Legal house on “suelo no urbanizable”

It does happen a lot, as there are a tremendous number of illegal builds. There's nothing wrong with buying such a property, but the cost of legalising this, if that's possible, should be reflected in the price.

Unfortunately for some, it's a case of caveat emptor, and if you don't instruct your solicitor appropriately then it's easy to fall into a trap.

In such a case it is necessary to establish if there is any possibility of legalising the property and, if so, how much this will cost. If it's never going to be possible, then you have the choice of losing the 10% deposit or buying a property that you might never be able to sell.

Even if a property can be legalised, you'd never be able to make any alterations or extensions to it.

Thanks jimtaylor for your quick reply.

As far as we have been told (we have lost confidence in the lawyer) the property is legal and has all the correct documents from the town hall. It is connected to the main sewers and electrics, it has an original habitation certificate and a second one after the alterations.

I am also aware we can not extend and any alterations.

My concern is more we are in this bizarre grey area. The bank says the land cant be built on so values it extremely low, but the town hall says all is legal and above board?

We are happy to buy knowing we cant alter it, but my concern is that in the future we will have issues with potentially selling to a buyer who needs a mortgage.

I really appreciate your reply and would be so happy to hear of any other advice.suggestions you may have.

Thanks again

Thanks RayD for your great response.

To clarify we do have the habitation certificate (an original and a second after it was reformed) from the local town hall.

It is agricultural land, but from looking on the cadastrel all the surrounding properties in Els Poblets seem to be the same.

My confusion is that if the town hall says it is all legal, if people have lived there for years, if the utilities are connected, if all the local houses are the same, why can the bank not see the value?

Its clear from your response, you are knowledgeable about this situation so I really would be so thankful for any extra advice.

p.s. we hired a local, recommended spanish abogado, but somehow they did not think to mention this to us, and responded by saying they didn't think we needed a mortgage and that the situation is normal (which it does appear to be) in Els Poblets.

From what you say, the property must have been legalised, albeit it shouldn't have been built there in the first place.

The bank are actually correct in only calculating a potential mortgage based on the official classification of the land, as that's how the system works. I mentioned this in my guide to planning permission. From what you seem to be aware of, it won't help you, but have a look just in case:

https://www.costablancaforum.com/area/almorad%C3%AD-spain-11/general-almorad%C3%AD-discussion-9/jims-guide-planning-permission-54508/

There isn't, within present legislation, any way around the situation. You can only hope that if you need to sell in the future, then you find a buyer like yourself. Don't let the possible future mar your present!

jimtaylor thanks so much for this response.

Unfortunately that seems to be the word I am hearing, that at present there is no way round this.

As ong as the property is legal, which we are assured it is, I think our risk is future resale.

Many many thanks for the quick and helpful replies, it is so reassruing to hear from others.

We own a property on a very small development - not really an ‘urbanizacion’ in that sense! - built around 15 years ago. The development was completely illegal, on protected rustic land and caused untold misery ad hassle for the original purchasers , many of whom were elderly extrangeros and who had bought in all innocence and good faith. Some 10 years later, due in no small part to actions by the original purchasers, cedulas were issued and legalisation ‘fuera de ordenacion’ was granted. This means that the local authority has accepted their existence and we may quite legally live in them. What it actually also means is that they may never be extended, we are not permitted a below ground pool (we don’t care!) and that when the buildings have reached the end of their useful life (by which time we will have progressed to that large development in the sky) they may not be renovated but must be allowed to decay into the landscape. We easily obtained a licence from the Town Hall for internal refurbishments - kitchen/bathroom - at an inflated price! - but anything more than that is strictly non negotiable. 

However, the properties do sell and normal transactions proceed without much difficulty. The only apparent difference it makes is that if these were not fuera de ordenacion, the asking prices would be much higher and in fact, is the only reason we could afford to live here!!!

