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Can anyone help? I am in the process of buying a villa on a urbanisation, the villa is 10 years old. My solicitor informed me weeks ago the property had no habitation certicicate. I was told not to worry as we could not proceed to complete without one. The solicitor told me she would be applying for one, on the understanding that it was only missing. However weeks on, she has informed me that it was never granted because there is a legal dispute between the builder and the town hall,about unfinished roads and street lighting. This has been going on for a long period of time, and no closer to being resolved. The town hall will not grant anymore h/c now or in the future until the situation is sorted. (if ever sorted) My problem is a few weeks ago i could not proceed without one, now its not an issue but i needed to be informed. The villa is a legal build and registered and conneccted to utilities. The present owner has appeared to have had no problems. My main concern should i buy or not?. It is to be used as a holiday home. Also i may want to rent it out. Can i do this without a H/c?
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Straight answer....NO. Without the habitation Licence the villa is not a legal build even though it is connected to utilities. These utility bills , although paid by villa owner, are probably still registered in builders name. Walk away and find a property with all the paperwork intact... Of which there are many hundreds, if not thousands for sale.
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As floella says, there are thousands of properties out there with habitation certificates.
However, some town halls are very, very lax in issuing these certificates. As there appears to be a bit of a dispute on your property, it would seem there is a problem and not just bad admin as with some local authorities. At one time, no one bothered with these as they were just seen to be an admin thing. Our utilities were connected in our name without one after having builders supply for some 5 or 6 years and, indeed, were transferred to the new buyers when we sold up even though I had to leave 250 euros with the buyers solicitors to obtain a license of 2nd occupation when they were ready (property was 10 years old when I sold). Notaries completing on property in the Orihuela Costa will still allow properties to be sold without one due to the terrible in-fighting amongst the local council who are more interested in forming and breaking coalitions with all and sundry rather than getting down to the nitty gritty of actually doing some council work.
Look hard and long at the situation. If you have paid a deposit you may have to weight up the pros and cons. If there is a dispute, you may find the council will finish the roads and complete the street lighting but give all the residents a bill for doing so.
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As many will know, Camposol residents do not have habitation certificates, despite the urbanisation being in existence for at least14 years. the reason for the delay is that everything has to be completed to the Council's satisfaction, which on a place this size takes a long time. The developer no longer has anything to do with Camposol-the Council are now in charge. Cof H will arrive! Most have had escrituras for years, and those who do not are now in the process of receiving them. Villas are connected to mains electricity and water; recently Aqualia has taken over water contracts;some had no meters and that is being rectified at this moment. There is a medical centre, pharmacy, dentists etc and established shops and restaurants. IBI is paid, though some are not paying, but this is being resolved. Villas have been bought and sold for years with no problem whatsoever.
So tracyandy, don't let the lack of a habitation certificate put you off, just make sure you do your checks, as anyone sensible would, when buying property.
Floella- not everything is black and white;it's wrong to make assumptions.
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Agree Camposol,not everything is black and white but assumptions I am not making. Although houses previously may have been sold , by the unscupulous, without the habitation licence lawyers are now highlighting the problem to prospective purchasers because it always has been illegal practise. Indeed a property shouldn't even be advertised for sale without all paperwork intact. Unfortunately I DO know what I am talking about. 9 years ago weI bought a parcela of land and got a local architect to submit plans for a 3 bed 3 bath house. 6 months later plans agreed and with everything stamped in triplicate building commenced. Because we were the promoters all utilities were in our names from the commencement of works. Although one isn't supposed to move in to a property upon completion , without the habitation cert, we like everyone else did so. For 4 years we harassed the council to sign off the property and it was only because a friend of a friend moved our paperwork to the top of the enormous pile that eventually someone came to measure every bit of our house and outside structures before laughingly declaring " we had a bit of a problem" . All measurements were correct and every structure accounted for..so what was the problem? Well, there is a council disclaimer on all planning applications that if the council have made an error the work has to be corrected before the licence is issued ! In our scenario it was because we didn't have a separate toilet for guests....worse still it had to be situated where this particular council architect wanted.....which was going to cause major hassle. Although our architect knew this was a Spanish building reg. as no other council had queried it she thought it best not to tell us. Thanks. Anyway after more expense and new plans submitted and approved and 4 years backdated council tax paid the work still has to be done because verbally we were told that once the licence was issued we could put it back to what how was !!!! Meanwhile we are still without that final bit of paper and consequently although " legal" by your definition we are not " legal" to advertise let alone sell. And neither is any property, for whatever ever reason, legal without the final piece of paper and I ,for one, would hate to see people conned into buying a property on a chance that this licence will appear sometime in the future. This message was last edited by floella on 25/08/2013.
