[Anonymous]

Hello all, not sure if any of you are familiar with the Casares province near Estepona?

I am considering buying a small house in the campo on approx 5000sq metres, the property is 50sq metre build with no water or electricity connected.

2 questions really:

1. Is it expensice/difficult to get water connected? I presume the house has had electricity at some point as it has light fittings and switches etc.

2. The property is very small and ideally we would envisage extending up. What are the implications in the Casares area? I hear you can extend up 1 story no problem, but extending out is relative to the size of the plot? I also believe the property would have to be completely demolished to go up, due to its foundation being too shallow.

Looking forward to your advice!

Thanks
Ben

[Anonymous]

@smuudge wrote:

I presume the house has had electricity at some point as it has light fittings and switches etc.

Not necessarily mains – there could have been a generator or a solar panel and battery for that small a property. Has there been a meter there at any point? Is there a supply cable? It would be unusual for a mains electricity supply to be done away with completely – it’s usually disconnected at the meter.

@smuudge wrote:

I also believe the property would have to be completely demolished to go up, due to its foundation being too shallow.

Not necessarily – you would need to carry out a spot of site investigation to expose the existing foundations and find what they are sitting on. Best to get an engineer or architect to take a look and give you their professional opinion. If there is scope it is sometimes possible to underpin the existing foundations to take additional load. However, this can work out just as expensive as demolishing and rebuilding especially if there are internal walls involved too.

[Anonymous]

If you don’t have a mains water connection already you can basically forget that option, unless you know for sure that the mains supply runs right past your property, and the water company has confirmed that connecting is a simple job – this means talking to the local water company. If there is no mains supply to use, then you’ll have to get a borehole. Don’t, under any circumstances, pay anything, or sign anything, until you have confirmed how you will get water. A property without water is no fun at all.

Electricity is less of a problem. Once again, talk to the local electricity supplier. If you can’t get mains, then there are alternative energy solutions, and a generator for emergencies / peak periods. It requires a change of lifestyle, but once you manage that your quality of life improves. Our holiday home in the Balearics is run entirely on renewable energy and candles. It’s heaven.

Building on rural properties in Andalusia is now very difficult. Do not sign anything or pay anything before you, or better still an architect working on your behalf, has talked to the town planning department (urbanismo) of the town hall. They can tell you exactly what you can and can’t do. Ideally, don’t commit to the property until urbanismo have given the go-ahead to a ‘proyecto’.

Mark

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the replies.

I have some information back from the estate agent and am waiting to here back from my Solicitor on the possibility of developing the existing dwelling.

FYI the water i believe already has its source near by so approx 600euro to connect. The Electricity is 200metres away and will cost approx. 10,000 euros to connect!! Allready a negative to buying this property sadly. Will wait and see what the solicitor has to say!

Regards
Ben

[Melosine]

We had electricity on our plot and still cost over 4000€ to connect to house less 20 metres away !!! ` So get a confirmation of that *quote* just in case.

[Author]

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