habitation certificate

Thank you all, including Maria for the legal informtion.

My solicitor informed me today the villa has been built according to the law and there is no urbanistic infraction.  A document from the town hall was provided with this information, but they can not give me a habitation certificate, due to the ongoing dispute with the builder and the town hall. 

For what it's worth you have to admit that it's probably about time you had another  (Stronger) word or two with your present solicitor, maybe buying a House / Casa might not be the only thing you will be buying into.

Personally if theirs any doubt....I leave it out.

Floella you are so right. Sadly the message is still buyer beware, unfortunately, although there are some of us working hard behind the scenes for reform and greater consumer protection but as ever we sincerely thank Maria for her continuing advice and support.

I have had a response from my solicitor today, regarding my concerns.  I asked if the villa can be taken away from me due to the dispute, the answer was no.  I asked  if the property was on builders utilities the answer ws no. I asked if the dispute was not resolved would it have any financial inpact on us in the future, ie contribution towards the infrastructure the answar was no. So i am asking the questions!  I have had a valuation on the property and will be getting a mortgage, which as been approved.  I am asking the questions and trying to get as much information as i can.

Interesting that a mortgage has been approved on a property without habitation licence in place!

Is this legal Maria and could failure to gain a habitation licence compromise their legal position in the future?

When you say the property cannot be transmitted without habitation licence does that mean the property transaction will be deemed illegal?

I have had a response from my solicitor today, regarding my concerns.  I asked if the villa can be taken away from me due to the dispute, the answer was no.  I asked  if the property was on builders utilities the answer ws no. I asked if the dispute was not resolved would it have any financial inpact on us in the future, ie contribution towards the infrastructure the answar was no. So i am asking the questions!  I have had a valuation on the property and will be getting a mortgage, which as been approved.  I am asking the questions and trying to get as much information as i can.

So now all you have left to do then is to ask your solicitor is if...IF...this should all go wrong in the future down to the failure of incorrect paperwork in place from the onset will you still be in business? And will you pay for any expensiveness' incurred in fixing the problem you let me get into?...That should also come up with a no answer.

You must have seen all the TV shows, read the papers, watched the media about the problems Spain has had over illegal house builds,  so on and so forth, has nothing set any alarm bells ringing?

It's a solicitor you are dealing with who I am sure will have no comebacks should something go wrong, now as in all trades there are good and bad, but one bad one.... makes ten good one's....look all bad.

 I bought a brand new house here in England, one of five down a lane,  through one of the biggest and best solicitors in our small town, right at the last moment and I mean last moment, 10 mins before moving, he phoned me and told me not to move because the builder who built these house's didn't legally own the land on which he built them, took 'ME' from June right around to February next year to sort the mess out and not by the solicitor who in the end I told to keep his nose out of it.

And you want to buy a house, in another country, via a solicitor you don't know, with a language which you probably are not to sure about, with a paperwork problem you know about, with your money that is hard to come by...

Good Luck.

How any decent lawyer can advise a client to purchase a property in full knowledge that no habitation licence is in place, or likewise a Bank make provision for a mortgage against a property without the legal paperwork in place, beggars belief..

Only when the message really sinks in to the buying public to strictly follow the guildelines as advised by Maria below, and only when Banks and conveyancing lawyers are made to consistently adhere to these legal procedures, in place to protect the consumer, will we stand any chance of eradicating bad practice.

Surely the bottomline in this case, as Maria has advised is:

"deeds for the completion of the purchase business and transmission of ownership rights to Consumers cannot be granted without First Occupation License. In short words:  no house can be acquired without that license "

i am listening and i am taking everything on board.  I have my head screwed on I hope.  This is all new and you have all been at this stage before, with regards to buying a property . I have not gone ahead with anyting yet.  I am not in a dream bubble of owning a villa.  At the early stages when they asked for a deposit, i said no because i said anything could happen upto the point of contract. 

I am digging further and the official letter i have stamped from the town hall, does state the villa is a legal build the land is legal and it is built to all requirements approved.  They will not issue the final part due to the builder not finishing his work with the roads and lighting.. 

There is about 200 villas that have not got the full certificate and have been bought and sold and are renting out to holiday makers..

i am finding more information out each time

At the risk of being embroiled in this, and I do agree with much of the advice given here. In simple terms, apart from the legal risk of re-selling being an issue, is that potentially the local council can come against the existing owners of the urbanization to complete the project if there are insufficient funds held against the promoter.. In other words they are withholding consent untill all works have been properly completed. I personally would not go near it.