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Our urbanisation has a similar situation the OP. All the utilities are in our name.However, my understanding is that the council will issue a HC if an owner wishes to sell. Having said that, after some discussion between the council and the local residents association. we have been issued with a certiificate saying that the house has been built to the agreed specification, and that the only reason for the non-issue of the formal certificate is the dispute.. They came and measured and checked in exactly the same way as they do for a normal certificate.
I understand that eventually this will be resolved, becuase after a periof of time (may be 10 years) the council has to adopt the roads anyway.
This message was last edited by kathyslad on 25/08/2013.
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Thank you for all your views. I believe many have habitation certicicates due to the urbanisation being built over a long period of time. However the later builds like the one i wish to purchase is 10 years old and has no h/c due to the developer not sticking to his part of the deal. So i do not know if there will ever be one. They have taken the builder to court, but still no outcome. Been going on for years apparantly.
I am waiting to see what my solicitor can come up with and the possible out come if we complete. I have a mortgage approved and i refused to put any deposit down at the start, so i could walk away. But i have got it at a good price and i really like it.
thanks again
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tracyandy I have sent you a PM.
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http://www.eyeonspain.com/blogs/costaluz/3962/legal-tip-325-first-occupation-license-(-edited-version).aspx
Legal tip 325. First Occupation license ( Edited version)
30 July 2010 @ 09:53
The First Occupation License is a license which states that what it has been built isadjusted to the work Project who obtained License by the Local Planning Authorities.
The FOL verifies if the building can be assigned to its legal use, because it is located in a proper planning zone and if it meets the basic safety and health conditions. It also confirms that the builder has fulfilled his commitments on urbanisation of the surrounding land.
Regarding FOL and completion, Consumers specialists state:
1.- The seller who signs the public deeds of purchase without FOL ( First Occupation License) is in breach of contract even if the house has been physically handed over, because the ownership rights that he is trasmitting are not valid for the use of the house till the FOL is granted.
2.- The buyer can refuse to the signing of the deeds till the FOL is granted if the completion date was fixed for anytime after the end of the work, and the seller cannot cancel the contract due to this negative of the buyer until he fulfills his contractual obligations ( after obtaining the FOL).
3.- The buyer can cancel the contract ( even after the signing of the deeds), with full devolution of amounts, interests and compensation of damages if after the completion date, either the deeds having been signed or not, the building does not have the FOL.
4.- If the buyer decides not to cancel the contract, he must not occupy the house, even when having being formally handed over, because that would involve anadministative infringement and because he can be deprived of its use by the competent Administration
Also , the Ground Act dated the 28th of May 2007 establishes in its provision 19 that the Notary deeds of " Under construction New Work " which are granted at request of developers when starting the building of a work require the existence of Work License. No Notary can sign a New Work deed without such license.
Provision 19 also establihses that the deed for the end of work will need the verification by the Notary on the existence of the First Occupation License and therefore 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
_______________________
Maria L. de Castro, JD, MA
Lawyer
Director www.costaluzlawyers.es
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Maria.
Just a couple of points please, no particular reason just would like to know.
How long has having to have the Habitation certificate been in force? has it always been in Spanish law, and it's building laws / regulations? (or is it only from about 2007 the date mentioned) if that is so would it then also have been true that these villas that have been pulled down in the past due to illegal builds etc , would not have been pulled down if the correct and legal documents had been gained from the start.
