More and more people are nowadays attracted to the idea of owning a Spanish property. Whether you are interested in investing in Spanish property or are looking to build and design your own home the following advice will help you understand the different aspects of building a property in Spain and could help you not making some costly mistakes. In any case we can highly recommend seeking professional advise from a lawyer, builder and architect at an early stage if you have building plans.
The real estate market in Spain has seen its prices rise over the past years. However, the necessary materials for construction and labor force have not increased as much, which makes it clear that huge part of the profits earned on the price increase in the Spanish real estate market have gone directly to promoters and constructors.
Furthermore, buying a plot of land and building a property from scratch ends up being much cheaper than buying a house that has already been used. It also gives you the option to design the house according to your personal and individual needs and wishes if you want to make it your home. If you are a professional looking to invest you could make quite remarkable profits through building and reselling a Spanish property.
The
first step would be to decide exactly what you will like to build, the size of plot needed
and the location. When you start looking for a suitable plot of land you should take into account
the location, facilities nearby, views and the neighborhood (safety for example). Before you
acquire the land you should make sure that it is possible to build the kind of property you are
thinking of (ie. check the restrictions on size, height, the percentage of the plot you can build
on) and it can also be recommend to contact and architect before buying the plot to make sure it
is possible from a technical point of view to realize your plans.
In Spain land is classified into different categories. Urban ground (finca urbana) is usually the type of land in which you can build. It would not be a bad idea to have a look at the town plan (Plan General de Ordenacion Urbana) as it explains the development plans for the area.
Other things to consider are for example the workability of the soil in the area you want to build (ie. steepness of the land, the type of soil/rock). Also, if the area has an archaeological potential you must be aware that this could stop the works on your land.
Finally you need to make sure that there are connections for electricity, telecommunication services, pipes for the transit of water and wastewater and if not you must think about the cost of installing these. It goes without mentioning that you have to think of an area where the people who will be building your Spanish property have access to essential facilities. To help you with this you should get the help of the architect and engineer who are going to design your house and you must get efficient legal assistance from the start to spare you undesired surprises later on.
Once all this has been checked you can proceed to the buy making sure that the plot is free of debts, that the person you are buying the land from has the right to sell the land, etc. Thereafter you need to sign a private contract and probably pay down a deposit of nearly 10% of the price of the land. Then you need to sign the title deed in presence of the public notary. This process is similar to buying a property - see the section Legal Matters of Buying Property for further information about buying a plot.
Next you need to prepare the design of your Spanish home with an architect and to have it approved by the board of architects (colegio de architectos). An architect will have the design of your Spanish property ready for submission to the board in between 6 to 8 weeks. This is necessary in order to apply for the building license at the local city hall. You will also need the health and safety project and certificate from the College of Aparejadores. If you do not do this you risk getting an extravagant fine and having your construction stopped or knocked down. It should take between 4 to 6 weeks to get the license.
With the architect you will need to think of the location of your property on the land, the views you can get, the size and number of bedrooms you want, the distribution of the property and any special requirements you may have: pool, garage, space for guests, storage, tennis court, etc.
Then you need to find a constructor which can be a difficult task if you do not have experience in building in Spain. Before signing any contract with a constructor do some research of what they have build before and try to speak with some of their previous clients.
However even if you have found a good constructor, you need to make sure the contract you make covers all the necessary areas such as the materials used, construction standards, payment terms, etc. Building the property can take up to two years according to the design required and the terms of your contract with the constructor. For this reason it is also important to state in the contract a completion date with a penalty clause for late completion.
There are mainly five parts to the construction of a Spanish real estate: the foundations, the structure, the roofing, inside installations and the finishing. It is a good idea to hire as well an independent technical architect (aparejador) so that someone is surveying that the constructor fulfils the construction standards of the architect.
Finally when the property
is ready you need to acquire through the constructor the certificate of completion and the
certificate of first occupancy. These papers are obtained from the city hall and are necessary
to get contracts for water, light and phone among others. Then you need to record your property
in the Spanish Property Registry unless you already sold the property in this case it is the
buyer that needs to be registered. In order to do this you need to make a written declaration
of the work done in your plot (declaración de obra nueva) and present the certificate of
construction including the building license, the certificate of building completion and the
certificate of first occupancy.
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