Obligation to Inform in Homeowners Associations: How to Comply with LPRL and CAE with Certified Email

The Legal Challenge of the Property Administrator

The property administrator acts, in practice, as representative of the employer owner of the workplace: the homeowners association. This position entails direct responsibility in Occupational Risk Prevention (LPRL) and, in particular, in Business Activity Coordination (CAE) with all companies and self-employed workers that intervene in the building.

Maintenance work, cleaning, elevators, gardening, renovations, or technical inspections involve the habitual presence of third parties. In this context, the law is clear: informing is not enough, it is essential to be able to accredit that the information was delivered conclusively.

Non-compliance with this obligation can lead to administrative, civil, and even criminal responsibilities, both for the community and for the administrator.

The Legal Obligation to Inform “In Writing”

Royal Decree 171/2004, which regulates Business Activity Coordination, expressly establishes that information about risks and preventive measures must be provided in writing in certain cases, including:

• When concurrent companies generate risks classified as serious or very serious.
• When the community informs about risks inherent to the workplace that are serious or very serious.
• When specific instructions are given regarding risks that may affect external workers.

From a legal standpoint, the key requirement is not the channel used, but the ability to demonstrate that the written communication was made correctly. This is where certified email becomes an especially suitable technical tool: it transforms a digital communication into an irrefutable documentary proof, aligned with the legal requirement of “written form”.

Document Management and Conservation Duty (art. 23 LPRL)

The Occupational Risk Prevention Law requires that the employer prepare and keep available to the labor authority all relevant preventive documentation. This includes not only risk assessments or prevention plans, but also all communications made within the framework of CAE.

At this point, the difference between an ordinary email and a certified email is critical:

• Conventional email does not provide solid proof of content or delivery.
• Certified email generates a delivery record that accredits the complete content sent, the date and time, and acceptance at destination.

In this way, each preventive communication becomes part of the community’s documentary file, ready to be submitted before a Labor Inspection.

Agility and Traceability in Emergency Situations

The regulations require that, in the face of any emergency situation that may affect the health or safety of people, the employer owner immediately communicate the necessary instructions and measures to all concurrent companies.

Certified email allows making these communications:

• Immediately, without depending on physical presence or paper.
• Massively, simultaneously notifying all contractors.
• Traceably, with individual record of each notification made.

This combination of speed and traceability is especially valuable when the administrator must demonstrate that they acted with diligence in a critical situation.

Contractor Control and Preventive Legal Security

Before the start of any work, the administrator must require contracting companies to accredit in writing their risk assessment, worker training, and compliance with applicable preventive measures.

Preventive communication in homeowners associations is, in reality, bidirectional: the community informs and the contractor responds. Certified email facilitates this exchange, leaving legal record that the documentation was delivered and received before the start of the activity, reinforcing the legal security of both parties.

Critical Documentation in Homeowners Associations: Summary View

In the daily operations of the property administrator, the risk does not lie so much in the lack of documents as in the difficulty to demonstrate that they were delivered correctly and on time. The following table summarizes the main legal requirements and how certified email allows complying with them systematically and verifiably.

This approach allows the administrator to work with a preventive compliance model, where each relevant communication is documented and available, without depending on manual management or organizational memory.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Does the Law Require Using Certified Email?

No. The regulations require communicating in writing and being able to accredit the communication. Certified email is not mandatory, but it is one of the most effective and certainly safest ways to meet both requirements.

Does a Normal Email Work Before an Inspection?

It might not offer sufficient guarantees. It can be challenged for lack of proof of content or delivery, which leaves the community in a position of risk.

Does It Work for Mass Communications to Multiple Contractors?

Yes. Certified email allows multiple notifications, maintaining individual evidence of each delivery made.

Conclusion

For property administrators, complying with LPRL and CAE is not just a technical matter, but a legal obligation with real consequences. Certified email allows converting the obligation to inform into a documented, traceable, and legally solid process, aligned with regulatory requirements and prepared for any future inspection or claim.

In the following article we will address the other side of the coin: the legal responsibilities that can arise when this obligation to inform is not properly fulfilled.