Thanks for any answer.
This message was last edited by baz1946 on 27/08/2013.
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Dear Baz:
What autonomus community are you talking about? What region?
Thanks,
Maria
_______________________
Maria L. de Castro, JD, MA
Lawyer
Director www.costaluzlawyers.es
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Hi Maria.
No particular area / community or region, in fact I didn't even know this would have made a difference, but on the curious side of things more then anything else because, as I am sure a lot of others have, I have always been surprised when I heard someone has lost a villa due to an illegal build and been taken down.
Point being is if this law has always been in place as a Spanish law, then many folk who had bought these villas didn't seem to do the correct homework before buying.
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Well Baz. Every case is different but in most of the cases problem is not with First Occupation License but with Work license. I mean, it is the lack of this last one which creates most of problems you have heard.
_______________________
Maria L. de Castro, JD, MA
Lawyer
Director www.costaluzlawyers.es
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Maria,
Could you please clarify what is the definition of "completion date" in point 3 of your legal tip which states
"3.- The buyer can cancel the contract ( even after the signing of the deeds), with full devolution of amounts, interests and compensation of damages if after the completion date, either the deeds having been signed or not, the building does not have the FOL."
If an FOL has not been issued by the contract end date, (as stipulated in the purchase contract) and no extension to the contract end date was formally agreed to in writing by the purchaser, (even if the developer forewarned of a delay), is the puchaser still legally entitled to cancel the contract?
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Forewarning of a delay by the vendor is not enough. Extensions, when completion deadline was agreed among terms of contract, needs to be explicitly aproved by the buyer.
_______________________
Maria L. de Castro, JD, MA
Lawyer
Director www.costaluzlawyers.es
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Thank you Maria.
This message was last edited by ads on 27/08/2013.
This message was last edited by ads on 27/08/2013.
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To further clarify ,Maria,
Does this therefore mean that this should not be open to any further judicial interpretation, but that the completion date specified in the purchase contract should stand if the buyer has not explicitly approved any extension?
It's just that some judges appear to be interpreting this differently which appears to be compromising the buyer's rights to cancel the contract.
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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.
Thanks again
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House cannot be transmitted without the First Occupation License
Legal tip 325. First Occupation license ( Edited version)
30 July 2010 @ 09:53
The First Occupation License is a license which states that what it has been built isadjusted to the work Project who obtained License by the Local Planning Authorities.
The FOL verifies if the building can be assigned to its legal use, because it is located in a proper planning zone and if it meets the basic safety and health conditions. It also confirms that the builder has fulfilled his commitments on urbanisation of the surrounding land.
Regarding FOL and completion, Consumers specialists state:
1.- The seller who signs the public deeds of purchase without FOL ( First Occupation License) is in breach of contract even if the house has been physically handed over, because the ownership rights that he is trasmitting are not valid for the use of the house till the FOL is granted.
2.- The buyer can refuse to the signing of the deeds till the FOL is granted if the completion date was fixed for anytime after the end of the work, and the seller cannot cancel the contract due to this negative of the buyer until he fulfills his contractual obligations ( after obtaining the FOL).
3.- The buyer can cancel the contract ( even after the signing of the deeds), with full devolution of amounts, interests and compensation of damages if after the completion date, either the deeds having been signed or not, the building does not have the FOL.
4.- If the buyer decides not to cancel the contract, he must not occupy the house, even when having being formally handed over, because that would involve anadministative infringement and because he can be deprived of its use by the competent Administration
Also , the Ground Act dated the 28th of May 2007 establishes in its provision 19 that the Notary deeds of " Under construction New Work " which are granted at request of developers when starting the building of a work require the existence of Work License. No Notary can sign a New Work deed without such license.
Provision 19 also establihses that the deed for the end of work will need the verification by the Notary on the existence of the First Occupation License and therefore 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
_______________________
Maria L. de Castro, JD, MA
Lawyer
Director www.costaluzlawyers.es
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