Wanted: Country house

If it is classified as rural it needs 10,000 m2 land to be legal. This is relevant to the entire community of Valencia.

I'm afraid Cheryl is mistaken. The law was changed in 2000. From the year 2000 any NEW build property had to be on a plot of at least 10,000m2 land but properties built before this time on smaller plots were exempt from this new ruling.

I know people try to be helpful, but the only way to be sure of getting proper, correct information is to speak to a solicitor, who can do the proper due diligence for any property purchase - which of course costs money. Unfortunately, there are very well meaning people who don't really know what they are talking about and can cause all sorts of mayhem and confusion.

"any NEW build property" really? 

A couple of tips:

ALWAYS use an independent solicitor NOT the one working with or for the estate agent.

ALWAYS actually ask the questions, NEVER assume. 

Charlie, my own property was built before 2000 and the seller had to get the Certificate of no Infraction which I believe confirmed it was built before that time but that still didn't give me a Habitacion Certificate. For this I had to have the new EU approved septic tank installed, along with a contract for maintenance. Although we managed to get both agricultural water and electricity changed into our names without the HC, other posters have said that they were unable to. 

 I believe my property is still not 100% legal but it is free from the threat of demolition (unless through compulsory purchase).
We are still very restricted as to what we can do with the property and cannot add any more to the footprint or add any hard landscaping  or change the use of outbuildings to living accommodation. We can't even knock down an outbuilding in one place and rebuild in another place.

As Movingon says, an independent solicitor (Abogado) is crucial although in my own experience direct questions still have to be asked and it is best to get the answers in writing.

Properties without the Habitacion Certificate are bought and sold regularly although without one you are probably limiting your market for re-sale as it will put a lot of people off.

Why Alcoy?  Very cold in winter, not much in the way of services, access prolonged, etc. which is why its so cheap....

Move closer to the coast , pay a bit more for services, access by autovia, more expats but countryside.

Buy my house in Crevillent for instance.    No self  promotion here then ……….

Richard

I agree with Movingon about using a solicitor. Cheryl, I also never said that properties built before 2000 were free from problems - that's why you use a solicitor to do the conveyancing. With a lot of older properties built on rustic land, things like the swimming pool, square meteridge etc. aren't correct on the deeds or at the land registry, but usually, they can be put right before the buyer completes.

Spanish national law overrides local planning, which means any property built on rustic land has to comply with the 10,000m2+ plot size. It doesn't matter what the local town hall says - Spanish national law prevails. Whether it has irrigation water or not is irrelevant. Lots of people have been taken in by the "If it's a wooden house and doesn't have a concrete base it's OK to build on a smaller plot" type rubbish but as soon as it has services, (i.e. water and electric ) it's classed as a dwelling.

I'm not out to p**s people off, just trying to help. There is no excuse for ignorance in this day and age.  All the information people could need is available at the click of a mouse, but unfortunately, some people are to lazy to do their homework and then decide to blame everyone else for their mistakes. Cutting corners to save on solicitor's costs is one of the most insane mistakes people make.

Ha ha is your house in a nice area!!

Check it’s not in a flood plain.

Note that Crevillent was completely free from flooding except for the flood plain near Catral.

Richard