Is it possible to rent my apartment to turn it into an office?

First of all we have to say that the answer to this question serves both if you want to rent, as in the case that it is the owner who wants to put this office. And at the same time, reversing the situation, the same answer is also valid in case we have a local that wants to transform into a house, to rent it or to live the owner. The question is whether to change the use, which has hitherto had, is necessary the permission of the community of owners and, if so, what will be the quorum to be applied.

In the past it was envisaged that if the constitutive title, that is, the deed, described the floor as a dwelling, the change of use required unanimous vote of the community. But this situation has changed radically and, according to the interpretation of today, is not even necessary the permission of the community of owners. It would only be so in the case that expressly in the statutes of the community prohibited the change of use. If this is the case, and bearing in mind that the statutes are registered in the Property Registry, unanimity of the vote will be necessary.

There is a resolution of the General Directorate of Registries and Notaries, dated March 23, 1998, which states that, although the deed of new work and division in horizontal property establishes that a certain department is housing, the right of the property is of an absolute nature and, therefore, should not be understood as a prohibition of changing uses unless they are not validly prohibited in the statutes and legally registered in the Land Registry.

Even so, this change of use has to be totally subject to the urban regulations in force in each locality, and it is, therefore, the municipalities that have the last word on the subject.