Is the unanimous consent of the Community of Owners necessary in order to change the use of commercial premises to residential use? According to consolidated case law, of which the Ruling of the First Chamber of the Spanish Supreme Court 729/2014 of 3 December is a good example, such unanimous consent is only necessary in two cases:

1) When the “Estatutos” (Articles of Association) of the Community expressly prohibit the change of use. For an ‘express prohibition’ to exist, it is not sufficient to simply attribute the character of commercial premises or dwelling to a specific property, but rather the prohibition to change the use must be clearly established in the “Estatutos”.

2) When the transformation alters any common element, or modifies the participation quotas. In this case, even if there is not a prohibition of the change of use, the unanimous consent of the Community of Owners will be necessary.

Apart from these cases, the Community of Owners does not have to authorise the change of the use for which a private element was originally intended. However, the change will have to be carried out following the administrative procedure established for this purpose, after a feasibility study from both a technical and urban planning point of view.