The Community President in Spain in 2026: LPH Election, Duties and Personal Liability Under Article 13

Under Spain’s Horizontal Property Law (Ley 49/1960, the LPH), the community president is not a figurehead. Article 13 makes the role mandatory: an owner elected at the annual general meeting must accept the position, holds legal representation of the entire community in and out of court, and by default also discharges the secretary and administrator functions unless the community decides otherwise. The 2024 and 2026 jurisprudence has sharpened the limits of that representation, the 2025 tourist-let reform has added a specific cessation duty, and the statute’s silence on age exemptions has produced a body of judicial practice that every owner should understand before accepting or refusing the role. For the broader legal framework, see our guide to the Horizontal Property Law, and for how decisions get voted on at the AGM, our community governance and voting guide.

What does LPH Article 13 say about the community president?

Article 13 of the LPH sets out the four governance organs of a comunidad de propietarios: the junta (the general meeting of all owners), the president and any vice-presidents, the secretary, and the administrator. The president is appointed from among the owners by election or, subsidiarily, by rotational turn or draw (sorteo). The legislature made the appointment compulsory so that no community can fail to function for lack of a leader; an owner who is designated but cannot serve must apply to a judge for relief within one month of taking office, invoking the reasons that justify release from the duty. The judge resolves through the procedure in Article 17.7 and, if the claim succeeds, names a substitute president to serve until a new appointment is made.

The president holds legal representation of the community in all matters that affect it, whether in judicial proceedings or outside them (Article 13.3). This means the president signs official communications, represents the community in court, and acts as the community’s visible face in dealings with contractors, utilities, and public authorities.

Is the presidency mandatory or can you refuse it?

The appointment is legally obligatory under Article 13.2. The drafters of the LPH understood that if owners could simply decline the role, many communities would be unable to constitute their governance organs. The refusal route is therefore judicial, not informal: the designated owner must petition a judge within the month following their accession to the role, presenting the reasons that make service impossible. The judge decides the matter through the Article 17.7 procedure, which allows the court to resolve in equity within twenty days, hearing the opposing parties in a preliminary hearing.

If the community itself cannot appoint a president for any reason, Article 13.2 also allows recourse to the judge, who will designate the office holder directly. This is the safety valve that prevents a community from becoming ungovernable when no owner steps forward.

Does the LPH exempt older owners from the presidency?

No. The LPH sets no age limit, maximum or minimum, for the community president. Article 13.2 states a single requirement: the president must be an owner. A statutory or estatutaria clause that purports to exempt owners above a certain age would be void as discriminatory and contrary to the law. The widespread belief that owners over 70 are automatically exempt is a myth: the statute does not say it, and a community cannot vote it into its statutes.

What the law does provide is the judicial relief mechanism of Article 13.2 itself, and judges have developed a consistent practice of granting exoneration to older owners who apply within the one-month window. The pattern is progressive: between 70 and 74, age alone rarely suffices and should be paired with a medical report showing health or mobility limitations; from 75 to 79, basic medical documentation typically secures relief; at 80 or above, exoneration is the norm rather than the exception, with a simple health confirmation usually enough. The critical point is that none of this is automatic. An owner who simply says “no” in the junta, or who lets the one-month deadline pass, remains president to all legal effects, and refusing to act can itself generate liability if the community suffers harm from the inactivity. The age factor only works through a formal application to the Juzgado de Primera Instancia, filed within the month.

What duties does the president actually perform?

The president’s duties flow from three sources in the LPH. First, Article 13.3 grants legal representation, which carries the practical responsibility of acting on the community’s behalf in legal and administrative matters. Second, Article 7.2 gives the president the power to require owners or occupants who carry out prohibited, nuisance, or illegal activities to cease immediately, on the president’s own initiative or at the request of any owner. If the offending conduct persists, the president, with prior junta authorisation, can file a cessation action in court; the judge may order provisional cessation on filing the claim, before the full trial takes place.

Third, under Article 13.5, the president by default also exercises the functions of the secretary and the administrator, unless the statutes or a majority junta agreement provides for those roles to be filled separately. This makes the president the central operational figure in many smaller communities, handling everything from calling meetings to commissioning urgent repairs. The financial side of community obligations, including what owners must pay and the reserve fund, is covered in our community fees guide.

What is the president’s role under the 2025 tourist-let reform?

