The sellers tend to think that when they sell the property there will be no more responsibilities regarding the new community fees for the property.

This is not entirely true. The seller could be obliged to pay the fees after selling the property when they fail to notify to the community that the property has been sold.

The horizontal property law obliges every seller to notify the selling to the community making them responsible of the payment for future community fees until the notification is made.

Asking for the certificate is not enough. The issuing of this certificate does not mean that the property has been finally sold.

The community should know that the property has been transferred with the proper notification from the seller or buyer. Otherwise, the seller will remain being responsible for the payment of the fees after the date of the selling. In case the seller has to pay to the community some fees issued after the selling, all the seller can do is to claim later this money back from the buyer, if possible.

 Usually the buyer contacts the community to inform about the purchase and to organize the direct debit and give the contact details and so on, but this is not always the case.

It happens many times that the community know nothing about the selling; the buyer does not pay the community fees after his purchase; and some years later the community decides to start legal actions against the one that it is supposed to be still the owner.

The seller will say that he was not the owner at the time of the unpaid fees, but the Horizontal Property Law clearly says that failing the obligation to communicate the selling to the community the seller will be jointly responsible with the buyer on the fees to be paid to the community.  

               If you are buying or selling a property, please take care of all these details or simply place the dealing in the hands of someone professional.