Electrical maintenance for homeowners' associations in Seville, Spain

The comunidad, explained for foreign owners

Every block of flats in Spain is run by a comunidad de propietarios: the community of owners, which British residents often call the community and Americans would call a homeowners’ association (HOA). Each year the owners elect a president from among themselves, and most buildings hire a property administrator (administrador de fincas, a managing agent) to run the accounts and the contractors. Decisions are taken at the owners’ general meeting (junta).

If your turn as community president has come round and you are new to the Spanish system, you may not know what the building’s electrical obligations are. This page explains them and how a maintenance contract takes them off your plate.

Community of owners electrical maintenance in Seville: what it covers

A comunidad has more electrical installation than it seems: the communal services panel, the entrance and staircase lighting, the emergency lights, the garage with its ventilation and carbon monoxide detection, the water pressure pumps, the automatic gate, the lift, the pool, the TV aerial and the door entry system. When one of them fails, every neighbour notices at once.

With an electrical maintenance contract, the comunidad gets scheduled checks that prevent most faults, and a reference electrician who knows the building and comes when needed. For the president and the administrator it means a single contact, written reports and clear quotes for the owners’ meeting.

What we check in each building

• Communal services panel. Protection devices, RCDs, tightness of connections, circuit labelling and the condition of the enclosure.
• Incoming supply installations. The main fuse box at the entrance, the main supply line and the meter room, which in older buildings often need updating.
• Lighting in communal areas. Entrance, stairs, landings, patios and gardens, with their timers, detectors and photocell switches.
• Emergency and signage lighting. Battery duration test and replacement of exhausted units.
• Garage. Lighting, forced ventilation, carbon monoxide detection, emergency lighting and panels, which in large garages undergo periodic inspection.
• Water pressure pumps and sump pumps. Control panels, protection devices and variable speed drives.
• Garage gates and automatic entrance doors. Motors, photocells, control panels and remotes.
• Lift supply line and panel, and the lighting of the machine room and the pit, in coordination with the lift company.
• Communal pool. Filtration plant, underwater lighting and sealed panel.
• Lightning rod, communal aerial and door entry system, when the comunidad includes them in the contract.

Preventive and corrective maintenance

The contract has two parts that complement each other:

• Preventive. Scheduled visits, at the frequency the comunidad agrees, to check everything above and leave a report with photos of what was found and corrected. Lamps and small parts are replaced on the spot, and anything needing more work is flagged with a quote. If agreed, we include thermal imaging of the panels, which detects loose connections and hot spots before they cause a fault.
• Corrective. Fault call-outs 24 hours a day: staircase or garage in the dark, communal services RCD tripping, automatic gate stuck or pump stopped. We give you an estimated arrival time when you call. For one-off emergencies in a flat, see our 24-hour emergency electrician.

Legal obligations of the comunidad

• Horizontal Property Act, article 10. The comunidad must carry out the work needed to maintain and preserve the building and its services properly, and the communal electrical installation is one of them.
• Periodic inspections by an authorised control body (OCA), ITC-BT-05. Communal installations of residential buildings over 100 kW are inspected every 10 years; garages with more than 25 spaces and forced ventilation (or more than 5 with natural ventilation), every 5 years; also pools over 10 kW and outdoor lighting over 5 kW. We prepare the inspection and correct the defects.
• Garages (ITC-BT-29 and the Building Code). A car park is a space with fire risk, with requirements for ventilation, carbon monoxide detection and emergency lighting.
• Fire protection (RIPCI, Royal Decree 513/2017). Fire detection in the garage and communal areas needs periodic maintenance by a company authorised for it.

How we work with presidents and property administrators

1. Initial visit to the building to list the communal installations and spot anything that needs immediate attention.
2. Condition report and contract proposal, with the monthly fee, the frequency of checks and what is included.
3. Inspection plan according to the agreed calendar and the dates of compulsory inspections.
4. Report after each visit with photos, for the administrator and the owners.
5. Written quotes for any work outside the contract, ready to present to the neighbours.
6. Claims and documents for the comunidad’s insurance when there is an incident.

If you manage several communities, we have a service designed for you under for professionals.

Guide prices in Seville

These are guide prices, confirmed with a fixed quote after visiting the building. The fees of the control body depend on the complexity of the building. Other rates are on our prices page.

Older and newer communities

• Buildings from the 1960s and 1970s in Nervión, Los Remedios, Triana or La Macarena. Communal panels with old protection devices, staircase lighting with inefficient lamps, scattered meters and supply cables that have become too small. Maintenance starts with an update in phases, beginning with safety. More on Nervión, Los Remedios and Triana.
• Buildings from the 1980s and 1990s in Sevilla Este, Los Bermejales or Pino Montano. Large garages that already undergo periodic inspection, pumps and gates with many years of use and lighting that calls for a switch to LED with detectors. More on Sevilla Este.
• New communities in Palmas Altas, Hacienda del Rosario or Entrenúcleos. The installation is recent, but during the first year it is worth checking what the developer must correct under warranty, and organising the maintenance of the garage, pools and pumps from the start. More on Palmas Altas and Isla Natura and Entrenúcleos.

EV charging in the comunidad

More and more neighbours want a charger in their space, and the law allows it with simple notice to the comunidad (article 17.5 of the Horizontal Property Act), with no vote, but never connected to the communal services meter. We explain the individual case in EV charger in a communal garage. When many neighbours want one, the orderly solution is collective pre-wiring: a main line with a load manager to which each neighbour later connects their charger. It is approved by one third of the owners representing one third of the shares, and those who vote for it pay.

Saving on the communal electricity bill

The three measures that make the most difference to the communal account are LED in every communal area, presence detectors on stairs, landings and in the garage, and adjusting the contracted power of the communal services to the real consumption. We propose them with the estimated saving so the owners’ meeting can decide with figures. All our services for buildings are under homeowners’ associations.