Since 3 April 2025, the president has an additional, specific cessation duty. Ley Organica 1/2025 (Disposicion Final 4) added Article 7.3 to the LPH: an owner who wants to use a unit for tourist-let activity under Article 5.e of the LAU must first obtain the express approval of the community under Article 17.12. The president, on their own initiative or at any owner’s request, must require immediate cessation of any such activity carried out without that approval, using the same cessation procedure as for other prohibited activities under Article 7.2.

The same reform modified Article 17.12 so that a three-fifths majority of the total owners and quotas can now approve, limit, condition or expressly prohibit tourist-let activity (the previous text covered only limiting or conditioning). The same three-fifths majority may establish special fee surcharges for tourist-let units, up to a 20 per cent increase on the ordinary quota, and these agreements have no retroactive effect. The president’s practical role is to convene the junta for the vote, ensure the three-fifths quorum is correctly counted, and execute the resulting agreement, including any cessation action against a non-compliant owner. For how owners challenge such decisions, see our community dispute resolution guide.

How does the president differ from the secretary and administrator?

The distinction between these three roles is one of the most practically important and least understood aspects of Spanish community governance. The table below sets out the differences as the LPH structures them.

Role	Who can hold it	How appointed	Term	Core function
President	Must be an owner	Elected at AGM, or by turno rotatorio / sorteo	1 year unless statutes state otherwise	Legal representation of community (Art 13.3); mandatory
Vice-president	Must be an owner	Same procedure as president	1 year unless statutes state otherwise	Substitutes president in absence, vacante, or impossibility (Art 13.4)
Secretary	Any owner, or combined with president	By junta majority or statutes; defaults to president	1 year unless statutes state otherwise	Keeps records, issues debt certificates, handles notifications (Art 13.5)
Administrator	Any owner, or a professionally qualified person, or a company	By junta majority or statutes; defaults to president	1 year unless statutes state otherwise	Day-to-day building management, urgent repairs, budget preparation (Art 20)

The key distinction is between the president, who must be an owner and holds legal representation, and the administrator, who can be a non-owner professional. Article 13.6 expressly allows the administrator role to be exercised by persons with recognised professional qualifications or by corporate entities. This is why many communities employ a professional administrador de fincas to handle the day-to-day work while the elected resident president retains the legal representation and decision authority. The secretary and administrator roles can also be combined in a single person or held separately. For the professional role in detail, see our community administrator guide.

What personal liability does the president carry?

The LPH does not impose a standalone personal liability regime on the president. Liability flows from two sources. The first is the president’s role as legal representative under Article 13.3: when the president acts within their mandate and on the basis of validly adopted junta agreements, the community is the party liable, not the individual. The second is general civil law: a president who acts negligently, exceeds the scope of their mandate, or takes decisions without the junta authorisation that the LPH requires (for example, filing a cessation action under Article 7.2 without prior junta approval) can be personally liable for the resulting damage.

This means the president’s exposure is bounded by proper procedure. A president who follows the LPH’s requirements, obtains junta authorisation where the law demands it, and executes validly adopted agreements is not personally on the hook for the outcomes of those decisions. The community absorbs that liability.

What limits has the Supreme Court placed on the president’s court powers?

The president’s legal representation under Article 13.3 is not a blank cheque for unilateral litigation. The Supreme Court has built a consistent line of rulings, from STS of 27 March 2012 and STS of 19 February 2014 through to the most recent, holding that the president cannot decide unilaterally on matters of importance to the community that belong to the junta. The practical rules that emerge are:

Action	Junta authorisation required?	Governing ruling
Filing a demand (demanda)	Yes, express junta agreement	STS 19 Feb 2014; STS 3 Oct 2018
Filing a counterclaim (reconvencion)	Yes, express junta agreement	STS 916/2024, 27 June 2024
Contesting a demand filed against the community	No, urgency of procedural deadlines	STS 1/2019, 8 Jan 2019
Filing or contesting an appeal	No, urgency of procedural deadlines	STS 19 April 2023
Cessation action under Art 7.2	Yes, prior junta authorisation	LPH Art 7.2 (statutory)
Debt claim under Art 21	Yes, prior junta liquidation	LPH Art 21 (statutory)

STS 916/2024 of 27 June 2024 is the most recent extension of this framework. The Supreme Court held that a reconvencion is a demanda for the purposes of Articles 406 and 407 of the LEC, and therefore requires the same express junta authorisation as an original claim. A president who files a counterclaim without that authorisation lacks the active legitimation of the community, and the claim cannot proceed. The logic is that a counterclaim is an offensive use of the judicial process, not a defensive response to a deadline, so the rationale that exempts contesting a demand (procedural urgency) does not apply.

