Cedula de Habitation for an old house

 Hi, this is my first post on the forum so "Hello" to everyone and a big "thank you" in advance should anyone be able to help with a some info.

I´d be grateful for any advice on whether the same regulations for a Certificate de Habitation apply equally to old village houses and whether this Certificate is the same as a Licence of First Occupation. The house I own has been lived for over 100 years without a Certificate and has an electricity contract with Iberdrola (albeit under the name of the previous owners).  I live in a small inland village in Valencia and from speaking to my neighbours this situation is typical rather than exceptional. I´d like to change the electricity contract into my own name and the electrician is ready to sign a bolletin for the installation. But to do this he requires a certificate of habitation.  From reading the posts on this forum I, like many of my neighbours, have apparently been living in out houses illegally (but without problems) for a long time. I´m pretty confused about this situation and would appreciate any advice as regards old houses. This is particularly the case since an English neighbour in adjacent village has just received a bill for several thousand euros when he applied for a Certificate. The major is now threatening to arrange for his electricity to be disconnected unless he pays up. 

This message was last edited by tfr on 02/07/2010.

tfr Hi,

We were in a broadly similar position to you; the only difference being that our old village house had never had it's own electricity supply. When our so called 'builder' had electricity installed it was done under a works contract, although it was in our name. This contract had a pre-defined lifespan (something which we didnt know) and after three years in Nov 2009 we had a letter from Endesa saying that the contract was due to expire in December and that a new domestic contract was required.

It was made clear that the issue of the new contract would be subject to an approved electrician signing off on the 'Bolletin' and receipt of a copy of the Licence of First Occupation, neither of which we had. These requirements are by legal decree and all supply companies are subject to the same regulations.

I contacted an Electrician who came out to the house with a rep from Endesa and between them they investigated what changes were necessary to the existing installation to make it fully compliant with regulations issued between the time that the Initial installation was carried out and the present date. These changes were all on the input side rather than any internal changes but nevertheless were quite extensive. The bill for the changes equated to about 1000€ but my leccy also handled all the aspects of applying for and chasing up the new contract.

When I applied to my local Town Hall for the Licence of First Occupation I was informed that the original Planning Permission although approved was never actually paid for...something my 'builder' should have attended to. I would need to pay this account and then approach a Technical Architect for an inspection of the work carried out. The architect would be required to sign off on a Certificate of Completed Works.

The Architectsbill was 250€ and a couple of dats after the Inspection I received the Certificate.

I took the certificate back to the Town Hall and filled out the application form for the L.O.F.A.

Initially I was told that the Licence would be sent by snail mail to my address within a week, but after two weeks it still hadn't arrived so I went in to the Town Hall again to chase it up...three hours later I emerged with the Licence and there was no charge from the Town Hall.

Endesa arrived, inspected the signed off Bolletin and the LOFA and then installed a new meter and took away copies of the documentation and copies of the new contract arrived a couple of days later. When we applied for the new contract via our leccy we applied for an upgrade on the original installation...originally rated at 4kw we are now on a 9.2kw supply; standing charges are higher but we dont have to be so careful about how many appliances we have running simultaneously.

Now...we live in Granada Province and things are a little different in Valencia; the Generalitat really do seem to make the rules up as they go along so the civic authorities might well make a charge for anything they do.

I also read on this forum that the Licence of First Occupation issued in Valencia has a definite life after which it must be renewed...this is not the case over here in Granada. The Licence here is valid until the property changes owners, changes use or major changes are made to the building structure.

Hope some of this helps...

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Edited for typo....

 Foxbat, many thanks for your reply which was very helpful. Although I didn´t realise this until you mentioned it, in Valencia there´s a second type of licence intended for old houses like mine - the Licencia Municipal de Ocupación. The requirements look to be less demanding than the licence of first occupation and allows reconnection to services, Bollitins and name changes on contracts. So I´ll see what the town hall have to say.

tfr; Hi,

just to wish you good luck with your negotiations; hope all works out well for you and yours

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