The President of the Owners’ Association

The president is one of the organs of the association in accordance with Article 13.1 LPH. He or she is to be elected from among the owners. Instead of an election, the articles of association or a resolution of the owners’ meeting may stipulate that all owners shall hold the office of president in succession in a predetermined order, or that the president shall be determined by lot from among all owners. Even if an owner is appointed president against his will and is then obliged to perform this function, the law allows him, in exceptional cases where he is unable to perform his duties, to apply to the competent court within one month for exemption from his office (Article 13.2 LPH).

The office of president involves numerous tasks. On the one hand, the president represents the community in and out of court in all matters concerning it and also ensures that the decisions taken are implemented. On the other hand, he convenes the ordinary and extraordinary meetings, which he chairs (Article 16 LPH).

Furthermore, he has a certain supervisory and control duty over the functions performed by the secretary and property manager. This is reflected, for example, in the fact that he must sign the minutes drawn up by the secretary together with the latter, and that the certificates to be issued by the secretary must be countersigned by the president (Articles 9.1.e), 9.1.h.) and 21.1 LPH).

Furthermore, he has a certain supervisory and control duty over the functions performed by the secretary and the building manager. This is reflected, for example, in the fact that he must sign the minutes drawn up by the secretary together with the latter, and that the certificates issued by the secretary must be countersigned by the president (Articles 9.1.e), 9.1.h.) and 21.1 LPH).

If the community has not expressly appointed other persons to the offices of secretary and administrator, the president must also assume their duties in a dual role (Article 13.5 LPH).

Even if the president is not authorised to make decisions without the owners’ meeting and is not permitted to take measures on his own authority without the corresponding resolution, he may act on behalf of the community without its instructions if urgent action is required or if the matter concerns largely insignificant day-to-day business. Regardless of whether a resolution has been passed or not, the community, at least externally, generally acts effectively in relation to third parties through its president. Due to the lack of legal personality of the owners’ association, there were doubts as to the classification of his power of representation. Article 13.1 LPH stipulates that the president is an organ of the owners’ association, and Article 13.3 LPH specifies that he is responsible for representing the association by virtue of law, but there was disagreement as to whether the designation as an organ could be accurate at all in the absence of legal personality. This led to numerous opinions that the actual representative position of the president was halfway between organ representation (representación orgánica) and voluntary representation (representación voluntaria). Nevertheless, the original prevailing opinion, according to which organ representation must be assumed, has continued to prevail. As a consequence, it can be inferred from the provisions on the president’s power of representation contained in Article 13 LPH that the president, as the legal representative (Article 13.3 LPH), can act in external relations by virtue of law, even without a special resolution of the owners’ meeting, and that his actions as an institutional representative are directly attributed to the community as if it had acted itself. Therefore, all members of the owners’ association are bound by his actions, regardless of whether they voted for or against him in the election of the president. Internally, however, the president is responsible to the other owners if he has taken unauthorised measures that required a resolution and is liable to them if necessary.

The term of office provided for by law is one year. However, the term of office may be changed by the articles of association or by resolution. Removal from office is possible at any time by resolution (Article 13.7 LPH).