Virtual neighbourhood board meetings avoid having them face-to-face and this allows owners to meet without going or moving anywhere. If these virtual meetings were implemented in our country, it would mean being able to hold neighbourhood association meetings without taking any risk of contagion during this pandemic. In addition, it would enable to meet without having to go to face-to-face meetings, a fact which would achieve a high level of comfort for the owner. Currently, the law forces to have one neighbourhood board meeting per year; however, nowadays this is not possible because of the pandemic. In the vast majority of Spanish neighbourhood boards, face-to-face meetings cannot take place for fear of contagion. For this reason, property administrators have asked the Government to draw up legal regulations that will allow virtual neighbourhood board meetings to take place, a situation which is already being considered by the Government. In any case, in order to pursue this, the Horizontal Property Law would have to be modified, a fact which the Government has dismissed in a short term period.

REVISING THE LAW TO UPDATE IT

The Consejo General de Colegios Administradores de Fincas are totally convinced that neighbourhood board meetings must be held telematically. First of all because this would enable the holding of meetings in a swift manner when unexpected situations arise that involve having to make urgent decisions. In addition, these kind of meetings would allow the abolition of the legal obligation to have face-to-face meetings only once a year. According to the Consejo General, most owners have a second residence in cities where they do not normally live. Hence, they are never able to go to the meetings held by the neighbourhood board, a fact which may sometimes give rise to legal problems when dealing with relevant issues. Therefore, it is considered essential to revise and to update the Horizontal Property Law as it has become obsolete. If we take into account that in some European countries the neighbourhood board meetings already operate virtually, then it seems clear that this updating will take place. Until this happens, the Consejo General proposes appropriate measures, by decree, that would provisionally allow telematic neighbourhood board meetings. Currently, this situation is only allowed to take place in Catalonia.

THE SITUATION IN CATALONIA AND MADRID

In our country, we must highlight the case of Catalonia, where neighbourhood board meetings already operate virtually, always subject to the agreement of the neighbours. However, since last May 31st, the Generalitat has allowed virtual neighbourhood board meetings to take place without having, previously, to reach an agreement among the neighbours. This has been due to the urgency that the sanitary situation has caused since the irruption of the coronavirus. It is important to remember that, due to the health crisis, meetings with a large number of people are not allowed in our country, a fact which makes it very difficult to hold face-to-face neighbourhood board meetings. In Madrid, neighbourhood association meetings are considered working meetings and are therefore allowed to take place although the necessary requirements should be met so as to avoid contagion, as for instance keeping a safety distance among those present. This has meant that the meetings have to be held in larger premises with the consequent economic and logistical prejudices that this brings to the neighbours. Let us see if these virtual neighbourhood board meetings are finally adopted by law. Everything suggests that we will have to wait for this to happen.