Legal or illegal property?

never use the solicitor that the estate agent recommends unless you check here,some town halls will let you know about the legality of properties,you can also ask people around the areas,apart from that get a list of properties and come back to ask again

Thank you very much, we will definitely keep all this in mind!

We are in process of buying and have now discovered our 'dream home' is on unconslidated urban land. It has all services and we do not know where to go from here. If we go ahead could be upshit creek without a shovel, have bought a car but cannot take possession because we do not have an address yet, We only got the news today so it may work out OK but of course cannot find out anything  over weekend. Good luck in your search!

Hi Penny, 

I wanted to wish you good luck with the property, hopefully everything will work out.... I would walk away but I suppose that's easier said than done, or get a good solicitor. 

Thanks I think we probably have an efficient solicitor as it was her that discovered the problem. We will wait and see how things play out next week

Cannot endorse enough the comments already posted. A good solicitor will be able to tell you the legality of a property. When I was trying to find a property in Almeria one agent swore blind the property I was keen on had an AFO.  So convincing was she I paid €1500 for a full survey.  Even when my solicitor asked  the agent for the paperwork including the AFO, they still maintained “it’s here somewhere, we just can’t find it at the moment….”

Hi. When an offer is accepted you'll be asked to pay an initial 3000 deposit. Do not pay this until you are 100% certain everything is ok because you will find it extremely difficult to get this back if you subsequently discover a problem. Make sure you have a really good solicitor who will check everything with a fine tooth comb. It's hard to believe but many of them don't and really don't care about anything other than their fee. Check everything yourself as well. If you have any doubts don't buy 

What you need to know are the following details:

- The property should have deeds in which the house also pool, outbuildings, such as garage (if aplicable) appear on the deeds AND with the proper dimensions as well as the land on which it stands.

- It is preferible that that's deeds are also registered in the Property Registry.  This  is not always the case and need not be a problem as this can be rectified,  but unregistered deeds may be a screen for unpaid debts.  If the property is unregistered, it will not appear on the catastral plan and therefore cannot be embargoed if there are any outstanding debts.  Sometimes it's just a case of the registering being overlooked by the seller, but you as the buyer don't want to have the bother and expense of registering the property and or inheriting possible debts!  A decent lawyer will see that this doesn't happen.

- Property in an urbanisation or villages and towns usually is fairly straightforward as far as purchase and legality is concerned.  However, rural and outlying areas of villages can be more complicated as you must be sure that if they not within the official urban limit (the town hall has plans to check on this),to see that everything is completely legal.  There are areas designated as ZEC ( 'Zones of special EEC interest) or that are within a 'Parque Natural'.  If the property is in one of these areas, there may be restrictions about building a garage or annex extension or putting in a pool, even if the actual existing house is completely legal.

- New build property in particular has had problems in rural areas and if you buy a new house you must be sure that the house has a 'First Occupation Certificate' as without this, the utilities cannot legally be connected and surrounding infrastructure, such as up keep of pavements or access might turn out to be your responsibility and not that of the town hall.

As everyone else will say to you, a good bilingual lawyer is essential to check that all is in order and if you buy a finca, get it measured by a 'topógrafo' to check that the measurements tally with what  appears on the deeds.

This is a simplified run down if what to bear in mind but covers most common problems which can crop up.  Good luck!

Have already paid deposit Cold not instruct a solicitor until we had secured price and had it taken off market, problem was discovered during searches. House is legal but land may be unconsolidated. It shows as consolidated on map from town hall but something showed up in other documents Will hopefully discover on Monday when office opens