well spanishCR--------------

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ah, now this is where you need to move more inland... away from complexes

Yes great idea, we haven't moved in yet but I'm sure I'll have LOADS of questions when we do.....

Don't you find that living on a complex is just that 'complex' ?!

You have to consider neighbours constantly, so you do not cause a problem, with music, pets, having visitors etc.

If you have been spoilt in the yUK with a detached property with land etc. or a semi, the build quality seems to be better, walls are thicker etc. so sound does not travel through that well, you have some space around you, here if you burp, next door will either say, 'pardon' for you or tell you what you had for tea !

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Yes, and if you can afford the quality of housing here as you describe in the UK, then I would always recommend it. The reality is that accommodation in a complex is cheaper than a detached house, and that is where most people live. I imagine that the Spanish have an easier time of it because they know either by instinct or training how to live, or not, on a complex. For some reason I can't fathom, a lot of Brits buy on a complex and assume they can do anything they like in total ignorance of complex rules and Spanish law. This is where a lot of 'complex' problems arise.

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γνωθι σεαυτόν. And on the eighth day, god made the fossils

I’ve been to just a few AGMs in March 2008 (don’t ask! ) and am struck again and again by the fact that the question of animals on complexes in Tenerife comes up on the agenda every time. Some owners say that tenants shouldn’t have them, others that tenants don’t actually have the right to have them at all. Tenants say that it’s owners’ pets that cause the problem howling all the time and running loose in complexes. And some have argued that it’s just their complex that suffers because ALL others in the neighbourhood have banned animals of all sorts, whether belonging to owner or tenant.

I’ve now been to enough of these meetings, and have experienced incidents on my own complex as well, to be able to give the real legal position in respect of animals on complexes.

Spanish law legislates against loose animals in ALL places, and this includes communal areas of complexes. Moreover, Spanish law is only ever concerned with owners, so by default, only they have an automatic right to keep pets on complexes: tenants may do so, but only if their contract expressly permits it or, at the least, does not prohibit it. The law requires ANY pet, however, to be kept on a lead in communal areas. This applies to cats as much as dogs.

The law does not allow for the excuse that an animal cannot be prevented from roaming loose in communal areas, an excuse usually related to cats. The law, however, sees this as entirely the problem of the animal’s owner, and if the police are called, a file will be opened. Repeat complaints to the police will result in the animal’s owner being taken to court, with the file used as evidence against him/her. The case itself will be undertaken, usually, in the name of the Community’s president.

A judge will take the president´s side every time. The president of a community is there, essentially, to stop such things taking up court time, and the court would view the pet owner as responsible for the case ending up in court because s/he would have failed to comply with instructions from the community president. If any pet owner who has been taken to court does not immediately obey the court ruling to control or get rid of the pet, then the court has the power to evict the individual from the premises. This is even true if the individual is an owner.

In a nutshell: it does not matter at all whether a community has rules about animals. The issue is covered by Spanish Law.

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In fact, the health and safety officer in Adeje town hall told me that this law applies to everywhere in Adeje apart from your own private freehold.

This sounds odd when applied to a cat, but cats in Spain do not enjoy their odd legal status that they have in the UK, where the neighbour's cat seems to have the right to use your seedbed as a toilet.

If you feed a cat which is loose, a claim that a cat does not belong to you is not valid, because it is illegal to feed any feral animal.

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γνωθι σεαυτόν. And on the eighth day, god made the fossils

Hence you end up with the one kitten your stupid dog finds in a bin & it then bites, hisses & spits at you in utter gratitude

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... a very timely post, Janet, as I have just had a call from a tenant who is driven to distraction by the dogs of the next door neighbours. They now have five dogs on a terrace (about 30 sq metres) and they fight & bark all the time (and as the mess is rarely cleared up, the fly population is now out of control as well). All I could say was call the police (again) and tell the other neighbours who are now taking up a petition to keep calling them.

Don´t get me started on absentee landlords who don´t care what tenants they inflict on their neighbours.

I would have thought that this was an issue not only for the police, but also for the Health and Safety officer in the municipality town hall. I have had results myself here, by writing a formal complaint (in Spanish) about a dog continually loose in the complex, and delivering the letter in person to the relevant officer, who then can't deny receiving it. The next day, someone actually came to investigate.

Your case sounds like one which could be easily confirmed on the spot by such an officer. It never hurts to complain in all directions.

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γνωθι σεαυτόν. And on the eighth day, god made the fossils