Catastral de Valor de Referencia - Validity

Alan as far as I am aware you have to pay the catastral value and if you do not then you will be taxed accordingly between the price you buy and the catastral value. Os if you pay more than the value then you have to pay on the higher price. Ur it's a win win win situation for Spain 

Paul 

Hi,  I suspected as much. It’s rather odd that a casa that is more or less a worthless ruin costs anything above a value a lot below market or cadastral value

You can actually pay whatever you agree with the owner. That is a matter between yourselves. However it is the tax paid on the catastral value. If it is a ruin you apply for a re valuation. Best done by a architect with a project. Or visit your local office to put your case forward. Unfortunately in my experience they're not that helpful and take forever.

you dont have to pay the cadastral value although the tax paid is based on this value. worth a revauation if theres considerable work needed

Easier said than done. Especially after the renovation work is done. The authorities put a new valuation on the property. It then becomes you main residence and automatically Urban, regardless of where you live. Still Urban even if you live in the middle of nowhere, in the mountains and No facilities at all. The value is set. After 6 months of challenging, it has fallen on deaf ears. They just don't want to know. It's just one big round of pay out. 

I paid less than the cadastral value when I bought and just had to pay a small amount of tax. I also understand that the cadastral value on run down building is virtually nothing.

Someone I know wanted to buy a house which had been repossessed by a bank.

The price was around €70,000, they offered €27,000. When the bank asked them why they offered such a low amount compared to the suggested price the prospective buyers said that the house had virtually been burned down and was a ruin.

The bank sent an inspector and saw the actual state of the property and the two parties agreed on €30,000. Deal done. They got the cadastral value changed,

Yes, that's fine when dealing with an official office. In coincidence also own the property, but try dealing with bodies by yourself who just don't give a monkeys. All they want is your money. I could say much more about the treatment I received in the office in Vélez-Rubio.