And to follow up to post above, I now remember that our abogada said that in effect the only problem with ‘fuera de ordenacion’, apart from not being allowed to extend etc is that banks will not grant a mortgage. However, this need not be too much of deterrent as there are many purchasers who are ‘cash’buyers, in which case all the bank problems are academic.

Stephanie86, thanks so much for the response, very helpful.

Two quick questions on the last bit of your post:

"We easily obtained a licence from the Town Hall for internal refurbishments - kitchen/bathroom - at an inflated price! - but anything more than that is strictly non negotiable. 

However, the properties do sell and normal transactions proceed without much difficulty. The only apparent difference it makes is that if these were not fuera de ordenacion, the asking prices would be much higher and in fact, is the only reason we could afford to live here!!!"

Did they tell you at the town hall what was allowed under "refurbishments", its not a deal breaker for us but good to know where they draw the line?

Secondly am i reading the last part right in that you are saying the property you purchased was less because it had gone down the route of "fuera de ordenacion"?

Again, thanks for your help, great to know people are in a similar position.

Hi Mr PNMarsh!!!

We went to consult with the Town Hall Architect. In effect, internal alterations - replacements - are permitted without to much hassle. Technically in Spain, should you wish to replace so much as one kitchen wall tile, the equivalent of Planning Permission is required. It is a grey area about the replacement of sanitaryware fittings/kitchen furniture, as it’s really anything’fixed’ to the fabric of the building - however, to be on the safe side we applied. We were charged roughly 30 eu per sq met for the permission; the aparejador (quantity surveyor) wanted the square metrage of the area. Had we wished to replace/move even non-load bearing internal walls, we would’ve needed architects drawings etc etc. At one point we did toy with the idea of putting a window in our large underbuild, which the Town Architect officially told us required drawings/submissions etc; but in the end we decided against this as our underbuild technically doesn’t exist as it’s not mentioned on our escritura and would have involved us in all kinds of paperwork and expense and increased taxes. We simply keep the door open and I utilise it as an ‘office’ and sewing room - we have got power and light down there! It works perfectly well. 

They completely and utterly refused permission for my husband to have/build a wooden shed (he wanted a workshop) on our land - on the grounds, according to the Architect, that it could be viewed as increased accommodation to the house. I wasn’t planning on letting it out as a B and B!!!! But were are allowed a small plastic portable one. We may not erect a car port without planning, neither may we have a fixed pergola over an outside terrace. We may not use any cement/concrete or otherwise in the garden and officially PP is required for laying a terrace. PP is also required for anything in the way of serious garden works - ie building walls. We got hauled over the coals shortly after we moved in. Our pool - an above ground ‘tank’ was stuck in the middle of an awkward area with no apparent sensible access. so we promptly built a small area of decking - say, around 3 or 4 sq mt to make a platform from the adjacent ground. Lo and behold, within a week the local police accompanied by the Aparejador arrived demanding to see what work we were carrying out - assume someone had seen us bringing in timber. We got told off although they didn’t make us remove it and informed us that we should’ve had PP. 

One is allowed to repaint the exterior without permission, but that’s absolutely it. I think if one goes to consult with the authorities, providing one is reasonable, they will be as helpful as possible - pace the Architect who told us the ‘official’ guidelines re our window, but we chose not to do anything unofficially for all the reasons stated above.

It is not officially stated that the value of these properties is less because of that,but given the type of house they are - not remotely resembling the ghastly developer’s idea of a pseudo Spanish villa! - compared with what we have seen of similar type and quality, it’s generally accepted that partly because of the ‘worry’ factor of the ‘fuera de ordenacion’, the costs are lower. We’re not remotely concerned, nor is anyone else on the area. We are under the impression that if it were not for that, the asking price would’ve been considerably more - and we subsequently discovered that,given the price of similar properties here, we could’ve offered much less. However, we liked it and the feeling of space so to us, it was worth it. One can always kick oneself afterwards