The second heat wave of this summer 2023 has already left temperatures above 40 degrees in many parts of Spain. On days like this, the community pool is essential to alleviate the heat, but do I have the right to use the pool in the urbanization where I own a parking space?
The hottest period of the year in Spain is approaching: the heatwave. It usually takes place from July 15 to August 15 and bathing in the urbanization’s community pool or making use of the common areas to cool off can generate controversy among the neighbors if we do not take our rights into account. But what does the Law say?
Do I have the right to use the community pool if I own a parking space?
The Supreme Court already endorsed in a sentence from a year ago that a community of owners prohibits the use of the community pool to the owners of parking spaces that do not reside in a house in the building. The resolution considers valid the agreement of a community of owners of Santa Ponça, a town located in the municipality of Calviá on the island of Majorca, which prohibits the use of the swimming pool and barbecue for garage owners who do not have a home in thecomplex.
The sentence is based on the consideration that a swimming pool, by its very nature, is at the service of the owners who have their residence in the building and that the owners of the garages are owners of the same, “but not for that reason they are residents, but users of a parking space”.
The Chamber upholds the appeal filed by the community of owners against a judgment of the Provincial Court of Palma de Mallorca that establishes the one issued by a court of First Instance of the same city. These sentences gave the right to an owner of several parking spaces, without housing in the building, and annulled the community agreement that prohibited the use of the pool and barbecue (sports area).
The community explained that the contested agreement, adopted by the majority, started from a petition for the indiscriminate use of these areas by a group of adolescents, about 15 people, who had made abusive use of the pool and that, after some inquiries, it was learned that they were all guests of a garage owner.
add that in accordance with article 394 of the Civil Code, each participant may use common things, provided that they dispose of them according to their destination, which must be complemented in accordance with article 396, when it determines that the different floors and premises of a building The building will have an inherent right of co-ownership over the other elements of the building necessary for its proper use and enjoyment.
The swimming pool as a common element -clarifies Salano- has as a natural destination to serve as enjoyment for the owners of the car parks, which will acquire them to park a vehicle and not for the recreational characteristics of the building. He stresses that “the use of the pool is foreign, therefore, to the very nature and purpose of acquiring a garage.”
Do I have to pay the pool spillage if I only own a garage space?
It emphasizes that the contested agreement does not constitute a restriction of the rights of the owners of the garages but a mere reproduction of what could already be deduced from the constitutive acts of the community. However, the supreme court adds that the owners of the parking spaces will be exempt from the expenses generated by those areas. The sentence is based on the consideration that a swimming pool, by its very nature, is at the service of the owners who have their residence in the building.
The court upholds the appeal filed by the community of owners of the La Flor del Golf 1 building in Santa Ponça against a judgment of the Provincial Court of Palma de Mallorca, which constituted the one handed down by a Court of this city. These rulings had upheld an owner of several parking spaces without a home in the building and annulled the community agreement that prohibited him from using the swimming pool and barbecue in the sports area.
