Several of your community's residents want to request permission to install enclosures and glass windows on their terraces and thus gain a few square metres from the living room of their homes. Can they do this? Do they have to ask the other owners for permission? Can a common element of the development be modified?
As a general rule, all works and renovations that affect the building, its common elements or the rights of the owners must be presented to the community administrator and the residents' board. In order to be carried out, they need the approval of the majority, as established by the Horizontal Property Law, the law that regulates the operation of homeowners' associations.
What is meant by common elements?
You should know that the legislation defines common elements as those that belong to all the owners of flats in a horizontal property regime. The installation of air conditioning on the façade, the enclosure of balconies and terraces or the placement of advertising can be classified as works that may affect the common elements by altering the aesthetics or configuration of the property.
Thus, if a neighbour decides to modify any architectural element, installation or service that affects the safety of the building, its structure, configuration or exterior condition or that harms the rights of another owner, he or she is obliged to inform the representative of the community and request permission.
The president will have to take the matter to the board, which will have to vote for or against. The project will only go ahead if it has the approval of three-fifths of the co-owners. Without the consent of the rest of the community, no neighbour can make modifications to the common elements of the property.
Let's imagine that a neighbour decides to act without the approval of the other co-owners and closes his terrace with glass doors. The community can sue him and ask for the reform to be challenged, even if it has already been completed. In addition, a judge could force the defendant to return the installation to its original state, paying all the costs.
Façades, balconies and roof terraces are the common elements that usually cause the most conflicts in communities. Although the installation of air conditioning on the façade or of shopkeepers on the terrace are also reasons for conflicts between neighbours.
However, some communities, in anticipation of conflicts between neighbours, include in their statutes a complete detail on how the common elements must be respected in the event of works, renovations or various actions by the neighbours. For example, they define the colour of the awnings, where the air conditioning units must be placed, the painting of the doors and windows so that, in short, the aesthetics and conditions of the property are safeguarded.