In general, anyone with the money, can buy a house in Spain. But, buying a house in Spain can be fraught with legal perils. The best way to avoid these is to hire a good lawyer who has experience with all of the potential issues that may arise when buying a house, and who knows how to draw up all of the legal documents.

One of the most common problems that buyers in Andalusia have had in the past is that they purchased a house that was/is illegal.

In Almanzora, there are 12,697 illegal constructions alone.

 

Often, these illegal properties were built in areas where no residential buildings should be built (Spain has quite strict laws about urban versus rural planning.). In other cases, the houses were built before these laws were passed or were built in a way that is against the law.

 

Many of these properties have been demolished. Now, because of a change in the law, some of these properties can be made legal through a process of inspection, filling in forms, and paying fees.

The property we are hoping to buy is currently undergoing this process because it is outside of the urban planning zone, even though it is just a few minutes walk from the center of the village, has city water and electricity, and has been lived in legally for 7 years.

Without this process, the property cannot be connected to utilities, cannot be registered for property taxes, rented out, etc.  So, even though, it is connected to water and electricity and is registered with the government now, when it is sold to me, because it is illegal, it can no longer be lived in…

But, if the sellers provide you with a Certifiacdo de asimilado a fuera de ordenación then all is well. It will cost them some money, but without it, you might have a property that you can never actually live in.

So, you can see why having a good property lawyer is important when buying in Spain.

How do you find a good property lawyer?  There are lists of property lawyers like this one.  But, I am going to recommend the one that I am using: Abigail Dalmedo. She is thorough, professional, and she speaks English perfectly.

And while Ms. Dalmedo can help you purchase any property anywhere in Spain, if you happen to want to buy a cave house near Galera, I would recommend Piet & Sandra Quekel.

Next time, I will talk about one of the most challenging parts of buying a house in Spain: PATIENCE.

-S