By: Norma Villalobos
Associate – LatinAlliance El Salvador
We are accustomed to the fact that once we acquire a property, we have the absolute freedom to dispose of it according to our need, since we are the owners and the use, enjoyment and disposition of the property we acquire corresponds to us; However, it is increasingly common for investors and developers of real estate projects to carry out all kinds of housing, office and shopping mall constructions, subject to the condominium property regime, where that freedom is limited for the benefit of a life in community that represents the condominium property.
El Condos defined by civil law[1] as the situation in which ownership of a thing is shared by two or more people; In this case, the ownership of the property belongs to several people.
This special regime is a modality of the property rights which is characterized by the fact that its owner has exclusive or private ownership of a house, apartment, flat or premises (with certain limitations for the benefit of the condominium), but shares co-ownership of the areas that are common to the condominium owners (inhabitant of the condominium as owner, tenant, usufructuary or other) in proportion to the value of your house, apartment, apartment or local acquired, areas of which you can enjoy complying with certain charges; This right is inseparable from the domain that you have over the house, apartment, flat or premises and cannot be encumbered or transferred separately.
There is no doubt that the regime condominium property It provides great benefits for the condominium owners, since with it the costs for the acquisition and maintenance of the common areas are reduced. This is how we can see more frequently that it is easier to access to live or do business within a residential complex and towers of corporate buildings that enjoy great amenities and accessories, that if it did not belong to the condominium, its cost would be very high, difficult purchase and costly to maintain.
This regime is typical of Shopping Centers, whose premises can be privately owned by their owners or be leased by them and enjoy certain areas that are common to the entire shopping center such as corridors, green areas, elevators, bathrooms, parking lots, among other.
The decisions that govern life in the condominium are made by the Assembly of Owners made up of the owners of the different houses, apartments, flats or premises; representing the maximum authority of the condominium, whose decisions – which are made by majority and are mandatory for all – generally have to do with the good administration of the common things of the condominium and relations between the condominium owners. The Owners Assembly appoints a Board of Directors and a Condominium Administrator who can be a natural or legal person.
But like all community life, condominium property reveals some situations that are common in daily life and that deserve to be regulated in a concrete way to facilitate relations between the condominium owners; for example, the limitation in the architectural construction of houses, apartments or commercial premises, noise management and the payment of maintenance fees for common areas, which are defined in the Homeowners' Assembly and are mandatory for all homeowners; however, they are not always complied with by all, requiring legislation that takes into account the way to treat these particularities.
In addition to being governed by national laws, each condominium has its own Regulations that represent its internal regulation on property, community and administration relations between the different owners or occupants of the condominium; In this regulation, the common things are fundamentally defined, attributions of the Assembly of Owners, Board of Directors and Administrator.
In El Salvador, this type of property right is regulated by a law dating from 1961, Real Estate Property Law for Flats and Apartments, which no longer responds to the current trends in condominium living, so the Condominium Regulations play a fundamental role in regulating coexistence in it, in the current conditions in which this special type of property is developed; as long as we have a law that harmonizes with reality.
[1] Dominguez Martinez, Jorge Alfredo. Civil Law general part: people, things, legal transactions and disability.