cert of first occupation

can any one confirm wether Certicate of first Occupation has now been stopped in Spain.We are at the moment looking to purchase a resale villa in a area called Arboleas which is in Almeria province and we have been told that all licences and Cert of first occupation for this property and many more have been supended by the Major till next year can any one confirm that this is the norm in Spain at the moment                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    The                                    The reasons being give are no conection to sewage or you are conected to a Poza which are now deemed illegal.

your help please.

The area you are looking at does have some legality problems for some villas but, I stress, not all

You should make sure that you get good legal advice on the title to the property you are considering buying

In general if the villa does not have a Licence of First Occupation then that immediately raises important questions, which need to be answered

And nowadays you cannot get connected to mains water and electric without a LFO

There are situations where a buyer may well complete a purchase retaining some of the price pending the issue of the LFO but again good legal advice is paramount

As a new buyer it pays to be extra careful so therefore avoid locations where there is any doubt- there is a large choice of villas available which are fully legal!

The situation with certification is different in every region and even spanish savvy solicitors dont know all the answers (FACT)

The best place for current situation with any property is local town hall.

My property is 20 years old and town hall records here only go back 14 years so no certificate available, however i can get a second certificate of habitation by supplying a raft of documents all available from my solicitor + a letter in Spanish explaning why I want one, in my case for Aquagest account.

The town hall has a form for this purpose, not simple but achievable even with limited knowledge of Spanish.

I have found our town hall a great place for correct information on a raft of subjects, but with all Spanish paperwork patience is a vital virtue, that and and early start at the office queue.

Be very, very careful.  The missing certificate can be issued again, if appropriate documents are supplied.  However, this combined with a suspension of licences for the area is not a good sign.

Unfortunately, legal permissions for land to be classed as urbanizable (legal to build on and not agricultural etc) do not come from the central government but from local government.  One mayor can reclassify land as urbanizable  - sometimes because of enconomic interests, or quite simply because a brown envelope was passed over containing lots of euros!

The next mayor might then look at the planning and decide that this land should not have been built on and declare it illegal.  You might think that this is then the problem of the local council - but it won´t be.  The people who own the property will lose out, not the people who reclassified the land, sold the land, built the properties, sold the properties etc.  only the poor owner will be left holding a worthless property which could even be demolished, or at best be worth nothing and impossible to resell.

The other point to bear in mind is that a suspension of licences can go on for a really long time.  Next year comes and goes, then another year.  Friends of mine are in a limbo state on an urbanisation because the licences were frozen in the late 70´s.  Next year was always promised, now it´s 2010!  They have been told that next year everything will definitely go ahead - but they have heard that so many times. 

Another point to bear in mind is that the property market is in a slump in Spain.  This will affect future building and licences being issued, as there is a huge stock of unsold property lying idle and half completed urbanisations with licences but unable to sell the plots and buildings.

There are lots of bargains to be found at the moment so look around carefully and don´t rush into anything that has any doubts!

Arboleas, as many other new settlements in this particular area, have problems with legalities and apparently this is why issuing licenses for properties  have been suspended. Only recently been discovered that the townhall has been in denial that it has a problem !!  It is supposed to be only for a year but I wouldn't trust anyone who tells you that as I know of folk who have been waiting 6+ years.

There have been discussions on a particular board covering this area that licenses will only be approved IF and WHEN the property owners pay for the mains services etc and  gestimates state this could be anything upwards of 11euros per sq.m of land the house sits on.

To be perfectly honest I wouldn't touch a property within 30 miles of that particular region of Almeria until everything is sorted which the way it is going could be many a year yet.. But read  the board  yourself.

Hnag um High:

Answers below in bold orange:

can any one confirm wether Certicate of first Occupation has now been stopped in Spain. Of course not.

We are at the moment looking to purchase a resale villa in a area called Arboleas which is in Almeria province and we have been told that all licences and Cert of first occupation for this property and many more have been supended by the Major till next year can any one confirm that this is the norm in Spain at the moment . No, it is not the norm. Does the development have a Work License?                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    The reasons being give are no conection to sewage or you are conected to a Poza which are now deemed illegal.

Initially, not advisable to buy there.

your help please.