The effects of ten years of crisis in condominiums

Abstract

The present work deals with the effects of ten years of economic crisis in condominiums through the data collected from 1,202 surveys conducted in Spain to units’ owners residing there. The purpose of this survey was to determine the state of the residential housing stock in Spain and as a consequence to identify the actions that are necessary to carry out, to analyze the most common conflicts and problems within the condominiums and to detect the elements that may help in the future to improve their economy and management. The results show that ten years of economic crisis have affected the maintenance of condominiums, with a special incidence in the increase of the delinquency, at the time that has favored the origination of problems of cohabitation. The problems detected should make the legislator rethink key questions about the legal framework of condominiums, such as granting them legal personality or the promotion of alternative mechanisms of conflict solving. In this sense, a series of recommendations are formulated to improve the management, administration and finance of condominiums, as well as about the way to face the problems and the conflicts among residents, the actions in the field of universal accessibility and energy efficiency and the regime of housing tenures.