Boards of Directors or Co-Managers?


One issue that causes enormous controversy within condominium property (propiedad horizontal) has to do with violations of the boundaries that should exist between the Property Manager's role and duties and the reach the Board of Directors has over those same duties. This controversy arises precisely because, in many cases, the Board's own duties include appointing and hiring the Manager — and for that reason, many Boards consider themselves entitled to encroach on the Manager's functions, stripping away their autonomy or even assuming powers they were never granted.

Do you need advice to resolve a conflict in your condominium property? Contact us by clicking here.

While Law 675, in article 51, spells out the Manager's duties in detail, it doesn't do the same for the Board of Directors — article 55 merely states that the Board will make the decisions necessary for the legal entity to fulfill its purposes, as set out in the condominium's own bylaws. The law left it to each condominium's bylaws to define and specify what functions its particular Board of Directors will have. But one function is beyond doubt from the outset: overseeing that the legal entity's purposes are fulfilled.

It's worth noting there's a very thin line separating the Manager's duties from the Board's: the Manager carries out the day-to-day operation of the condominium property, while the Board plays an advisory and support role to the Manager and serves as a voice between co-owners and the Manager — its function being fundamentally social, defined above all by strict compliance with the condominium bylaws, and by safeguarding, by every means available, the independence and autonomy of each of the condominium's governing and oversight bodies.

Building on that, and in keeping with the underlying purpose of a condominium Board of Directors, its general duties include presenting proposals to the Assembly, running improvement programs for repairs or partial/total reconstruction of common areas, issuing internal regulations for good management and coexistence, authorizing certain specific acts of the Manager, and — above all — advising the Manager on everything related to the entity's smooth functioning, staying alert to administrative matters without that meaning it encroaches on the Manager's specific duties as set out in Law 675 of 2001.

That's why it's so important for condominium bylaws to precisely define the Board's functions, and to strictly and carefully preserve what the law assigns to the Manager versus what falls to the Board. The spirit of Law 675 of 2001 is one of cooperation, advice, support, and oversight — without that meaning either body encroaches on the other's functions within the condominium's governance. It's worthwhile for every newly formed Board to receive a welcome guide that, from day one, sets out principles and management rules allowing both the Manager and the Board to maintain a harmonious relationship aimed at a single goal: the overall wellbeing of the community.

At our firm, we constantly handle cases of conflict between Managers and their Boards of Directors, arising because one or the other assumes duties that aren't theirs, generating conflicts that ultimately harm sound management and the development of plans and projects for healthy coexistence within condominium property. Our approach is to support that healthy coexistence and advise condominium communities so that, through alternative dispute resolution, a unified and successful working relationship between governing bodies can be achieved.

At Consejurídico #WeWantToBeThere

El asistente jurídico digital de Jurídiconline analiza tu situación específica. La revisión inicial es gratuita.