Early August 2009.
Let me start this post with a quote.
´The necessity to only deal in legal properties is a cornerstone of our business as we fully understand the importance of this, and our extensive range of properties in Almeria reflects this imperative. (name removed) only represent properties where the paperwork is in place. All property has it's papers checked before we take the property on the books.´
This quote is not attributed to protect the guilty. Should they wish it to be so I will be happy to oblige.
The above is a direct (as of the time of writing), except for me having removed their name, copy and paste from a particular agents website. Fairly unequivocal I believe, although if you read it carefully and with a sceptical frame of mind it does not actually state that all of the necessary paperwork is in place or that the paperwork has passed the checking process. Nor does it state who has done the checking, a 5 year old perhaps!
Agents seem to be much like companies who proudly proclaim to be ISO9000 compliant. In my experience most people think that this is a guarantee of quality, in fact it is not. It only shows that the company is aware of its failings not that it has done anything about them.
So let me tell you a story.
Having come across the above quoted site I spotted a property very much to our liking, a brief scan of the posted particulars ticked all of our boxes, that there was mains electric and water and a mortgage on the property reassured me even more.
So information was requested and a 2 page copy of part of the escritura duly received. The plot size was as advertised but the house was described as ´casa-cortijo en ruinas´. A pile of stones in other words, the warning bells began to ring.
The catastral reference was wrong (does nobody check these things upon completion? This is a legal document after all), the registro number non-existent (although a regsitro stamp is affixed). A quick check on-line with the catastro revealed that a section of the land was classed as improductivo, a sign that there might have been an old house on the plot and a slightly longer time on Goolzoom showed me the old ruins had been replaced with a new house on, almost, the same spot sometime between 2002 and 2004 (Isn´t the internet wonderful?)
I have requested a copy of the nota-simple but that is, to date, yet to be forthcoming.
Having made a few enquires with the agent about these apparent anomalies he admitted that there was, in fact, no mains electricity (and quickly changed his website. Aside: Why do all adverts say Water & Electricity: Possible when they actually mean Not Possible at the moment in many cases not even probable). Then gave me some spiel about how the property was lived in and carried a mortgage so it must be legal. Further discussions over a couple of days revealed that the new house had been build without the correct licence or plans and was thus illegal in all senses of the term.
Let me state categorically at this point that I have no problem with buying an illegal property. If I am made aware of the true situation from day one then it is my decision to go ahead or not, as the case may be. I am young enough and strong enough to battle with red tape and town hall officials to get a property legalised, if that is indeed possible and I deem it worthwhile. So don´t be afraid to approach me with an illegal building, just be honest about it.
And now the fun started.
Emailing questions to all and sundry, scouring the internet for relevant information, the burning question. Would it be possible/probable to legalise this property (in my lifetime)?
I owe a debt of thanks to all who put up with this barrage, especially Martin via Eye on Spain, those at AUAN and TLA Corp. (whose website, by the way, is an excellent source of information if you are going down this road) to name but a few. Their joint advice was, talk to the town hall and get their considered opinion. This, when the esteemed gentleman that I need to talk to returns from holiday in September, I shall do.
In the meantime, I shall be delving deeper into the mystery that is Spanish property paperwork and will be keeping you up to date on what I find.