Your Legal Magazine
Page 8
Responsibility For Repairs of Rented Property
Responsibility for repairs can be a source of friction between landlords and tenants. A decision of the Spanish Supreme Court of 29th February 2012 further complicates this issue where your home is a flat in a block or your business is part of a block or commercial centre.
This case concerned damage caused by penetrating damp to commercial premises. The Court decided that it had to distinguish between those repairs which related only to an individual dwelling or commercial premises and those which related to structural elements in the block as a whole.
While the Law of Urban rentals of 1994 makes the landlord responsible for ensuring that a dwelling is habitable, or commercial premises are fit for the use for which they are intended, the Court held that the landlord could not be responsible for damage caused by defects in the common structure of the building. In addition, damage caused by such defects did not entitle the tenant to terminate their rental contract early or claim compensation from the landlord.
In these cases the responsibility to carry out repairs and to pay compensation lay with the Community of Owners of the individual properties in the building. However, the tenant was still obliged to advise their landlord of any damage or disturbance that they were suffering.
If you are renting a flat or business premises, and are suffering from damp, rot, or other structural problems what should you do?
First contact your landlord in writing by registered post, or burofax in Spanish to formally advise him of the problem. Second, examine your rental contract to check the precise physical description of your flat or business premises, and to see whether you and your landlord have agreed to vary the obligations imposed by Law in any way. Third, establish the source of the problem. If it lies entirely within your premises it is your landlord’s responsibility to repair it. If the source lies in the main structure of the building then make sure that your landlord informs the President of the Community of Owners, or the Administrator of the building so that repairs can be arranged. All Communities of owners must have in place insurance to cover claims of this kind.
It can often save much time and trouble in situations like this to take professional advice at an early stage, so please contact us at Linkpoint.
Link Point Legal and Business Services: 96 626 0500 Email:
client@linkpointlegal.com Web:
www.linkpointlegal.com
Female Focus
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60