There has long been an issue in Spain with properties being built illegally, without planning permission and then being sold on to unsuspecting buyers. So how can you ensure the property you own or the one you’re interested in is legal?
It’s surprisingly easy in Spain to be tricked into buying an illegal property, or one with illegal add-ons, as estate agencies and sellers often assure you that everything is above board and legal.
Sometimes they may not even be aware themselves that it was built somewhere it shouldn’t have been or that it has an illegal extension.
Even football star Lionel Messi found himself in this situation when he bought an old hotel in the Catalan town of Sitges. The building in fact didn’t comply with urban planning regulations and had a pending court order for demolition.
There are other ways properties can be illegal, such as being built on what’s known as rustic or rural land – land where it’s prohibited for properties to be constructed.
So if you’re not informed when you buy the property and even billionaires can be duped, what can you do about it and how do you know if the home you want to buy or that you currently own is legal or not?
There is in fact a simple solution, but it’s not one that is handed to you, so you have to do the work yourself to find out.
This is the certificate of non-existence of urban planning infringement (certificado de inexistencia de infracción urbanística), a document that guarantees the legality of the work of a property and certifies that the property does not have any open file for urban planning infringement.
Some people are completely unaware that this document even exists, but it does and it’s important to know about it.
While the above certificate is the best way of ensuring everything is legal, you can also apply for a licencia de primera ocupación (licence for first occupation), also known as the cédula de habitabilidador habitability certificate in some cases.
This certifies that when it was first built, the property was issued with a licence to say that it could be lived in, so was likely legal at the time.
It will either have been given to you with all your other property documents or be mentioned in the deeds. Sometimes it just may not have one because the property is very old and they weren’t used the time.
If you are looking into a property to decide whether or not you want to purchase it, you can request this document from your Town Hall. You can also check the information in the Land Registry.
While these won’t tell you if the property has any current pending planning issues, they will tell you about the status of the property when it was constructed, which is also very helpful.
There are several warning signs you should look out for when looking around properties. The first is the information in the property deeds – does it match the actual layout of the house? For example, is there an extra extension, room or even a floor that exists but that isn’t shown on the deeds.
Chances are that these extra parts were built without planning permission and are therefore illegal. If you buy one of these properties then you could face problems when you come to sell it on.