Property

You really need to get yourself a lawyer to do all the relevant property checks on the property. No way in the world would I be trusting an owners or an agents word for anything and even then what he is saying sounds dodgy. We have been searching and I think maybe only 5% of the properties we have seen have been legal and the whole time you are being told by the owners and agents it's completely legit, despite the opposite being true.
Saying that the rustic land is going to be urbanized is the oldest trick in the book and rarely ever true and anything that needs to be adjusted should be the owners responsibility and stated as part of any contract prior to sale.

That said make sure you don't sign a thing, if you really like the property you need to get a lawyer asap to check it out and it is much better to be on the ground here in person, never buy sight unseen and at the risk of repeating myself without the legal checks.

If you know where the property is you can check online via the goolzoom website(bit like google maps) and tick the boxes marked catastro on the left hand side, it will give you an overlay of just what is on the property and what is legal.

Also to be able to build on rustic land you need to have 10,000sqm. That's not to say that people don't build on less, they do anyway which is why that nearly every rustic house out there has some degree of something not being legally declared.
Some people can live with that though, it's up to what you are comfortable with.

Thank you...we are going to a lawyer first, but thought it a good idea to ask what people in the area knew about it all! We were/are loving the property but feeling VERY cautious about everything we are being told x

Hello, In which village is that?

Annemarie

"only 5% of the properties we have seen have been legal" !!!   Where were you looking for a home?

Annemarie

Moralet, just outside Alicante  x

rubencito wrote:

"only 5% of the properties we have seen have been legal" !!!   Where were you looking for a home?

Annemarie

It doesn't seem to matter where we are looking, it's all the same. The overwhelming majority of houses are to one degree or another not todo legal and the sellers don't seem to care or have any interest in registering their properties correctly once this is discovered.

Subalu, we have looked in the Moralet area and this is by far one of the worse areas for properties which are not registered correctly. It's a shame really as it's a nice area. In an ideal world it shouldn't be much hassle to make the changes yourself but trying to get illegally built structures or pools on rustic land can turn out to be a costly and lengthy process.

Mind you some people can live with all that, it's up to them to decide.

Even houses that have looked good initially on the catastro turn out to not match what is on the nota simple.
The one house that is completely legal and perfect is in an area in which future development will drastically change the surroundings and the urbanizacion is in a constant battle with the town hall over various squabbles, unfair taxes and recently has even lead to the mail delivery being stopped to people homes(pending).

None of these things are easily discovered either, hopefully you have been in contact with your lawyer by now because without one it is too easy to rush into a real headache.

Nothing seems to have changed then I lived and work some years ago in Southern Spain. You would have thought by the E u laws would have sorted this mess out .I have been looking for a property on the internet and spoken to several agents , a bit dubious about one who says are based in Spain but I get a uk phone number? Once the agent realized I knew this and that I was Spain savvy heard no More ,anyone out there put me in touch with someone in Alicanti bonafide before we change our minds .

Brighton105 wrote:

Nothing seems to have changed then I lived and work some years ago in Southern Spain. You would have thought by the E u laws would have sorted this mess out .I have been looking for a property on the internet and spoken to several agents , a bit dubious about one who says are based in Spain but I get a uk phone number? Once the agent realized I knew this and that I was Spain savvy heard no More ,anyone out there put me in touch with someone in Alicanti bonafide before we change our minds .

Forget about the agents, just use them as a tool to view which property you want to see when you come over and do your research first before seeing any property. Don't let them drag you around showing you houses you can't do a thing to.

Best advice is know what you are looking for first, scour the rental sites like idealista and fotocasa and create a list.
Do you want a house on urban or rustic land?
Bearing in mind that to be able to do anything meaningful on rustic land in this region you need to have 10,000msq of land first. Most don't have that much and therefor most are blocked for development by town halls.

Do some basic online checks of the property before visiting, first you need to locate the property but then it's easy by using a site like goolzoom to check the catastro and that will tell you just what type of land the house is on and it will also show you just how much of the house, pool and outbuildings have been correctly registered to pay tax.
It's not a complete way of checking but it sure beats spending a day visiting houses on rustic land that are illegal.
If you do decide to proceed on a property then always use a lawyer who is independent from the agent.

Thanks for you advise , just what I was thinking all I keep getting from agents is whe are you coming over . I say when you send me some property details!! They don't seem to want to do that .
Wonder why?

Good morning ,thanks for the response. Hopefully you are the person I have been searching for .We are looking for a property specifically in Alicante upto £100,000 sterling cash purchase .do you have any properties that suit.can you tell me what your fees are for the conveyance .
Kind Regards
J Tulloch

Brighton105 wrote:

Thanks for you advise , just what I was thinking all I keep getting from agents is whe are you coming over . I say when you send me some property details!! They don't seem to want to do that .
Wonder why?

Honestly pretty much all the details are already online, whenever you view a property and they give you the little folder full of info it is just a print out of what is on their website.
Any more info like bills, nota simple etc... normally come after you have visited the property and take a further interest in it.

I live quite near moralet  nr Alicante and have seen a house that looks like a bargain ,

Also know one locally in Agost from German owners who want to sell due to poor health


Tony Agost Alicante

Thats right, confidential information is not given on line. There is no exclusivity with agents when selling real estate in Spain so sellers give their property to many agents, so do not expect to get the exact location neither.

Like in any profession, their are bad agents and good honest ones. Find a good one and follow his advise.
Things do not work like in your country.

Annemarie
Solicitor

All land in Spain belongs to one of two planning zones — Suelo Rustico (Rural Land) or Suelo Urbano (Urban Land).

Suelo Urbano is the urbanized land in urbanisations (urbanizaciones). Usually there are no issues with that.

Suelo Rustico means that some rural land is protected and can’t be built on, and some plots can be built on if certain conditions are met. In Alicante the minimum plot size is 10,000 m², and maximum building size is 2% of the plot surface. For example, you can buy a plot tranio.com/spain/adt/829440 for 149,000 euros. The main condition is met: the plot size is more than 10,000 m² (10,205 m²), so you can be sure there will be no problem to build the house.

Keep in mind that in Spain there are many illegal buildings constructed without permits. The safest way to purchase a property is to do it with the help of a local lawyer

Hi Rubencito (Annemarie)
Is there any chance I could have a contact phone number to discuss a Spanish property issue with you.
Many thanks
Terry

Hi
You kindly left your number but all I get is an answer phone message in Spanish that I can't understand. Should I call at a specific time when you will be there?
Thanks

Hi Annemarie
We spoke a couple of weeks ago and you said you would get back to me. I have mailed you and left a message on your phone but still no reply. I am now trying this method of communication. Please, please let me know what is happening to the money owed to me from the sale of my property 2 years ago.
Kind regards
Teresa Box