Vigo court upholds community ban on pets despite animal‑welfare law

A first‑instance court in Vigo, Spain, rejected a challenge by a resident who kept a poodle, confirming a long‑standing prohibition on pets in his apartment building. The ruling upheld the community’s internal statute, originally approved in 2010, which bans companion animals under article 7 of the Horizontal Property Law.

The resident had argued that the 2023 Animal Welfare Law granted him a right to keep his dog, but the court ruled that the welfare law does not create an unlimited right to own pets and cannot nullify valid community agreements. The judgment stresses that community rules approved according to legal procedures retain full force, even when they intersect with newer animal‑protection legislation.