The building that has gone years without a chair: how to reactivate a community

More common than it seems: communities that formally exist but are dormant — with no current chair, no meetings, and dues frozen or non-existent.

The risks of a dormant community

Nobody can sign, contract or claim; the insurance may have lapsed; and when the inevitable arrives (a technical inspection, a structural failure, a municipal order) there is no structure to respond — with liabilities that end up splashing every owner.

How to wake it up

1. Any owner can call a meeting: the law allows those promoting a meeting (25% of shares, or in practice any resident where there is no chair to convene it) to summon everyone with a clear agenda: appointment of officers and reactivation.
2. The reactivation meeting: appointing a chair (formal minutes), a statement of the position (account, insurance, debts, urgent matters) and a minimum payment to get going.
3. The chain of formalities: minutes → bank (or a new account), tax number (recover or reissue), insurance immediately, and a stamped minute book.

If nobody wants the job

The classic of dormant communities. Options: an agreed annual rotation with the minimum workload properly organised, a reduction in dues for whoever takes it on, or temporary external management while things are put in order. And remember the framework: the role is compulsory and a judge can appoint someone — but it should never come to that.

The hopeful message

Reactivating a dormant community is a few weeks of formalities — and the ones that do it usually work better than ever, because they start from zero with a system and no inherited bad habits.