February 2012

Hello again. What a disappointment! I refer of course to the Junta’s decree which promised to legalise so many of our houses. Well it turns out that it won’t.

SOHA.ES spent a lot of time and money trying to direct the Junta to develop a fair, reasonable and appropriate decree which would give real legal status to those owners who had followed proper procedure and had bought in good faith. It seems that, to date, we failed.

Our analysis of the final document shows that the Junta has decided that, while houses built on rural land without licences or with licences incorrectly issued may be registered and will be allowed to receive electricity and water, they will not be legalised but will be declared “asimilado furera de ordenacion”. This term is key. It means that the house may be repaired but may not be improved. It is not a legal state and there is no protection against legal action against the owner in the future.

The property may be bought and sold of course but the law currently states that the property cannot be used as collateral in a loan or mortgage. What use is this if the owner needs to sell their house?

If you, like many of our members, have a house built with the proper permission of the Ayuntamiento, have a registered escritura, and a building licence but lack a licence of first occupation then our advice to you is to DO NOTHING. Why would you take an ostensibly legal house and make it illegal?

If you are in any doubt whatsoever as to what you should do then please contact [email protected].

Whatever your personal position I hope you agree with me that this has been a wonderful opportunity to advance Spains reputation in the world wasted. Let us hope the Andalucian people teach the Junta the appropriate lesson at the elections in March.