Individual Room Sizes

I am buying a property off plan and my contract only tells me the total sq metres of my apartment. I have been advised to get the individual room sizes because apparently our developers have a habit of building undersized apartments. Through my lawyers I have requested this information and have been told that the developers, by law have no legal obligation to pass on this information. Does any one know if this is right. Appreciate any feed backs on this subject. 

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Salsy,

You are absolutely correct to ask as many questions has you feel necessary about your purchase both from your solicitor, the promoter or directly to the Developer! Don't be fobbed off and continue to make a nuisance of yourself with all concerned. Most brochures and marketing materials tend to publish the built size of any building that often includes the whole area of the internal space built. This can include the thickness of the internal walls, storage rooms and even built in wardrobe spaces etc!  Even the walkways up to your front door have been known to be included in the overall measurements!

Many spanish buyers ask the simple question; What is the size of the living space inside the property? excluding terraces etc. Many British buyers including myself fail to ask enough questions before making a legal commitment to purchase!

Good look

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There may well be no legal obligation to pass on precise room measurements - I don't know, but this information must be available, since precise plans of the property to be built must have been submitted and approved in order to get a building licence (licencia de obra) from the council. See if you can get a copy of these plans included as an annex to your contract. However, I think you will probably find that your contract will say somewhere (in very small print) that the developer reserves the right to make alterations as deemed necessary. Whilst any major changes to the original project will have to be re-submitted and approved by the planning department, I wouldn't start buying your furniture until the place is finished and you can take your own measurements!

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This message was last edited by JeansSis on 5/19/2007.

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Like I said....best wait until you have the keys to order any furniture etc!

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I agree with Roberto and I from day one decided not to buy any furniture / furnishings until the key is firmly in the hand. Just as well I stuck with this decision as during a recent trip to our development I found that the developers have made the master bedroom almost half a metre shorter then in the original plans which forms part of the private contract. Also officialy completion was supposed to be in Nov 2006 but currently I do not see this happening till at least April / May what would I have done with any furniture bought thinking that completion will be in Nov 2006?

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Just as a point of interest, does anybody know where you can buy furniture as small as that shown by promotors on their plans? As room sizes get smaller and smaller, perhaps there is a new "emerging" market for dolls house furniture?

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I totally agree about sizes within your off plan property.

I think I may have posted something on here about it last week?

When we all got our keys in our apatment block, people started to compare sizes, as we all had different kitchen cupboards.

Sme people had smaller hallways, some had smaller bathrooms and you can imagine the ladies that had the bigger kitchens! They had more cupboard space than us and we were all gutted! After all, they had sooo much more space to store their wine than I did!

It seems that the builders build the shell as to the overall size on the plans, then seperate the units up and whoops, if they build a wall or two out of sync, who cares? they just carry on! Must be something to do with siestas, wines etc.,

Oh yes, they DO drink wine on their siestas, I have seen it on the building site in front of our apartments!

Can you imagine that in the UK, coming back at 2pm after downing a bottle of red plonk! Unheard of!

Anyway, back to the subject, I agree, don't by any furniture picked out specifically to fit in any of your rooms. Furniture packs are ok to order, they fit in most places, although we have got a bedside table in lounge that wouldn't go in the 2nd bedroom, handy to store extra bills in tho! LOL!

Rgds,

 

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I sympathise with those who cannot see any correlation between the furniture shown in the builders plans and real life.  We have a plan scaled at 1:100 and a bedroom shown with a bed right across the room with space to walk past the end and the room scales 2m wide (6'6")  That's a standard bed length! so the bed indicated scales at 1.8m (6'), which is too short for the average 5'10" male. 

Also at 1:100 (usually photocopied) 1mm represents 4" and yet I bet, if you complain about the finished article varying from the plan by 1mm, you would belaughed out of the builders office.

 

Mike

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...and by the way, don't even bother getting a spirit level out to check walls and surfaces etc. You'll only end up getting more stressed. Better to grab that bottle of Rioja and chill......

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This message was last edited by san miguel on 3/19/2007.

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Pueblo Blanco.

I wonder what is the use of being supplied with signed off plans, as our developer seems to make changes, many of which we do not like, and then lies about why the changes had to be made.  Has anyone had experience in stopping some of the changes happening and insisting that the build is as the plan.

Our contact allows for changes if these are made on instructions of the Planning Authority for technical reasons. We do not seem to be getting anywhere, and we are losing 2 windows one of which we really want.  We have also lost a bath, a bidet, and a walk in wardrobe.

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Ray,
On our development, we found that they had bricked planned patio doors to half height and had placed a thick rendered pillar in the corner of the living room where there were supposed to be sleek corner patio doors. Due to some excellent pressure from purchasers who spotted it first, the patio doors were opened up, (well, most of them) but I had to settle for compensation for the pillar. We found that the developers just ignored all communications until we employed a barrister. Then they knew we meant business and responded quickly. We settled via direct negotiation. It's hard to stop changes once they are done (stable doors and bolting horses etc). So, you are left with trying to rescind the contract, or get compensation. As far as rescinding the contract is concerened, I was told you will have to prove to the court that the changes are so substantial that they negate the reason you purchased the property in the first place. So, it's a question of degrees. In my case, not so critical, but in yours, you seem to have lost a lot. Is the overall size comparable with the original plan? Certainly, litigation is not for the faint hearted, as no doubt others on this forum will tell you. It is expensive and time consuming, with no guaranteed result. By the way, the amendments to our properties had been passed by the town hall, but we had no idea about any application. Good luck.

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Ray

PUEBLO BLANCO -  IZNAJAR - ALLIED DEVELOPMENT

Can you confirm whether the overall size of the property has been reduced from the original plans ? 

Do you know whether other purchasers are aware of the amendments ?

Lets hope you can make a stand with the other purchasers to ensure you "get  what you purchased"

Regards

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