It is possible challenge an act of the community of proprietaris sense advocat mitjançant a verbal judici quan:
- This refers exclusively to economic claims.
- The import of the materials does not exceed the 2.000€.
Otherwise, the law requires professional legal assistance to be provided.
How to convene the Owners' Meeting?
The Termcat conceptualizes challenging as: «combat the validity or effectiveness of a legal act». It is always basic to convene the Meeting as prescribed by the Civil Code of Catalonia.
| Convene the Board of Owners according to article 553-21 of the Civil Code of Catalonia |
| 1. The presidency convenes (…) in case of vacancy (…) it is promoted by interested parties. |
| 2. Ordinary summonses have both trametre vuit dies naturals d'antelació. |
| 3. In the case of extraordinary meetings to discuss urgent matters, in practice they must send both three natural tens d'anticipació. |
What information must be included in the call?
To ensure that the record remains difficult to challenge, the call must be impeccable:
| Information that must be included in the meeting call |
| Place and time. |
| Agenda (establert per qui presideixi). |
| The warning about the value of the vote of absent owners: computes in favor of the voted proposal (the Codi Civil Català ho diu implicitly). |
| The list of the owners and the community: the owners who They're not up to date Both the community have views at the meeting but do not vote (CCC art. 553-24.1). |
Terms for filing the claim
According to article 553-31.4 of the Civil Code of Catalonia, the terms applicable to the notification of the minutes or its annex:
| Types of infringement of the contested agreement | Termini de caducitat |
| Contradict the Law, the Title of the Constitution or the Statutes, or imply an Abuse of Dret. | 1 year |
| Opposing the interests of the Community or becoming detrimental to one of the owners. | 3 months |
Is it worth impeaching sense advocat?
No, per dues raons de pes:
- The risk of having to pay all procedural costs: And you can sort out molt car if you lose the verbal judici. The magistrate may force you to pay the fees of the advocate and attorney of the community.
- Procedural limitation: The challenge without letter is restricted to two reasons:
- L'extrajudicial.
- The claims for minors of €2,000.
Article 249 of the Civil Procedure Law: severe limitation on challenges without professional legal assistance
Article 249 of the LEC, titled «Ambit del Judici Ordinari», determines the validity and effectiveness of legal acts. The legislator explains that he intervened Justice is essential in most situations.
The second point, in mentioning the "verbal judici", is the only one that open the door to challenge sense advocat:
- “"The lawsuits will be decided by ordinary judiciary, whichever is followed by the quantum (...) always not exclusively on quantitat claims; in this case they will be processed by the rules of verbal judiciary (...)".
The procedure of verbal judiciary
Agraïm to Gralegal Advocats who have noted that we have to proceed to a important clarification on the procedure: a "quantitative claim" should not be confused with the "challenge of an agreement.".
Since the Verbal Judiciary is allowed to act as an advocate to claim damages of €2,000, the challenge of the validity of an act is always processed through the Ordinary Judiciary per the matter (art. 249.1.8è LEC).
Això implies that, Since the objective is to annul an agreement of the Board and not only claim a refund of money, the intervention of the advocate and attorney is obligatory by law..
These are the rules and phases that you have to understand If you decide to challenge sense advocat:
| The verbal judicial procedure: 1 advantage and 3 disadvantages | |
| Appearance | Observations |
| Agility of the procedure | The verbal judiciary is the fastest and simplest legal procedure. |
| Lawyer and Solicitor | The limit of €2,000: if your claim is less than this figure, the law allows you to defend yourself. If you pass it, the intervention of professionals is mandatory. |
| The procedural costs | A real risk: if you lose, you might not be forced to pay for the proceeds. |
| Formal requirements | Be the owner, be up to date with payments and have voted against the agreement. |
| The verbal judicial procedure: Phases | |
| Stage | Description |
| Demand | Initial writing explaining what you are claiming. If the amount is less than €2,000, there are official forms. Cal contribute all the proves (actes, photos, rebuts). |
| Answer | The Community has 10 working days to respond in writing. They must express whether they agree or if they request an in-person hearing (judici amb testimonis). |
Article 23.2 of the Civil Procedure Law holds the key to article 249
It is in Chapter V of the LEC ("On procedural representation and technical defense") that article 23.2 is established, which constitutes the legal basis for challenging an act of the community of owners as an advocate. This is available:
- “"The litigants may compare the following matters: 1st. In the verbal judiciary the determination of the quals has been carried out for the amount of the amount and this does not exceed 2,000 euros..."”
Grup Housfy works hard to solve your doubts.
Notes al peu:
- Legitimation: Check them out articles 553-31.2 and 553-31.3 of the Civil Code of Catalonia to discover the conditions that allow a decision of the minutes to be legally challenged.