The Court has also made clear that the authorisation requirement is a matter of representation, not legitimation: the community holds the legitimation ad causam, and the president’s lack of prior agreement is a defect of representation that is, in principle, subsanable through ratification by the affected owners within the process (STS 543/2018, 3 October). This means a procedural misstep by a president does not necessarily sink the claim if the owners ratify it, but the safe path is always to secure the junta agreement before filing.

Can the president be removed before the term ends?

Yes. Article 13.7 provides that the term of office is one year unless the statutes state otherwise, and that any designated office holder can be removed before the term expires by a junta agreement adopted at an extraordinary meeting. The same junta that appoints therefore has the power to remove, which provides a democratic check on a president who loses the confidence of the ownership.

What happens in small communities of four or fewer owners?

Article 13.8 allows communities with no more than four owners to opt into the simplified administration regime of Article 398 of the Spanish Civil Code, provided the statutes expressly establish this arrangement. This is a lighter-touch alternative to the full LPH governance structure and can be practical for small buildings where the formal AGM, secretary, and administrator apparatus would be disproportionate.

How does the president interact with the junta’s voting rules?

The president’s powers are exercised within the framework of the junta’s voting majorities set out in Article 17. The thresholds are graduated by the gravity of the decision: a one-third majority of owners and quotas for telecoms and renewable-energy infrastructure including aerothermal and geothermal heat pumps (Article 17.1, as modified by RD-ley 7/2026); a majority of owners and quotas for accessibility works and energy-efficiency improvements (Article 17.2); three-fifths for new services, innovations exceeding three monthly quotas, and the tourist-let vote under Article 17.12 (Articles 17.3 and 17.4); unanimity for modifications to the title constitutive or the statutes (Article 17.6); and a simple majority of owners and quotas for ordinary matters (Article 17.7). When a majority cannot be reached through the prescribed procedures, Article 17.7 allows a party to apply to the judge, who resolves in equity within twenty days after hearing the opposing parties.

A 2026 reform has adjusted one threshold the president will encounter when convening juntas on energy infrastructure. Real Decreto-ley 7/2026 of 20 March (BOE-A-2026-6544, in force 22 March 2026) modified the first paragraph of Article 17.1 to expressly include aerothermal and geothermal heat pumps among the renewable-energy systems that can be approved by a one-third majority of owners and quotas. The president’s role in convening that vote is unchanged, but the lower threshold makes it easier to secure the agreement, and the costs cannot be charged to owners who voted against.

The president therefore operates within a system of checks and balances: they hold legal representation and can take urgent action, but major decisions require junta majorities, and disputes that cannot be resolved internally can be taken to a judge.

Will electronic voting change the president’s notification duties?

The LPH in its current text does not regulate telematic juntas or electronic voting. Article 15.1 requires personal attendance or representation by written authorisation, and Article 9.1.h requires owners to communicate a Spanish address for citations, with the tablon de anuncios as the fallback. The pandemic-era measures of RDL 8/2021, which temporarily permitted remote juntas, expired on 31 December 2021, and an Audiencia Provincial de Granada ruling of October 2024 annulled agreements adopted at a telematic junta held without proper statutory cover.

A reform is in progress but is not yet law. On 26 May 2026, the Pleno of the Congreso de los Diputados admitted to tramitation (306 votes in favour, 33 against, 10 abstentions) a proposicion de ley that would modify three LPH articles: Article 9.1.h to recognise email as a valid notification means, Article 15.1 to permit attendance by videoconferencia where the community has previously approved it, and Article 19.1 to allow a digital libro de actas. The reform was already approved unanimously by the Senado on 12 February 2025. The realistic estimate for entry into force is between late 2026 and mid-2027, depending on the amendment calendar. Until the reform publishes in the BOE, the safest paths for a president who wants to hold a telematic junta are a unanimous agreement of all owners under Article 16.3, or a statutory amendment incorporating remote attendance, which itself requires unanimity under Article 17.6.

How does the president interact with the community insurance policy?

The president’s legal representation extends to dealings with the community’s insurer, including the policy that covers the building’s common elements and, typically, the legal costs of cessation actions and debt recovery. When the president files a cessation action under Article 7.2 with prior junta authorisation, or a debt claim under Article 21, the community insurance often bears the legal costs within the policy’s scope. The interaction is practical, not statutory: the LPH does not regulate insurance, but the president should confirm the policy’s coverage before initiating proceedings, because the cover can determine whether the community funds the action out of reserves or through the insurer. For the insurance detail, see our community insurance guide.