urban Leases Law (LAU) requires two clear conditions:
- That the agreement be in writing.
- That the annual amount of said expenses be determined on the date of the contract.
Community fees, as they are not individualized expenses, can only be passed on to the tenant if these formal requirements are strictly met.
In this case, the Court found that the contract did not set the annual amount of community expenses, not even approximately. Therefore, it concluded that the tenant was not obliged to pay the 20 euros claimed.
The court thus confirmed that a generic clause that attributes the community payment to the tenant is not enough. If the annual amount is not specified at the time of signing the contract, the agreement may be considered invalid and the owner will not be able to demand those amounts.
However, the sentence was not final and an appeal could be filed against it before the Superior Court of Justice of the Valencian Community or before the Supreme Court.