It shouldn’t be a matter of luck

The building bonanza on the coast has left many urbanisations with serious problems. Without the licence for first occupancy ( cédula de habitabilidad) from the city council which regularises their houses, the residents can’t move off the builder’s supply of electricity and water. Neither can they have their post delivered because they are regarded as "diseminado” i.e. without a proper address. If there was a medical emergency or a fire on these estates nobody would be able to find them.

Although these residents do not appear on the census and therefore can’t vote in elections, they are still paying their Impuesto sobre Bienes Inmuebles (IBI) – local council taxes and in some cases have done for years. These owners will be paying a lower rate because they are classed as diseminado but they should still be entitled to some services beyond having their bins emptied.

It doesn’t matter which country you buy a house on a new estate in, it is still going to take time for everything to be sorted out. When I worked on the post, I delivered mail to new estates before they were complete and had to work out which house was which from just a plot number. They might have had to wait for roads to be completed but at least they all had mains electricity and water from day one and they knew that their new home was legal.

Pam and I have asked ourselves this question, “if we had known about the problems buying houses here in Spain, would we have still moved here?” Between the illegal houses built next to the beach, the houses built illegally on rural land, the owners who have suffered from the so called “land grab laws” and these people who have legal houses but can’t get access to basic services – the answer would have to be NO. The risk of finding ourselves in the situation of many, who bought in good faith, would have outweighed the great benefits of living in Spain.

In the circumstances, we count ourselves lucky that the process of regularisation of our houses went smoothly. We got our certificates and were connected to mains electricity and water within a reasonable space of time. Eventually we got our phone lines and now have our post delivered to the estate. Those that followed and many of those that bought on the coast have been a lot less lucky.

Whether the faults lie with corrupt builders, corrupt councils, corrupt lawyers, archaic practices or unfair laws (LRAU) doesn't matter; it shouldn’t be down to luck whether things work out fine for you. At some point you have to be able to trust that the people you are dealing with are honest and are working for your benefit.

Admittedly, in some cases, buyers should perhaps have been more aware of the situation they were getting themselves into but in many, the new owners will feel they have been swindled. If the salesperson didn’t advise them of the pitfalls, then perhaps the solicitor or someone else should have.