Awnings for communities of owners in Malaga matching across the whole facade

In most cases, yes, the community has to be involved. The facade of a building is a common element, and the Spanish Horizontal Property Act states that an owner can’t alter the exterior of the building on their own. An awning is anchored to the facade and changes how it looks, so as a general rule it should be authorised or follow the model the community has already approved.

What each community requires varies. Some have a mandatory awning model and colour in their statutes or internal rules, and you just need to follow them. Others haven’t decided anything yet, and the owner has to ask for it to be put to the owners’ meeting. And in many, the awning is of a usual type and colour and the meeting approves it without any trouble if it matches what’s already there.

Our advice: before ordering the awning, ask the president or administrator whether there’s an approved model. If there is, we’ll install yours exactly the same. If not, we can prepare a proposal so the community approves a common model and you’re the first to install it.

We explain this in more detail in our article on awnings in communities of owners and the Horizontal Property Act. And if your town hall also requires any formalities, see permits for awnings and pergolas in Malaga and Granada.

Normally it’s included as an item on the agenda of an ordinary or extraordinary owners’ meeting. To keep the vote quick, it’s best to arrive with a specific proposal: the type of awning, the fabric and frame colour, the maximum projection and fitting height, and whether or not motors are allowed. The clearer the proposal, the shorter the discussion.

The majority required depends on what’s being approved and on each community’s statutes, which is why it’s usually the property administrator who advises on how to frame the resolution. What we do know from experience is that when owners see images, fabric samples and a fixed price per home, agreement comes much sooner.

That’s where we come in. We visit the building free of charge, measure the typical openings, look at which way each facade faces and prepare a document with two or three options for the awning and colour, with a quote per home. We can also bring the Sauleda and Dickson sample books so the meeting can choose with the real colours in front of them.

Once approved, the resolution is the reference for every owner, including those who install their awning years later. You’ll find the legal framework explained in our article on the Horizontal Property Act and awnings, and you can request your proposal using the form.

It depends on the type of opening the building has. For balconies with railings, the system most often used by communities is the drop arm awning: its arms rest on the railing or the facade, project the fabric outwards and let you see the street without losing shade. It fits almost any balcony and looks very tidy when they’re all at the same height.

For windows without a balcony, a drop arm or a vertical roller awning is also used. For large terraces and penthouses, the usual choice is a retractable awning or a cassette awning, which stores the fabric and arms in a case and leaves the facade tidy when closed.

What matters isn’t so much the system as the community defining the details properly: the fabric colour and reference, plain or striped, the frame colour, fitting height, maximum projection, and whether there’s a valance and what it looks like. Those are the matching awnings across the whole facade that genuinely look uniform.

When a building has facades facing different ways, it sometimes makes sense to approve two systems that look consistent: for example, drop arm awnings on the balconies and cassette awnings on the penthouses, with the same fabric. We help you find that combination at the visit.

Yes, and it’s one of the advantages of approving a common model. Once the owners’ meeting has decided on the system, fabric and colour, each owner can install their awning whenever suits them, without having to ask for permission again, as long as they stick to what was approved. Some put it up that same summer, others the following year and others when they buy the flat.

To make that work, we keep the exact reference for the system, the fabric collection and colour, the frame colour and the fitting measurements. That way, the owner who calls us in two years’ time gets exactly the same awning and the facade stays uniform. The same applies when someone needs a fabric replacement: we fit the same one.

If several owners decide to go ahead at once, we organise the fitting as a block, which is usually easier for everyone and lets us plan the equipment better, especially on tall facades. But it isn’t compulsory: each owner gets their own individual fixed-price written quote and decides for themselves.

Each awning comes with its materials warranty depending on the manufacturer and the product, plus the installation guarantee and our after-sales service. If you’d like to see how we work, take a look at our about us page.

