The future of the homes that occupy the goals hangs by a thread. For a part of the real estate sector, they will be completely extinguished – there are already those who estimate their total closure in 10 years. Another part, quite the contrary, predicts long life for them. Andrés Contreras, goalkeeper of a farm in the Chamberí neighborhood of Madrid, considers himself privileged “to have had a good goal.” After his retirement, his house will be closed: “I will be replaced by a janitor” who will not live in the building. In Madrid, where 15,000 goals remain, according to sector sources, there is movement around this uncertain future. There are the homes that resist, those that are rented or sold or those that have already been converted into offices. The latest fashion: dividing them into storage rooms. In Barcelona, things change. Of the 3,500 that existed in the nineties, 75% have disappeared. “The majority remain firmly closed with what is going down,” laments the president of the Union Association of Urban Property Employees of Barcelona and province, Margarita Blanch. Although their evolution is uneven, the robotic portrait of the houses of The doormen in large Spanish cities is similar: average surface area of between 40 and 60 square meters, interior and dark. The distribution provides for two bedrooms, kitchen, dining room and bathroom, and many usually have an interior patio. Their location within the building varies and, depending on it, the future of these spaces also differs. Regarding the doormen's houses that are on the ground floor of the property, the communities that have hired janitors to replace the doormen are not clear what to do with them. “They consult us for their appraisal, while those located in penthouses are all sold for their terraces and views at a price of 9,000 euros per square meter or are rented,” says the owner of the real estate agency of the same name, Eduardo Molet, who, With a list of more than a thousand doormen under his belt, he knows what is going on in the properties in the Madrid district of Chamberí. This avenue of sale or rental is now beginning to take hold in Barcelona. “There is a tendency to clean up these closed homes and rent them out to generate income that reduces community expenses,” says the managing partner of the Navas Cusí Abogados firm, Juan Ignacio Navas. A complex step that requires several procedures: “Verify ownership of the goal [si es finca independiente o zona común] and dismantle the home [para dejar de ser un elemento común y pasar a ser privativo]”says Navas. Something that requires “unanimity (in Catalonia, the favorable vote of three-fifths), since it means changing the constitutive title of the horizontal property.” And he adds: «The participation fee for the new private element must also be collected, as well as the modification of the rest of the fees in the other departments of the property.» Once the paperwork has been processed, the commercial director of Asset Management Spain Inversores-Gestmadrid, María Eugenia Astudillo recommends, before putting it up for sale, “do a market study with a real estate professional who can guide us on the price according to its characteristics and location.” For her part, the secretary of the Association of Urban Property Employees of Madrid, Raquel Marrero, warns of the reverse of the sale: “It is not a bargain. It requires a lot of documentation and that all neighbors comply. In addition to taxes at the individual level. In the end, it doesn't pay off.» Regarding the payment of taxes, Navas recalls that the disposal and conversion of the common element are taxed by the tax on documented legal acts. “The sale of the home generates both the municipal capital gains tax and the property transfer tax on the part of the buyers,” he points out. If the community opts for rent, the process is simpler. “It is not necessary to modify the constitutive title or the participation fees, and three-fifths of the owners are sufficient for its approval,” says Marrero. Other neighborhood communities have opted to create small warehouses or storage rooms instead of selling or rent the caretaker's house. The first option is the one chosen by a community of a building on Galileo Street, in Madrid. “It is a faster and simpler solution with municipal regulations than the storage room,” says the property manager. It is enough to approve “a different use of the property with a qualified majority (three-fifths).” Thus, of the 30 residents of the property, a total of 22 have contributed 1,000 euros each for its construction. “Each neighbor transforms the percentage of the common area that corresponds to them into a warehouse. A meeting area has been maintained that adds up to the percentage of meters of the owners who did not want to do so in case they decide to build it in the future,” the administrator points out.
rich neighbors
If the sector agrees on something, it is that the goals that will be spared from extinction correspond, for the most part, to those located in the areas with the highest per capita income. “In communities where there is no economic need they will never disappear,” says Miguel Ángel Gómez, president of the real estate associations FADEI and AMEDEI. “They are compensated by the peace of mind of having a person who is always there.” A service that “only when you have had it, do you appreciate how hard it will be to lose it,” adds Margarita Blanch. And he lists some of the advantages of having a doorman: being aware of elderly neighbors; open to workers or delivery people; pick up certified mail, or attend to emergencies during the night. Marrero estimates that “those located in properties with many neighbors will also survive, where the cost is spread regardless of the area.” They are all properties willing to take on what the secretary of urban property employees in Madrid qualifies as a “luxury item.” The cost of which includes housing, electricity and gas, as well as the doorman's salary of 1,287.50 euros gross, according to the agreement. This service includes surveillance, cleaning, technical maintenance and help to neighbors. You must add 12.36 euros per overtime and other supplements depending on the number of neighbors, size of the property and garage, garbage or parcel collection.
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