{"id":104680,"date":"2024-01-25T07:30:27","date_gmt":"2024-01-25T06:30:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fotocasa.es\/fotocasa-life\/sin-categoria\/que-se-puede-hacer-y-que-no-al-vivir-en-comunidad\/"},"modified":"2026-06-08T08:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T06:00:00","slug":"living-in-a-community-rules-what-is-allowed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fotocasa.es\/fotocasa-life\/lifestyle\/living-in-a-community-rules-what-is-allowed\/?lang=en","title":{"rendered":"Living in a community in Spain: What you can (and cannot) do"},"content":{"rendered":"<table class=\"table table-striped table-color-200\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<ul>\n<li>The Horizontal Property Law (LPH) <strong>allows pet ownership in private homes<\/strong>, although community statutes can limit their access to common areas.<\/li>\n<li>Municipal ordinances can penalize <strong>noise levels above the permitted decibels with fines up to \u20ac3,000<\/strong>, and <strong>hanging laundry on facades with up to \u20ac750<\/strong> in certain cities.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Paying community assessments is mandatory<\/strong> under the LPH, provided that the works guarantee safety, the building&#8217;s habitability, or the removal of architectural barriers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>Unlike single-family homes, properties located in buildings with a neighborhood community require compliance with a series of coexistence rules to <strong>maintain harmony and the well-being of all residents<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>At Fotocasa, we review what the Horizontal Property Law says and what the main rules are that you must follow regarding noise, special assessments for building improvements, or pet ownership, among others.<\/p>\n<p>Did you know that in some cities it is forbidden to hang laundry on the balcony?<\/p>\n<h2>What are the 5 main rules when living in a community in Spain? Noise, assessments, pets&#8230;<\/h2>\n<h3>1- Can I hang laundry on the balcony in Spain?<\/h3>\n<p>The answer is that it depends on the city. Although it is usually taken for granted that hanging laundry on the balcony is legal everywhere in Spain, <strong>the truth is that there are some towns where it is prohibited<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>For example, municipal regulations in Barcelona, Madrid, and Valencia regulate this practice, which is incorporated into the Horizontal Property Law (LPH). In fact, <strong>fines of up to \u20ac750<\/strong> are provided for citizens who break this regulation. This is because <strong>hanging clothes or displaying flags on balconies<\/strong> is a practice that can affect the aesthetics of the building or the success of selling or renting properties.<\/p>\n<h4>Regulations for hanging laundry according to the type of balcony in Spain<\/h4>\n<table class=\"table table-striped table-color-200\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<th>Where is the laundry hung?<\/th>\n<th>Who sets the rules?<\/th>\n<th>Is it allowed?<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Exterior Balcony<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>Your city&#8217;s Town Hall (Municipal Ordinances)<\/td>\n<td><strong>Generally prohibited*<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Terrace or Interior Courtyard<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>The building&#8217;s neighbors (Community Statutes)<\/td>\n<td><strong>Normally allowed**<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><em>Source: Municipal Ordinances and Horizontal Property Law<\/em><\/p>\n<p>*Fines are issued because it affects the visual aesthetics of the neighborhood&#8217;s facade.<\/p>\n<p>**It is a domestic use, as long as the internal statutes of the building do not state otherwise.<\/p>\n<p><span data-sheets-root=\"1\"><section class=\"mini-posts\"><div class=\"row align-items-center\"><div class=\"col-4 col-md-3 pt-2 pb-2\"><div class=\"mini-posts__image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fotocasa.es\/fotocasa-life\/lifestyle\/balcony-renovation-neighbour-permission\/?lang=en\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.fotocasa.es\/fotocasa-life\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Do-you-need-balcony-renovation-permits-Here-is-what-to-know-1-355x230.png\" alt=\"Want to renovate your balcony in Spain? First, you will need to ask your neighbours for permission\" title=\"-\"><\/a><\/div><\/div><div class=\"col-8 col-md-9 pt-2 pb-2\"><h3 class=\"mini-posts__title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fotocasa.es\/fotocasa-life\/lifestyle\/balcony-renovation-neighbour-permission\/?lang=en\">Want to renovate your balcony in Spain? First, you will need to ask your neighbours for permission<\/a><\/h3><\/div><\/div><\/section><\/span><\/p>\n<h3>2- Can the neighborhood community forbid me from having pets?<\/h3>\n<p>According to the Horizontal Property Law, neighbors in a community <strong>cannot ban pets on the property<\/strong>, meaning any owner can have a pet at home. However, certain coexistence rules must be respected.<\/p>\n<p>In the statutes of the community of owners, neighbors can <strong>establish limitations regarding pets in common areas<\/strong>, such as banning dogs from entering community spaces like gardens or elevators.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fotocasa is the expert real estate portal if you are looking for your home in Spain and want to resolve your doubts about housing<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":152,"featured_media":104689,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"yes","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13668],"tags":[15547,15548,14611,14821,13686,13687,13688,13550,15546,15270,13547],"class_list":["post-104680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-cohabitation","tag-communal-areas-h1-living-in-a-community-what-you-can-and-cannot-do","tag-community-of-owners","tag-foreign","tag-houses-in-spain","tag-housing-doubts-in-spain","tag-lifestyle","tag-live-in-spain","tag-neighborhood-rules","tag-property-law","tag-real-estate-market"],"modified_by":"Patricia Andr\u00e9s","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fotocasa.es\/fotocasa-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fotocasa.es\/fotocasa-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fotocasa.es\/fotocasa-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fotocasa.es\/fotocasa-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/152"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fotocasa.es\/fotocasa-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.fotocasa.es\/fotocasa-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104680\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fotocasa.es\/fotocasa-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fotocasa.es\/fotocasa-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fotocasa.es\/fotocasa-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fotocasa.es\/fotocasa-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}