Ordinary vs. extraordinary maintenance fees in Argentine buildings

According to the Argentine property law, most buildings must have a person or agency that administrates the building’s expenses. In order to cover all expenditure, the unit's owners must pay a monthly maintenance fee.

In Argentina, there are two types of maintenance fees: the ordinary and the extraordinary. The ordinary maintenance fees are those monthly expenses necessary for the day-to-day maintenance, for example the administrative expenses, salaries, insurance, repairs in common areas, etc. The ordinary maintenance fees can be: fixed, variable or mixed. If they are fixed, an estimated amount is calculated and a fixed amount is paid monthly. If they are variable, the expenses will be summed each month; and if they are mixed there will be some fixed expenses and others that will vary each month, and they will be summed each month.

On the other hand, there are the extraordinary maintenance fees. These are related to renewing and repairing the building in order to increase its value and make it more comfortable. One of the main differences between the ordinary and the extraordinary maintenance fees is that the ordinary fees do not require the approval of the majority, while the extraordinary generally do. Since the extraordinary fees are necessary to face some urgent repairs, or not so urgent, but are necessary anyway (like painting the building), they generally need the majority’s approval.

There could be the case that some months the maintenance fees include some extraordinary fees in order to have a fund to be used in emergencies. Last, it should be said that the extraordinary maintenance fees should be paid by the owner of the property and not by its tenant.