What documentation a community of owners should keep well organised

A community can operate for years with its documentation scattered, until a change of president, a major breakdown, a claim or a change of administrator arrives. At that point the questions appear: where is the constitutive title? Do we have every contract? Which policy is in force? Who keeps the minute book?

The Horizontal Property Law entrusts the administrator with the custody of the community's documentation, at the disposal of the owners. The secretary, for their part, must keep the minute books and retain for five years the notices of meeting, communications, proxies and other relevant documents of the meetings.

1. Constitutive title (the title deed establishing the horizontal property), horizontal division and bylaws

These are basic documents for understanding how the building is legally configured: privately owned elements, annexes, participation quotas, possible special cost-allocation rules and, where they exist, bylaws.

They may not be consulted every day, but they become decisive when a question arises about who must pay a cost, which element is common or how a garage, block or sub-community is organised.

2. Minute book and general meeting documentation

It is worth keeping the following in order:

• the minute book;
• notices of meeting;
• closed and signed minutes;
• relevant proxies and delegations;
• financial documentation submitted for approval;
• budgets or annexes forming part of important resolutions.

The minutes should not become the only place where one tries to reconstruct, years later, what happened. If a resolution relies on a specific budget, report or plan, it is useful for that document to remain linked to the meeting file.

3. Accounting, banks and invoices

Transparent management requires that the main financial movements can be reconstructed. In practice it is worth keeping the following easy to find:

• annual budgets and settlements;
• bank statements and listings;
• invoices and receipts;
• direct debit files and receipts;
• position regarding balances and arrears;
• documentation of extraordinary expenses or special levies.

It is not only a matter of keeping papers. The information must be presentable in an understandable way, so that owners know what has been received, what it has been spent on and what remains outstanding.

4. Contracts and suppliers

Lifts, cleaning, door maintenance, pools, gardens, booster pumps, health and safety or telecommunications can generate contracts with different durations, renewals and obligations.

That is why it is worth keeping the current version of each contract, identifying the supplier, the service, the cost and the relevant dates. An isolated invoice does not always show the terms that were agreed.

5. Community insurance and claims

The policy in force, the receipts and the information needed to handle claims must be readily retrievable. Where an important file has existed, it is also useful to keep the documentation of the claim report, communications, expert reports or compensation organised.

6. Administrative and tax documentation

Depending on each community, there may be a tax identification number (NIF), certificates, tax returns, communications with public bodies, employment contracts or documentation associated with subsidies and works.

The exact list depends on the reality of each building. That is why it is preferable to work with a documentary structure adapted to the community, rather than storing everything in a generic “other documents” folder.

7. Incidents, works and maintenance

Incidents that last weeks or months need more than an email thread. It is advisable to keep a traceable record of quotations, authorisations, visits, photographs, invoices and communications until the matter is actually closed.

Good documentary organisation also makes changes of governing board or of administrator easier: knowledge about the community should not disappear when a person changes.

Documentation has to serve the running of the community

The final goal is not to have a perfect archive, but for the community to be able to find what it needs, justify its accounts and keep open matters moving.

Main sources of law reviewed for this article: Act 49/1960 on Horizontal Property (Ley de Propiedad Horizontal), in particular articles 19 and 20. Consolidated text as published in the Official State Gazette (BOE), last update published on 21/03/2026.