A condominium’s receivables portfolio has a feature that sets it apart from almost any other: Colombian law gave the administrator a collection tool that few creditors have. The problem is that many property managers do not use it, or use it late and badly.
This is what Law 675 of 2001 (Ley 675 de 2001, Colombia’s Horizontal Property Regime) allows, what it prohibits, and how homeowners association fees are actually collected in Colombia.
The obligation to pay admits no “I don’t use it” excuses
Article 29 of Law 675 requires owners to contribute to the necessary common expenses. And its Paragraph 2 shuts down the most common excuse in advance:
“The obligation to contribute in a timely manner to the common expenses of the building or complex applies even when an owner does not occupy their private unit, or does not actually use a given common property or service.”
The empty apartment pays. The owner who never uses the pool pays.
The same article establishes three forms of joint and several liability that greatly expand who is liable:
- Between the owner and the occupant under any title, for ordinary expenses. The tenant is liable too.
- Between the previous owner and the new owner, for expenses unpaid at the time title is transferred. Whoever buys inherits the debt.
- Between co-owners, when the property belongs to several people: each one is liable for the full amount.
And it adds a piece that works as preventive collection: in the deed of transfer, the notary must require the certificate of no debt (paz y salvo) for common expenses issued by the condominium’s legal representative. If there is none, that fact and the new owner’s joint and several liability are recorded.
A property management office that handles certificate-of-no-debt requests well has, right there, one of its strongest collection moments of the year.
Late-payment interest is already set by law
Article 30 is direct:
“Late payment of expenses shall accrue default interest equal to one and a half times the current banking interest rate certified by the Banking Superintendency, without prejudice to the general assembly […] setting a lower rate.”
In other words: the law sets the cap, and the assembly can only lower it, never raise it. (The text still says “Banking Superintendency”; that function now belongs to the Financial Superintendency of Colombia (Superintendencia Financiera de Colombia).)
The same article allows the delinquency status to be posted inside the building, and the assembly minutes to list delinquent owners. But with an express limit in its paragraph: posting “may only be done in places where there is no constant flow of visitors”. No lists at the front desk in plain view of passersby.
The powerful tool: the administrator’s certificate is an enforceable instrument
This is the article that changes everything, and the one many property managers are unaware of. Article 48 of Law 675 states that in executory proceedings to collect common expenses, the judge may only require as attachments the power of attorney, the certificate of existence and legal representation, and:
“the enforceable instrument containing the obligation, which shall be solely the certificate issued by the administrator without any additional requirement or procedure”
Read it slowly, because it is exceptional. The condominium creates its own enforceable instrument. It does not need the debtor to sign anything, nor a prior acknowledgment, nor a conciliation. The administrator certifies the debt, and that is enough to sue.
The same article concludes: “The executory action referred to in this article shall not be conditional on prior exhaustion of the dispute resolution mechanisms provided for in this law.” There is no need to go through the coexistence committee or conciliation first.
The proceeding is the executory proceeding under the General Code of Procedure (Código General del Proceso). Its Article 430 provides that, once the claim is filed with the document that serves as an enforceable instrument, the judge will issue a payment order. And it sets something important: the formal requirements of the instrument can only be challenged through a motion for reconsideration against the payment order, not later.
Hence the only real requirement on the management office: the certificate must be done right. An express, clear and due debt, detailing periods, amounts and interest. A careless certificate is the easiest way to lose an advantage the law handed you.
The clock: five years per installment
Law 675 has no statute of limitations of its own, so the general rule applies. Article 2536 of the Colombian Civil Code (Código Civil), as amended by Law 791 of 2002:
“The executory action is time-barred after five (5) years, and the ordinary action after ten (10). The executory action becomes an ordinary action after a period of five (5) years, and once converted into an ordinary action shall last only another five (5).”
And here is the practical trap: each monthly installment has its own limitation period, counted from when it became due. A management office that lets years go by without suing does not lose the portfolio all at once: it loses it layer by layer, starting with the oldest.
What works in practice
- Certify correctly and on time. You already have the instrument; the risk lies in how you draft it.
- Use the certificate of no debt. That is the moment the debt becomes urgent for the debtor.
- Collect by age layers, prioritizing whatever is approaching five years.
- Do not improvise penalties. Restricting access to common areas for arrears is not provided for in the law and exposes the condominium.
- Go after the right party. With the joint and several liabilities in Article 29, there is often more than one obligor.
How we approach it at FEXCOB
For debt collection in Colombia we work with our own team in the country, and with condominium management offices the order is always the same: review the status of the certificates and the statute of limitations before moving a single case, and separate what gets negotiated from what gets enforced.
This is a portfolio that is usually far more alive than it looks, because the instrument already exists. It just has to be used correctly and on time.
You may also be interested in: what to demand from a debt collection agency · the metrics for measuring collections performance
Legal sources cited: Law 675 of 2001 (Ley 675 de 2001), Articles 29, 30, 48, 59 and 60; General Code of Procedure (Código General del Proceso, Law 1564 of 2012), Articles 422 and 430; Colombian Civil Code (Código Civil), Article 2536, as amended by Article 8 of Law 791 of 2002; Constitutional Court (Corte Constitucional), Judgment C-318 of 2002.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice for any specific case.