# Monthly cost of living in apartment building



## smint1234 (Mar 30, 2016)

Hello. I am thinking about buying a apartment in Alicante city and in that regards I need to know how much the monthly cost to the comunidad will be. I want to live in a apartment building somewhere inside the city.

Does anyone know the approximate monthly cost and if they vary a lot from place to place?

Thanks a lot friends.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

smint1234 said:


> Hello. I am thinking about buying a apartment in Alicante city and in that regards I need to know how much the monthly cost to the comunidad will be. I want to live in a apartment building somewhere inside the city.
> 
> Does anyone know the approximate monthly cost and if they vary a lot from place to place?
> 
> Thanks a lot friends.


It will vary greatly from building to building.

A walk up building will have lower charges than one with a lift. Any building with communal areas such as gardens or patios, or even roof gardens will have higher charges. Higher again if there's a pool.

Lower if all the neighbours share responsibilty for cleaning. 

There are so many variables!


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## smint1234 (Mar 30, 2016)

xabiachica said:


> It will vary greatly from building to building.
> 
> A walk up building will have lower charges than one with a lift. Any buidling with communal areas such as gardens or patios, or even roof gardens will have higher charges. Higher again if there's a pool.
> 
> ...


Ok, but how much approximately if it doesnt have a lift, garden, patio or pool?


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

I'm interested in this topic as we are most likely to be living in an apartment for the first time in our lives in the near future, once we find somewhere suitable to buy.

As well as the gastos de comunidad, which I shall be asking all the estate agents about, can anyone tell me how building insurance for apartments work? Does the comunidad cover building insurance, or will I need buildings cover as well as for contents?

How about any major repairs which may be needed (eg to the roof of a building, or a lift?).
I think I remember reading in the past that these tend not to be covered by the normal gastos de comunidad but are shared between owners. Is this correct? We'll be looking out for any signs of problems (one ático already ruled out because there were obvious signs of a roof leak and damp ceiling in the top floor corridor outside the apartment) but they're not always apparent.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

smint1234 said:


> Ok, but how much approximately if it doesnt have a lift, garden, patio or pool?


You would have to ask at the time of viewing. It's totally impossible to say!

I rent my apartment - but the building is owned by two sisters & although they have sold a couple of the apartments, they still share building maintenance costs between the two of them, rather than have to come to any kind of agreement with other apartment owners.

So in my building there are no community fees. Usually things like building insurance & maintenance are part of community fees. There will be a 'community of owners' with a president & there have to be AGMs & all owners have to vote on everything.

The two sisters avoid all that by swallowing all the costs between them.


edit. The last place I lived in had 16 apartments with a communal pool & garden, underground garage & a lift. Community fees worked out at 100€ a month. The community wasn't well looked after though. Jávea is quite an expensive area.


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## smint1234 (Mar 30, 2016)

Lynn R said:


> I'm interested in this topic as we are most likely to be living in an apartment for the first time in our lives in the near future, once we find somewhere suitable to buy.
> 
> As well as the gastos de comunidad, which I shall be asking all the estate agents about, can anyone tell me how building insurance for apartments work? Does the comunidad cover building insurance, or will I need buildings cover as well as for contents?
> 
> ...


I talked with a few real estate agents and the comunidad is very low compared to my home country. In one of the apartments im looking at the yearly cost was only 150 euro in comunidad fees.


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## Chica22 (Feb 26, 2010)

I am President of a small community, and no expert, however with regard to apartment insurance, this can vary, for example, owners on our community are responsible for windows but not the terraces. Our Community Insurance is via MAPFRE, and so for our apartment we also insured via MAPFRE (no disputes then). For a two bed apartment we pay around 170 euros a year, for contents, windows, doors and leaks!!!!

With regard to major works, we are very lucky that all owners pay their community fees and so we have money in the bank!!!! However for large, expensive, items, we add a 'derrama' in addition to the community charges. eg, This year we had the whole community painted (around 18,000) euros, so owners paid 9,000 derrama this year, split between the apartments, and 9,000 euros next year to replace the money 'borrowed' from the Community bank funds.




Lynn R said:


> I'm interested in this topic as we are most likely to be living in an apartment for the first time in our lives in the near future, once we find somewhere suitable to buy.
> 
> As well as the gastos de comunidad, which I shall be asking all the estate agents about, can anyone tell me how building insurance for apartments work? Does the comunidad cover building insurance, or will I need buildings cover as well as for contents?
> 
> ...


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

Chica22 said:


> I am President of a small community, and no expert, however with regard to apartment insurance, this can vary, for example, owners on our community are responsible for windows but not the terraces. Our Community Insurance is via MAPFRE, and so for our apartment we also insured via MAPFRE (no disputes then). For a two bed apartment we pay around 170 euros a year, for contents, windows, doors and leaks!!!!
> 
> With regard to major works, we are very lucky that all owners pay their community fees and so we have money in the bank!!!! However for large, expensive, items, we add a 'derrama' in addition to the community charges. eg, This year we had the whole community painted (around 18,000) euros, so owners paid 9,000 derrama this year, split between the apartments, and 9,000 euros next year to replace the money 'borrowed' from the Community bank funds.


Thank you, that confirms what I had understood. Obviously need to budget for expenses over and above the basic community fees, then.


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## slatts (Sep 17, 2013)

I allow circa 2000€ annually to cover, community costs about 800 yearly then rates and dustbins about 500 insurance and standing charges for water and electric make up the rest


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## timwip (Feb 27, 2017)

A big variable for community fees is "economies of scale", size of apartment and whether there are commercial establishments contributing. In Oviedo, we live in a six story building with commercial establishments on the planta baja. In each of the five other floors, there are six apartments for a total of 30. As a result, we have some good "economies of scale". For our 110m2 apartment (each apartment pays a different fee proportional to the size of apartment), community fees are 130E/mo and include:
-maintenance of common areas (we have elevators)
-insurance on the building.
-video surveillance security system (we can turn on our TV and monitor any hallway)
-doorman that picks up trash at the door and cleans common area
-heat and water (the only utility we pay for is electricity)


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## Chica22 (Feb 26, 2010)

Lynne R,
The derrama on our community is minimal, 250 euros per year for 2 years.

My advice would be to ask the seller (maybe via the Estate Agent) on any apartment you are interested in, for the minutes of the AGM for the past year (maybe previous years), this will highlight not only the costs of lifts, gardens etc., but also any planned major expenditure and more importantly any owner 'debtors' (this can be a problem on some communities)


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

Chica22 said:


> Lynne R,
> The derrama on our community is minimal, 250 euros per year for 2 years.
> 
> My advice would be to ask the seller (maybe via the Estate Agent) on any apartment you are interested in, for the minutes of the AGM for the past year (maybe previous years), this will highlight not only the costs of lifts, gardens etc., but also any planned major expenditure and more importantly any owner 'debtors' (this can be a problem on some communities)


Yes, thanks for that. I have been researching things on the net and that's exactly what is recommended. If it's not forthcoming from the seller or their estate agent I would ask my lawyer to obtain the information as part of the pre-sale checks.

250€ per year is not too frightening, I had been fearing potential bills of thousands!


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## Horlics (Sep 27, 2011)

If the seller won't give you a copy of the AGM agenda and minutes, tell them you're not buying the property!


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