Ask the readers: “My question is if the sanctions and charges are caused by a non-owner resident, the tenant, such as charges for the use of visitor parking and other fines, Are they paid by the tenant or paid by the owner? In my case, the Administration is charging them to my account for the administration fee, arguing that if the tenant does not pay, the owner is supportive and is the one who must pay. Is this true?»
Reply
Respect for payment of administration feesLaw 675 of 2001 provides that «for the purpose of ordinary common expenses there will be solidarity between the owner and the holder of any title of private property.»
(Also read: Rents will also go up with the change of year, how much more will you have to pay?).
They cannot be included in the monthly bill sent to the owner, the fines imposed on a tenant or occupant of a property for breach of obligations non-pecuniary determined in the horizontal property regulations or due to debts originated in the rent of a common good of economic exploitation such as parks or the social hall.
The aforementioned Horizontal Property Law, in its article 59, expressly mentions: “Failure to comply with non-pecuniary obligations that are enshrined in the law or in the horizontal property regulations, by the owners, holders or third parties for whom they must respond in the terms of the law, give rise, prior written request, indicating the term for adjustment to the rules governing the horizontal property, if applicable, to the imposition of the following sanctions (…)
Once this article was sued, the Constitutional Court declared it enforceable and ruled in the sense that «when it comes to the imposition of sanctions on the residents of the property, even when they are not owners of properties subject to the horizontal property regime, it must always be observed with respect to these, due internal process, a constitutional guarantee that, in no case, can be violated.” (Sentences C-318 and C-738 of 2002).
What can the owner do?
The purpose of quoting this standard and Judgments is to guide the reader and the administrative bodies when faced with faults or non-compliance by tenants and other occupants, since The standard does not apply only to buildings and residential complexes, but to any destination.
Additionally, the owner must be informed immediately so that he can take the pertinent measures, since at least Law 820 of 2003, in the case of housing, warns that the landlord can terminate the lease when the landlord fails to comply with the regulations and horizontal property regulations. Therefore, the owner of the property cannot be indifferent to the conduct of an occupant, when this occasion harms the other occupants of the same.
In the same way, they must exhaust the dispute resolution mechanisms in accordance with the provisions of the Law and the regulations, and the administrator may, if necessary, go to the police or judicial authorities if necessary.
News of 2022 in horizontal property
After two years of study and exhaustion but also of learning, was filed in the Congress of the Republic, Bill 301 of 2020 Chamber, 511 of 2021, Senate, Project that first sought to repeal and then substantially modify and require Law 675 of 2001, current Horizontal Property Regime in Colombia. In the same way, a law will be improved that, although it sought to solve some needs and problems of joint ownership, was suppressed during the process.
Immediately and without taking into account what had been advanced, corrected and deleted from the original text of the previous project, were filed with almost the same content as the first, two reform projects before the House of Representatives: 205 filed on September 21 and 282 on November 16, 2022.
I have recommended in this section and through other means, as other lawyers in the sector have done, that the latter be archived or withdrawn and that those who have had these initiatives dedicate their efforts to preparing and developing other issues that were pending such as the National Registry of Administrators, Control and Surveillance Inspection and Citizen Participation. Although they are not from the Horizontal Property structure, they are related to this Regime.
inquiries
Send your question, very specific and without attachmentsto the email: redaccioneconomicas@eltiempo.com