Your cuota de condominio (condominium fee) comes from two numbers: the total common expenses for the period and the percentage (the alícuota, or ownership share) that the documento de condominio (condominium deed) assigns to your apartment. The rules are in the Ley de Propiedad Horizontal (Condominium Law; Gaceta Oficial No. 3.241 Extraordinario, August 18, 1983), which is still in force.
The alícuota: your apartment's percentage
Article 7 says that each apartment "se atribuirá una cuota de participación" (will be assigned a participation share), expressed in hundredths of the total value of the building, and that this share "servirá de módulo para determinar la participación en las cargas y beneficios" (will serve as the basis for determining the share in the burdens and benefits) of the community. This is what is called the alícuota in practice.
If your statement applies a percentage different from the one in your document, ask for the explanation in writing. How the asamblea de propietarios (owners' meeting), the junta de condominio (condominium board) and the administrador (building manager) work is covered in the guide on the condominium in Venezuela.
Which expenses are common and how they are split
Article 11 defines as common expenses, "a todos los propietarios o a parte de ellos, según el caso" (to all the owners or to some of them, as the case may be):
Article 12 requires each owner to contribute to those expenses "en proporción a los porcentajes" (in proportion to the percentages) assigned to them under article 7. The exception: if a common element was assigned to the exclusive use of one apartment, in the cases the law allows, that owner pays all of its maintenance, its minor repairs and the major ones caused by not having done the minor ones in time. In addition, the documento de condominio can describe common elements limited to certain apartments (article 26).
Calculation example (hypothetical)
Invented figures, with no currency, only to show the arithmetic.
| Step | Hypothetical figure |
|---|---|
| The apartment's alícuota under the documento de condominio | 1.25% |
| Common expenses for the month (security, cleaning, electricity for common areas, elevator) | 400,000 |
| Fee: 400,000 × 1.25% | 5,000 |
| If the documento provided for a 10% surcharge for a fondo de reserva (reserve fund): 400,000 × 10% | 40,000 |
| Fee with that surcharge: (400,000 + 40,000) × 1.25% | 5,500 |
A special assessment approved in an asamblea is, in principle, split the same way (article 12), unless the expense is common to only some of the owners.
The fondo de reserva and the administrador's accounts
The law does not mention a fondo de reserva, nor does it set its percentage or regulate its use. The closest provision is article 20, letter d: if what is collected exceeds the common expenses, "los propietarios por mayoría, podrán darle un destino diferente u ordenar su distribución" (the owners, by majority, may put it to a different use or order its distribution).
In our reading, if your building charges a fondo de reserva, the rule must come from the documento de condominio, the reglamento (bylaws) or an acta (minutes) of the asamblea. An example: in a collection lawsuit in Caracas (Juzgado Tercero de Primera Instancia Civil, the Third Civil Court of First Instance, July 3, 2007), the plaintiff management company alleged that its building's document allowed it to add 10% to the expenses "con el objeto de formar un fondo de reserva general y dos particulares" (in order to build one general reserve fund and two specific ones). The court did not rule on that clause.
Under article 20, the administrador must collect the fees, keep the accounts of income and expenses, keep the vouchers and make them available to the owners for examination, keep books sealed by a notary or a judge and present "el informe y cuenta anual de su gestión" (the annual report and account of their management). Failing to meet those duties gives grounds for their removal. The junta de condominio must oversee the proper handling of the funds (article 18).
Can the fee be charged in dollars?
The Ley de Propiedad Horizontal says nothing about the currency of the fees, and we did not find a rule that expressly regulates condominium fees in foreign currency. There are general rules and rulings that point in different directions:
If your building charges in dollars, ask for the acta that approved it and check which rate the statement uses to convert to bolívares. To dispute it, consult a lawyer before the article 25 deadline runs out.
If you don't pay: interest and collection
How to challenge a fee or a resolution
The resolution that created the expense (article 25). Any owner can challenge the majority's resolutions before a judge for violating the law or the documento de condominio, or for abuse of rights. The deadline is 30 days from the asamblea, or from the administrador's communication if the resolution was adopted outside an asamblea; if there was no notice or communication, it runs from when you learned of it. Challenging does not suspend the resolution, although the judge can suspend it provisionally. The procedure is that of the juicios breves (short proceedings).
A costly improvement. Improvements to common elements require 75% of the owners, and a judge can suspend them, among other grounds, "cuando su costo no esté debidamente justificado" (when their cost is not properly justified) (article 9).
An error in the statement. If the problem is the arithmetic or the alícuota, start by examining the accounts and the vouchers (article 20). The law sets no special procedure for correcting a statement; if they do not correct it, consult a lawyer.