CC Cita: €1.9M in debt, 100+ owners — and one person is supposed to handle it alone?

The vote on Friday

On April 18, 2026, the extraordinary general meeting (Junta General Extraordinaria) of C.C. Cita will take place. On the agenda: the appointment of new management.

Whoever is proposed as candidate — this article takes no position on individuals. It asks a fundamental question: Should C.C. Cita once again be managed by a single person? Or is it time for a different model?

Thirty years of one-person management — the result

C.C. Cita was managed for decades by a single individual: José Hernández Pérez, operating under the business name Adhover. What remained at the end of that era has been documented in four articles:

Frozen bank accounts the community could not access. Office computers that vanished — as of March 31, 2026, no police report had been filed. €1.9 million in outstanding debt, with only €3,568 spent on debt recovery in 2025. Fifteen years without entries in the commercial register. No functioning handover despite legal deadlines.

These are documented facts as of our last investigation. If anything has changed since, we welcome it — but it does not change the fundamental question this article raises.

This is not personal failure. It is systemic failure. A single person — without a team, without backup, without any dual-control principle — had complete control over an annual budget of nearly €880,000 (fiscal year 2025). Nobody audited. Nobody checked. Nobody asked questions.

The irony: C.C. Cita's own statutes (Art. 23) require at least three authorised signatories for the community's bank accounts, and every payment requires the president's signature plus one additional authorised person. This rule has existed on paper since 2000. Whether it was actually followed over the past thirty years is one of the questions nobody has answered.

The system is the problem

This pattern repeats across Spain. In 2024, the Tribunal Superior de Xustiza de Galicia upheld the conviction of a sole-person administrator from Pontevedra: €175,263 embezzled, two years and eight months in prison. As sole shareholder of two companies, he had redirected the owners' funds to his own accounts — between 2018 and 2020, without anyone noticing. The Tribunal Supremo confirmed in 2024 in a separate case from Valladolid a conviction for embezzlement of over €42,000 by an administrator who diverted funds to his own consultancy firm.

Not because these people were worse than others. But because the model — a single person, solely responsible, without internal controls — systemically enables abuse.

Appointing another individual to the same position does not solve the problem. It reproduces it.

What a company does differently

The law permits both models. Art. 13.6 of the Ley de Propiedad Horizontal (LPH) explicitly allows either a natural person or a legal entity — i.e., a company — to serve as administrator. C.C. Cita's statutes (Art. 36) refer to a "person from outside the community" ("persona ajena a la Comunidad"), without distinguishing between natural and legal persons. The decision lies with the owners' assembly.

The difference is not legal. It is structural:

Backup. When an individual falls ill, goes on holiday, or resigns, management stops. A company has a team. Management continues.

Dual-control principle. With an individual, nobody checks the books. A company has internal control processes — entries, payments, and bank statements are reviewed by multiple people.

Debt recovery. C.C. Cita has €1.9 million in outstanding debt and spent exactly €3,568 on recovery in 2025. A professional management company typically has an integrated legal team or established partnerships with law firms. Debt recovery is not a side task — at this level of debt, it is the primary task.

Liability. Art. 1902 of the Código Civil obliges every administrator to make good any damage caused by negligence. An individual is liable with personal assets — which are unlikely to cover €1.9 million in potential damages. A company carries professional indemnity insurance with significantly higher coverage.

Termination. A company contract can be cleanly terminated — with defined notice periods, defined handover processes, company to company. Removing an individual is more complicated, as the Adhover experience is currently demonstrating. The statutes (Art. 37) do allow the Junta General to dismiss the administrator at any time — but the right to dismiss is of little use when the handover is then blocked.

Professional oversight. A company registered with the Colegio de Administradores de Fincas is subject to their supervision. The Colegio can sanction misconduct. A non-registered individual has no professional oversight. Notably, C.C. Cita's own statutes (Art. 36) provide for the Junta de Gobierno to appoint a registered administrator for oversight when the president acts as administrator. The statutes recognise the control problem with individuals — they simply offer no solution for external administrators who work alone.

What it costs

An individual typically costs €400 to €800 per month. A professional management company ranges from €800 to €1,500 per month.

The maximum difference: €8,400 per year. C.C. Cita's annual budget was €879,536 (fiscal year 2025). The difference is less than one percent of the budget.

Meanwhile, €1.9 million in outstanding debt remains. If a company with an integrated legal team recovers just ten percent of that debt, the return exceeds the additional cost by a factor of twenty.

The price argument against a company does not hold for a shopping centre of this size.

A legal note

Ley 12/2023 (Ley por el Derecho a la Vivienda) tightened the wording on the administrator's person, referring to "persona física colegiada". Some lawyers interpret this as excluding legal entities (companies). The prevailing view and practice — confirmed by the Audiencia Provincial de Asturias (Sentencia 17/2020) and the position of most Colegios — is: A company can still be appointed as administrator, provided the responsible manager within the company is registered. C.C. Cita is also a shopping centre, not a residential building — the Ley de Vivienda primarily targets residential communities.

What the owners can do on April 18

The owners are not obliged to accept an individual-based proposal — regardless of who proposes it. They can:

Vote against the individual model. Under the LPH, a simple majority is generally sufficient. C.C. Cita's statutes (Art. 32) refer to the LPH for voting procedures; in case of a tie, the president's vote decides.

Submit a counter-proposal. Appointment of a professional management company instead of an individual — regardless of which individual.

Set a deadline. The assembly instructs the president to obtain proposals from three to four qualified companies within 30 days.

Define criteria. The company must be registered with the Colegio, demonstrate experience with shopping centres, and be independent of both the previous management and the current Junta.

This is not an affront to the president. It is the standard procedure recommended by the Colegio de Administradores de Fincas.

How to find a company

The Colegio Oficial de Administradores de Fincas de Las Palmas (caflaspalmas.es) maintains a public directory of all registered administrators — individuals and companies. Owners can search specifically for companies.

What to look for:

Registration. The company must be registered with the Colegio — this guarantees professional oversight and minimum standards.

Experience with shopping centres. Most management companies handle residential buildings. A shopping centre with over 100 owners and €1.9 million in debt requires demonstrable experience with complex communities.

Independence. The company must have no connection to the previous management (Adhover) or the current Junta. This is the most important requirement for a genuine fresh start.

Integrated legal team. With €1.9 million in outstanding debt, debt recovery is not a side task. The company should either have its own legal team or demonstrable partnerships with law firms.

Owner portal. Transparency means: every owner can access bank statements, invoices, and minutes at any time. A modern company offers this digitally.

The question on Friday

C.C. Cita has been managed by a single individual for thirty years. The result, documented up to the end of March 2026: frozen accounts, missing computers, €1.9 million in debt, no accountability.

On April 18, the owners have the chance to end this model. Not by electing another individual — regardless of who — but by switching to a structure that is controllable, transparent, and resilient.

Nearly €880,000 annual budget. €1.9 million in debt. Over 100 owners. This is not a job for one person. It is a job for a professional team.