are you helping promote an ILLEGAL property? - Page 2

Who told her she needed an AFO and why ?  Is she wanting to sell?  Whoever has said she needs one should be able to explain exactly why. 

Maybe check with her local town hall see if they can assist. I am no legal or Spanish bureaucracy expert and I can only say what I did but If it had a 1st habitation licence and has IBI history and utilities connected and she has paid for the land to be registered then as I understand she should be able to sell through normal channels, 

Sounds like she will need to take legal advice if town hall and the person asking for an AFO can't help can't help. 

Thank you for the reply it is appreciated.   The house was built on rustic lane but the vendor had obtained the habitation licence, she refused to buy without it, she was told by the town hall that all properties on rustic land must now have the AFO, which I find very odd, or could the chap have acquired a dodgy Habitation Licence.   AM back in Barcelona now and am going to send a friend to go with her to the town hall because this all sounds odd to me, I will check if the architect they have said can do the AFO is the same architect who issued the Habitation licence.    I am getting inundated with emails from people who do not have the right paperwork and who have been conned, but we cannot understand why they are hiding their identity, it does not add up.   On one of the sites I posted to they appear to be getting too irate and making accusations, we suspect some of those who are complaining about my having exposed the estate agents are the estate agents.   I spoke to the newspaper yesterday and the editor has insisted that we have all the evidence in writing because, but cannot understand why many people are afraid to put it in writing, with everyone quick to go to the courts as he said we need EVIDENCE, thus we will find a person not afraid to disclose their identity, have you heard of this?      

I am a bit confused as to what question you are actually asking.  I responded to the initial question of "has anyone obtained an AFO"  but it seems to have gone off track and is now looking to exposes estate agents and looking for someone to blame.

As I said earleir I think Estate agents should be able to advertise any houses for sale and all the legality and other searches are down to the buyer and their solicitor.

If a solictor has advised somone wrongly or not done their job properly then I assume if they are registered then you have some recourse via the legal governing body.

Regards

Kevin

One thing seems to have been missed here

If an illegal property gets an AFO it is still Illegal it is just that the town hall has acknowledged the fact!!!!

Don’t be fooled thinking it is now legal

We nearly fell into that situation!!!!

Thank you for your email and I must apologise for the delay in replying to you, I have been ill.   I assume you did not pay all that money for the AFO, can you help us here, we have been trying to establish what the actual costs are, many people and just giving us the final figure but we need to know how they calculate these HIGH costs, we understand the town halls charge a percentage of the property value, BUT how can they do this they do not know what the property will sell for???  We have been told an architect must provide the report and these costs vary obviously depending on the architect the owner uses, this is where we are further confused because many of the owners we have communicated with have their habitation licence which was issued by the architect and signed off by the town hall, thus why is it need to be signed off again, we understand they need verification there have been no extensions, surely the town hall can send someone to check there have been no additions, generally towns halls are notified if someone is building so we have been told.   We understand the town Charges Plus Valia do you know how they calculate this, on that subject our legal girl has been checked cases and legislation, if the seller has not made a profit they cannot be charged the plus valia and there have been many people who were charged this, of course many would have returned to there home country and are not made aware they can re-claim this, I heard of one case where they have waited 2 years for this refund.   We have been if a property does not have a septic tank they must have one installed,  do you know the charges for this?  Then I assume this AFO must be written into the escritura thus what are the solicitor and notary fees.   My colleague tells me one person contacted last week and they paid 10,000 euro for the AFO.   I look forward to hearing from you  

I apologise for my late reply to you, I have been ill with flu and we all deal with our own replies.   Our understanding is that local Estate Agents insist on evidence that the properties are legal before they will put them on their register and that they cannot advertise them for sale because they are not allowed to advertise something which is illegal.   You are correct it is the solicitors job to check documents and ascertain there are no embargos etc etc, BUT I have received emails from many property owners in Albox who were told their property was legal by the solicitor and they are not, one couple paid 125000 euro to try and legalise their property, they have been in touch with the Law Soc. equiv, here in Spain and they took no action, Auan mentioned in a recent publication they had seen evidence of habitation licences having been issued for illegal properties

very concerned to read these issues.We are looking to relocate to spain and are visiting Almeria in 2 weeks time with the intention of looking at property,how can we ensure that any property that we view has the legal and correct paperwork??

we have looking at property on Rightmove,Coles etc but all these problems you are highlighting is giving us second thoughts,is there any local agents that guarantee that all their advertised properties are legal and have all required paperwork??

You have to be so careful with property down here.I was considering buying a villa down here.In fact I bought all the furniture that the renter had in it but backed out of the deal to buy it as it seemed the owner had never obtained all the proper permissions for it's construction,swimming pool etc.Now I am having a devil of a time accessing the contents which I bought.The owner says it's up to me to prove I am the legal owner and continues to advertise it for sale as fully furnished....

Hi.. I would recommend that you focus on getting a good lawyer... It is all achievable but you need the right support... We had to wait for all of the legalities for our property to be resolved and it has been well worth the wait.... A year! 

Many sellers like ours don't even know that there is an issue with the paperwork until they try to sell... But their properties are fantastic and they need a patient buyer 

I hope that helps

Regards Jane 

You seem to be looking to expose Agents. You are on and on about A place in the sun and Rightmove and the Newspapers etc. You say people are dying of stress about these problems. At the last count there are over 330,000 “Illegal “properties in Andalusia. That’s 330,000 FAMILIES.     You are going to be using a lot of time and energy Exposing everyone. For what?  We are all very aware for many years the Spanish system is corrupt and there will be more people with Awful problems selling their properties that have eaten their whole life savings. Your energy and gusto would be far better used helping people regularise and be able to buy and sell safely their properties. It’s the Law that needs to offer an Amnesty to all ,as long as they are checked by an architect and are safe to live in. The AFO should be only an administration charge (in a fair society)   Its a mess and over complicated ,typical Spanish way of doing things.   You are right it’s a can of worms but what you are doing is helping no one. Agents and the TV don’t care. Do you think this is a new situation? Newspapers sell copy, YOU will be causing many more heart attacks. You are wondering why people stay Anonymous! Really?