The president can be subjected to some sort of responsibility as representative of the community. To begin with It is important to remember that the Art. 13 LPH establishes that “ The president gets the legal representation of the community in court and out of court in all the matters affecting the community”

            The horizontal property law mentions other faculties and obligations of the president such as the capacity to require to an owner for misbehavior ( Art. 7.2 LPH) or the capacity to call for an ordinary or extraordinary General Assembly and to decide the agenda of the meeting; etc.

Although it is not very frequent, the president can even get the post of the secretary-administrator in case the Community does not name a separate person to get this post.

In this case, the president would also have all the obligations and faculties mentioned in the Art. 20 LPH ( Keeping an eye in the proper maintenance of the building; deal with the community accounts and do all the urgent repairs; do the payments and get the fees; follow the General Assembly decisions, keep the community documents, etc.)

In theory, the president should just act according to the agreements taken in the General Assembly and let the administrator to deal with the day by day routine of the community. Anyway, it is normal to see nowadays how the president have a more active role in the community and sign the cheques and do the transfers and payment on behalf of the community jointly with the administrator; choose the companies who have to do the works in the community; sign contracts with third parties with conditions that never have been authorized before; and hire directly the workers of the community without the proposal of the administrator or the agreement of an AGM or EGM, among other examples. 

            In case the president do not comply properly with his obligation, he could be responsible for the damages caused to a third party, an owner or the community itself.

In addition, the president could be even responsible in front of a Criminal Court if he make a criminal offence acting as president of the community.

            Just to mention different examples, let´s see some cases in which the president could be responsible and obliged to pay a compensation:

1. When he signs a contract with a company that never has been agreed by the General Assembly, and the conditions of this contract are clearly against the community interest.
2. When he does not comply with his obligation to call for a general assembly or does not include in the agenda some points proposed by some owners as it is allowed in the Art. 16.2 LPH and there is some damages to someone or the community itself.
3. When someone is damaged as a consequence of a lack of maintenance provoked by the president for not authorizing the works or any other reason that could be considered his fault.
4. When he makes damages to someone for not complying with his president legal obligations.
5. When acting against the General assembly decisions or without their previous agreement when it was necessary and cause damages to the community or owners.

             In addition, the president can also commit a criminal offence, being not infrequent the following situations:

1. Misappropriation of community money.
2. Community documents forgery.
3. Sending a letter to owners insulting or slander someone.
4. Hiring illegal community workers.
5. Coercioning or putting pressure on someone to get what the president wants, such as cutting off the water, electricity, or any other community service as a way to force him to pay the outstanding community fees. This is the most common case in which the president could be prosecuted in a criminal court.

As a consequence of all of the above, we strongly recommend the presidents just to act according to law and follow the administrator and General Assembly decisions, and avoid any kind of illegal behavior. When acting in a reasonable way, the president could never be personally liable for anything.