Changing your property administrator: what documentation should be handed over to the new practice

Changing your property administrator should not mean starting from scratch. The community needs the financial, documentary and operational information to be passed on to the new person responsible in an orderly manner.

The Horizontal Property Law entrusts the administrator with the custody of the community's documentation, at the disposal of the owners. Beyond that, the actual content of the handover will depend on the services, installations and existing matters in each building.

When the change also affects the processing of personal data, it is worth remembering that the community is the data controller and the administrator engaged acts, as a general rule, as processor. The transfer must be carried out following the community's instructions and limited to the information necessary to continue the administration.

1. Minute book and meeting documentation

The new administrator needs to know the resolutions in force and the approved matters that have not yet been executed. It is worth reviewing:

• the minute book;
• the latest notices of meeting and minutes;
• resolutions pending execution;
• budgets or reports linked to those resolutions;
• relevant proxies kept in accordance with the regulations.

2. Current financial position

The handover should make it possible to reconstruct the community's financial position on a given date. For example:

• bank balance;
• latest available year-end accounts or settlement;
• budget in force;
• receipts issued;
• owners in arrears;
• invoices pending entry or payment;
• special levies in progress.

It is important to distinguish between the balance shown in the software and the actual balance of the bank account, and to explain any items pending reconciliation.

3. Banks, direct debit batches and collection methods

It is not enough to communicate an IBAN. It is necessary to identify which accounts the community uses, which direct debit batches are planned, which receipts are domiciled and whether there are pending dealings with the bank.

Personal credentials should not be shared indiscriminately. Where an access or certificate depends on a specific authorisation, its replacement or renewed authorisation must be managed through the appropriate procedure.

4. Owners and contact details

The new practice will need the information required to administer the community and communicate with the owners. The transfer must be made in compliance with data protection regulations, following the community's instructions and avoiding the transfer of information that is not necessary for the purpose of the administration.

It is also useful to identify known changes of ownership, addresses for notification and any special situations affecting the management.

5. Contracts, suppliers and maintenance

Recurring services are a particularly sensitive area:

• lifts;
• cleaning;
• common electricity and water;
• pool and gardens;
• doors and access control;
• insurance;
• other periodic maintenance.

The handover should identify the supplier, the contract in force, the cost, the expiry date and any incident or pending quotation.

6. Open claims and incidents

A leak, a façade repair or an insurance claim can run for several months and coincide with the change of administrator. If the new practice receives only the invoices but not the history of the matter, the risk of duplicating work or losing track increases.

That is why it is worth providing a list of open matters with current status, the person responsible on the supplier side, latest action and planned next step.

7. Taxes, certificates and administrative files

Where there are tax obligations, subsidies, municipal files, digital certificates or other procedures, it is necessary to identify clearly what has been filed, what is pending and which dates require attention.

The best handover is the one that leaves few unanswered questions

An orderly transition benefits the community and also the outgoing administrator: it makes it possible to define the state in which the management is handed over and reduces later confusion.

Before closing the change it is useful to prepare an inventory or handover report, especially where there are many installations, open files or historical documentation.

Main sources of law reviewed for this article: Act 49/1960 on Horizontal Property (Ley de Propiedad Horizontal), in particular articles 19 and 20, and guidance from the Spanish Data Protection Agency on communities of owners and property administrators. Consolidated text of the Horizontal Property Law as published in the Official State Gazette (BOE), last update published on 21/03/2026.