Living in a community of neighbors often comes with annoyances: a noisy neighbor, a barking dog, weekend parties, voices echoing through courtyards, or trash left at doorsteps that emits the smell of last weekend’s cauliflower. However, one inconvenience nearly everyone agrees on is home renovation work. Those sounds can be almost unbearable, and most of us have endured them at some point.
Despite the discomfort, patience is required, and residents must abide by what the Horizontal Property Law (LPH) stipulates. Specifically, Article 9, titled “Obligations of the Owners,” makes it clear that there is little room for complaint if a neighbor is carrying out renovation work in their home.
What Article 9 of the LPH Says: “Keep the Home in Good Condition”
Renovations are not just about giving a property a facelift; sometimes they are necessary to keep a dwelling habitable and in good condition. According to Section 1.B of that article, “owners must maintain their apartment or private facilities in good state, ensuring that renovations or lack of maintenance do not harm the community or other owners.” This means that if a home is not in proper condition, it could negatively affect other neighbors.
This leads to the next point in Article 9, Section 1.C, which discusses that such work must be permitted by the community: “Owners are obliged to allow in their home the repairs, works, or renovations necessary for the maintenance of the building (common elements), granting access to technicians or companies that need to enter the said property.”
Finally, there is also a section on limits to individual works, stating that while it does not technically detail the work, it imposes a duty not to alter the safety, configuration, or general structure of the building.