Yes. As well as awnings for each home, we work on the communal areas of urbanisations and apartment blocks: shade for the pool, the sun-lounger area, the children’s play area, the barbecue area or the building entrance. These are spaces used by lots of families, and in summer, without shade, they sit empty at midday.

For these spaces we suggest pergolas for communal areas in powder-coated aluminium, which needs no varnishing and stands up well to salt air. Depending on use, the roof can have fixed louvres, a sliding canopy on a retractable roof pergola or the adjustable louvres of a bioclimatic pergola. We also install large awnings or awnings with support legs when a fixed structure isn’t wanted.

In a communal area, safety and strength carry a lot of weight: we choose anchors to suit the type of ground, stainless fixings and systems designed for the coastal wind. And because it’s work that affects the whole community, it has to be approved by the owners’ meeting; if the town hall requires a licence or a «declaración responsable» (a sworn statement to the town hall), we prepare the paperwork.

For guidance on materials, see our pergolas in Malaga. And if you’re looking for awnings for urbanisations with terraced villas, we also define a common model for porches and terraces, so each owner can shade their home without spoiling the look of the development.

It’s a very common situation in buildings that have gone years without a clear rule. When the community approves a new model, the resolution normally says how existing awnings will be treated: some communities set a deadline for adapting them, others say they must be changed when they’re due for renewal and others leave them as they are. That decision is for the owners’ meeting, ideally with guidance from the property administrator.

From a technical point of view, bringing an existing awning into line with the common model doesn’t always mean replacing it entirely. If the frame is in good condition and the system is compatible, a fabric replacement in the approved colour and reference is often enough. If the system is different, for example a retractable awning where drop arm has been approved, it will need replacing.

We can check every owner’s awning on a single visit and tell you, one by one, whether it can be adapted or needs replacing, with a quote for each. We also look after awnings installed by other companies, even if the original installer no longer exists, and use the visit to check the fixings, arms and fabric on each one.

There’s more on the technical side in awning repairs and new fabric, and on the legal side in our article on awnings and the Horizontal Property Act.

Yes, if the system is chosen and anchored properly. On a building, the higher the floor, the more wind the awning catches, and on the Malaga coast the levante (easterly) and poniente (westerly) winds blow hard several times a year. That’s why at the visit we look at how exposed each facade is, the type of wall and the condition of the render before proposing a model.

There are three keys. First, the anchoring: we use plugs and fixings suited to each type of facade, in stainless steel so salt air doesn’t weaken them. Second, the system: on upper floors and very exposed facades we usually recommend more compact awnings, such as the drop arm or cassette, rather than awnings with a long projection. Third, use: no fabric awning is designed to be left out in a storm; it must be retracted as the manufacturer advises, and a motor with a wind sensor does it automatically.

Our own team does the fitting with the safety equipment needed for working at height, and if a permit is needed to occupy the pavement during installation, we’ll tell you.

If you want the community’s awnings to retract on their own when it’s windy, see our awning motorisation page with Cherubini motors.

It depends on where the awning goes. Awnings on individual homes, on private balconies, windows or terraces, are usually paid for by each owner, even if the community has chosen the model. The owners’ meeting approves which awning can be fitted, and each owner orders and pays for it when they like. That’s why we give each owner their own fixed-price, written, no-obligation quote.

Awnings and pergolas in communal areas, such as the pool, the play area or the entrance, are normally paid for by the community, according to the meeting’s resolution and the cost-sharing set out in its statutes. In that case we work with the president or administrator, and the quote is made out to the community.

There are in-between cases, such as when the community decides to install awnings across the whole facade at once to refresh its look. How that cost is shared is decided by the owners’ meeting in line with the law and its own rules; we give you the price per home and the total so it can decide with the figures in hand. On what the law says, we recommend our article on awnings in communities of owners.

Whatever the case, the visit, the measuring and the proposal for the owners’ meeting are free. You can request them using the form. We specialise in awnings for communities of owners in Malaga and on the Costa Tropical.