Why you may need to pay for a new lift in your Spanish building

At the beginning of April, the Spanish cabinet approved the ITC Complementary Technical Instruction, regarding the commissioning, modification, maintenance and inspection of elevators, which is set to come into force on July 1st.

The new regulations seek to implement security measures that new lifts (ascensores in Spanish) currently have, but older ones don’t.

Among the requirements included is, for example, the levelling of the elevators to limit the unevenness between the inside of the elevator and the outside, with the aim of avoiding accidents.

The Spanish Business Federation of Elevators (Feeda) explained that at the end of 2023 there were 1,180,000 lifts in Spain, of which it estimates that between 35 and 40 percent will be affected, to a lesser or greater extent, by these new laws on elevator security.

Javier de Pedro, Marketing Manager of the Duplex elevator company, explains that when the standard comes into force on July 1st, elevators will have to undergo a review and owners must prepared to comply with these new safety requirements.

This means that any necessary improvements will have to be paid for by those who own property in apartment buildings with lifts.

It’s estimated that renovation costs can reach up to €30,000 for the most serious cases and take around seven years to complete

One condition added by the regulation is that the elevators have a two-way communication system so that in the event of a breakdown, the person can communicate with the outside world.

Another rule states that lifts must now have detection on doors with curtains to avoid entrapment. The oldest ones usually have two photocells installed at the bottom, while the most modern ones already have photoelectric barrier systems that cover a larger surface.

It also includes modernising counterweights so that lifts are stabilised against uncontrolled upward movements of the cabin, as well as when it’s at rest and when doors open.

In the event that the lift in your building lacks any of these security measures, you must agree to resolve it within a certain amount of time, depending on the extent of what needs to be done.

The cost to carry out the improvements is very wide, explains de Pedro, who points out that prices for works can range from €800 for a simple two-way communication installation to €30,000 for the work of adapting the counterweight.

Typically if you own an apartment in Spain, you will pay a monthly community fee, which includes cleaning of communal spaces, any repairs that need to be carried out on the outside of building or in the stairwells, and possibly the services of a door person who looks after the building too.

Some communities of owners also charge extra fees for a contingency pot, in case of unexpected renovations. This means that the amount you will have to pay will not only depend on the number of lifts and apartments in your building, but also the amount of contingency funds your community has.

Let’s say for example you have one lift in your building, which has a total of 16 apartments and the cost for updating it is €10,000. This means that every property owner will have to fork out a total of €625 to pay for the works. 

Experts agree that the new rules will particularly affect older lifts that have not been recently serviced. It is estimated that around 400,000 of the elevators in service in Spain have been in operation for more than 30 years.

In Barcelona for example, there are at least 1,220 elevators labelled as historic, in which the original cabin from before 1940 has been preserved, most of course which do not have these particular safety standards.

According to lift company Otis, Spain is the European country with the most elevators installed per inhabitant and one of the first in the world. This means that many owners are going to have to pay out something, even if their lift only requires minor changes.