Property buying in Catral

The  Estate agents  lawyers  well  keep away   from him. I  would not trust a Lawyer  who Estate agents  recommend.  Many posts online  here about that topic

You  should  buy a property  with your Head not your Heart

For  me it sounds  like I  would  never sleep easily  at night knowing  that a Demolition  order  is always around. 

You are investing  a  lot  of Money and already  The Pool is illegal.  I  maybe  the first to reply  to you but I  think  many  others will also  tell  you to  Walk   away from  this Purchase  of  property.  Will you have Money  in say 5  years  time  if  Council  come to you and say we will Demolition  your  property.  

You  cannot  get  the same reply  from 2 Solicitors  you have  visited.  If Solicitors  cannot  give you a straight  answer  walk away. 

Do  not listen to Sellers  they will put Swimming  on House title  at completion  of Sale. Can they not do it before Sale is Completed. 

It  sounds  all  to  complicated  and sounds like  a minefield  that will take Thousand  of Euros  in Solicitors  fees and at the end of it House  could be Demolition. 

You  say you want a good life in Spain 🇪🇸.  This house Purchase  to me sounds like a big Nightmare waiting  to  happen 

Best of luck 👍 

Hi

Search for user JMKCOM on this site, there was a useful discussion in March/April about this type of situation.

I would seriously advise speaking or messaging JMKCOM, an extremely experienced architect - also he is the Valencia Commissioner for Expatriates.

👍

Finger weg, alles gezahlte Geld ist für immer weg.

Their is no problem with the propertied in Catral although illegal.

We have septic tank etc. and have been informed by Valencia that the properties will not be demolished, our solicitor also has the information and his main office is based in Valencia.  He has stated that we will get the said certificate but the paperwork in each town will take time, depends on how quickly the Catral Town Hall decides to work.  We have lived here since 2010 and feel very confident as others do.

Its best to ask all your neighbours and others in the Catral area.

Would it be possible for us to talk to this solicitor?

I’ll send you a PM. 

From where we stand I would advise you to be very careful, and preferably not touch with a barge pole, there are any other properties.

Our own property was illegally built some twenty years ago, but was eventually, after many years of argument etc,  given a Habitation Certificate, albeit it is classed as Fuera de Ordenación. It has now been stated that the HC cannot be renewed next year, as it was issued illegally in the first instance. We are now trying to follow the new amnesty procedure instigated by Valencia, although our properties are fully compliant with all building codes, septic tanks etc, this is not proving to be a box ticking exercise. We did know the position when we bought this, but as it had an HC, we were fairly sanguine at the time.

Personally, I would walk away from this, NOW.

Do not waste any more money regarding this property, there are lots of properties available without illegalities and problems.

Good luck, J

Hi Ronjajob,

There are many illegal properties in Catral (and Dolores), which are regularly bought and sold, but you need to be aware of the limitations.  For example, when we bought in 2016, we looked at many properties in Catral - some had structures that were not listed on the land registry and couldn't be added because the entire builds were illegal.  However, of greater concern to us was that we could not make any further additions, such as a pool house, outside kitchen, garage, etc., so we would have had all that land, but limited to what we could do with it.

As for the Demolition Order, it really depends on your attitude to risk.  Of course the estate agent will tell you that it's not a problem and it probably won't be - until it is, and the problem in the meantime is that you won't know whether/if it will be.  If you want to buy a property in that area, look for plot sizes of at least 10,000 sq m, as they are likely to be legal, or can be legalised more easily.

You may also find the following thread from earlier this year helpful:

Legalising illegal rural properties through an MIT licenses

Kind regards,

Kim