Saludos 

Juan

I have asked the question to my solicitor, with regards to the financial inpact it could have on the residents in the future. She replied we would not have to contribute because the legal agreement is with the developer not the residents.  I feel i am going around in circles with this post. surely not everyone involved in my buying process is corrupt!!!  I am paying good money for my solicitor, surely she has to act legally on my behalf.

I have asked the question to my solicitor, with regards to the financial inpact it could have on the residents in the future. She replied we would not have to contribute because the legal agreement is with the developer not the residents.  I feel i am going around in circles with this post. surely not everyone involved in my buying process is corrupt!!!  I am paying good money for my solicitor, surely she has to act legally on my behalf.

No one is suggesting that everyone you are dealing with are corrupt, what everyone is saying is...If everything is not 100% correct, stay away, why are they telling you this? Because either many know someone who has had problems or many have seen the problems caused by the simple fact one small piece of paper can give out nightmares.

As for your solicitor acting legally on your behalf, did you read my post about my solicitor acting legally on my behalf?....And this was in England.

Now here's a question ....... if the FOL has never been acquired and therefore deeds for the completion of the purchase business and transmission of ownership rights to Consumers cannot be granted without First Occupation License who is the legal owner of the property in the eyes of the law in the interim period?

How can a property be bought and sold without these deeds and transmission of ownership rights in place from the outset?

This rule is from 2007. Till then, transactions without the required licenses were authorised by Notaries and registered by Registrars

What if your Solicitor is wrong?

Will they cover the potential thousands of euros legal costs if it all goes wrong?

What if the Developer goes bankrupt?

It's not as if there aren't plenty of properties for sale in Spain with habitation certificates in place etc?

Don't join the other 200 lemmings, one day it may all backfire on them.

Thank you Maria but the question still remains, if there is no FOL in existence, and transmission of ownership rights to a consumer is no longer recognised in the eyes of the law until the FOL becomes available, then who remains the legal owner of the property until this FOL is made available? Will it be the last owner that used the notary and registrar prior to this ruling in 2007, or would it be the new purchaser who is "hanging on" for the FOL to be issued?

In other words if these purchase transactions are still proceeding without an FOL in place, are these purchasers "in limbo", without any legal ownership property rights?

Dear Maria,

Please can you advise if it is now illegal to purchase a property without an FOL in place (since this would be after 2007 when the rule you identified came into use) ?

Or if the first purchase transaction on the property was actioned without an FOL in place prior to 2007, does this then exempt the property from this legal requirement to have an FOL in place for all subsequent sales/purchase?

It's very confusing.....

I'm looking forward to seeing the reply.  Our situation is that we bought off plan in 2003.  In 2005 the developer had built the property but we declined to complete as an FOL was not available.  By that time we had made stage payments of 50% as required by the contract.

Towards the end of 2005 the developer quite cheekily issued legal proceedings against us trying to force us to complete, but of course failed.

By 2007 we became increasingly concerned with the finacial stability of the developer.  We had bank guarantees for the substantial amounts paid but the wordings of one was different and had a time limit which had expired.  Our solicitor was short on advice other than repeating that we should not be concerned etc and that if we wished we could cancel the contract and have our depsit returned, plus interest.

By this time we had realised the shortcomings of the Spanish legal system and our concerns regarding the insolvency of the developer, so in 2008 we decided to avoid the risk of our money going down the drain, pay the balance outstanding and receive the escritura.  This was done in the normal manner with the local Notary in May 2008 - so the comment by Maria that this act was illegal is surprising.

Subsequently the developer did go bust, so perhaps we made the right decision as others who took them to court are still waiting for the return of their money.

But for sure we will never ever buy off plan again, nor would we vaguely consider buying a property that did not have a Habitation certificate - not worth the risk!  When we purchased we made the mistake of assuming that solicitors and consumer protection was the same as in UK....WE NOW KNOW BETTER.

I have asked the question to my solicitor, with regards to the financial inpact it could have on the residents in the future. She replied we would not have to contribute because the legal agreement is with the developer not the residents.  I feel i am going around in circles with this post. surely not everyone involved in my buying process is corrupt!!!  I am paying good money for my solicitor, surely she has to act legally on my behalf.

One other thing that might be worth you looking at considering you have asked the question on here is that the other day a post come up about someone having a house built to retire in, with full legal granted planning permissions, and then a few years down the line the Spanish goverment changed something that said the house was built ilegal and they had revoked the planning permission and it had to be pulled down.

Something has been sorted out about this, but the point I am making is....Whats okay today....Might not be tommorow, as it could be said about your case in question,  search the post out and have a read, only a few days ago. 

With so many properties currently for sale there must be thousands with all the necessary paperwork in place, why would anyone consider buying one without?