Thank you joric😊

Hi Jeric, Thank you for this video. Are you renting or do you own the apartment? Who then is responsible for the upkeep of your building?

Hi Joric, as already stated, it's elected among the owners, on an yearly basis. You can outsource the day to day management, but legally you must have one (usually two, in case the first is not available) to sign the bank account. Part of the monthly fees have to be set apart for a fund to major repairs . Insurance is also compulsory by law. And one annual meeting to approve previous and next year budget is also compulsory. You should also have an internal condominium regulations document (less common), expenses are divided by permilage, unless otherwise decided by the owners in assembly.

In Portugal the most common name nowadays for something like that is Condomínio (condominium), though technically this only applies to buildings that were divided and sold under that legal framework. Having said that, many old buildings might not have something of the sort or might belong to just one landlord which would establish his own rules. 
In a condominium the management is elected/selected by the owners every year. It cannot increase the fees without owners approval, any new rules also need approval by the owners. Full repainting or renovation of the exterior of the building would probably also require approval by the owners and in most cases that expense would not be covered by the normal monthly fee.

Thanks Joric! Seems like building maintenance operates similar to the US you just have to do your homework and know what you're getting into. I like the look and space offered in some apartments 20 or so years old but as they age they likely will cost more to maintain (like me)! This is the only info I've seen on Portugal building maintenance and it's most helpful.

What the law says is that every year the owners of a building's flats must convene, approve the year's accounts (just like in a company) and elect the manager for the next 12 months. Theoretically the building's manager should be a rotating position, following the order of the flats (year one, first floor left, year two, first floor front, year three first floor right, year four, second floor left, etc). Few people are interested in being the manager because it can be very time consuming so here's how it works in practice:

1) very old buildings (say from 1950s) with just four or five flats. They've all lived there for ages and know each other well – they don't abide by the law, don't approve accounts or elect a manager. Whenever there is a problem they get together and decide what to do;

2) new building with lots of flats – in the first few years they start the rotating scheme until they get stuck with someone who refuses to be the manager because "I have a busy life, I don't have time for this. If you force me to be the manager, I warn you that I'm going to be a lousy one". Either they all decide to pay an external company to manage the building, or someone volunteers to be the manager. Usually that person keeps volunteering and gets re-elected year after year. When that happens (and it's a big building) there's a 95% chance that the manager is getting an under the table commission in every work that happens in the building, but everyone turns a blind eye because no one wants to be the manager;

3) In some buildings they do rotate the position yearly and everybody gets to be the manager once every ten years or so.

In big buildings with lots of flats there's usually more than one manager and at least two signatures are required to access the bank account, as it isn't unheard of for single managers to suddenly vanish with the money that belongs to the building's fund…

in Portugal H.O.A. has a totally different meaning. It was a (quite successful) rock band. Here's their biggest hit from 1999, which dominated the airwaves for several months:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1cQB1bxHsI