We are looking at buying a house second hand directly from the owner. We have potentially agreed on a sales price.
The result of the tasacion was a few thousand Euros less than the asking price, but nothing we cannot handle.
My concern is that the property has had construction done to it without being registered with the propert authorities. Quite a bit in fact. The property now measures some 120sqm whereas in official documents it is registered t some 80sqm.
What risks are involved in buying a hosue with unofficial extensions made to it?
Also, is the tasacion based on the official size or the actual, unofficial, constructed size?
Look forward to any guidance you may be able to offer.
Who valued it? The owners themselves, a bank for a mortgage? Something valued at 200,000 euros about five years ago will now be valued at half that. Did an official ‘tasador’ come round recently to value it? Was he independent? An example is that an official tasador valued our flat in 2006 as 185,000 euros, because he was working for Mr Dodgy at our bank who then stole from us…. Flats aren’t even selling in the block for 25,000 euros now. The valuation of a couple of years ago means squit…
If the extension wasn’t done legally then don’t spend a cent until you’ve got all the correct paperwork signed. The ‘no pasa nada’ has bitten too many people on the bottom!
Basically you are going to buy a 80sqm house if that is what the official set of deeds say. Ask the owners to get their paperwork sorted out by the town hall planner/architect and when they’ve registered it, paid the fees etc. then you will buy it. Or, if you really love the house go to the town hall yourself and ask them what the options are and the costs involved. Then drop the offer price by that amount. Don’t buy a house that isn’t all there!
In the town hall you should also speak to the catastral guys, check what is on the town plans.
Double, triple check everything first. Get a good solicitor, ask around for recommendations and if you need a translator pay for that as well. Be very wary, ask all the questions you need in the Notary before signing your money away!
The tasacion was done just a week ago by an independent and official tasador, on behalf of us, and of course on behalf of the bank giving us the mortgage. I dont really have a reason beyond “trust no one” not to trust the tasacion. But I was wondering, as the tasador obviously noted while in the house that it wasnt 80 but more like 120 sqm; is his appraisal based on the legal sqm or the actual sqm?
Could you ask for a copy of his report and see if it says ‘house of 80sqm or 120sqm’ ? Did he measure all the rooms inside as well?
I would still be very wary of the fact if it is more than states on the deeds. Why can’t the sellers update their paperwork to legalise their property before you buy it? What would stop the town hall coming round and saying ‘opps, that isn’t registered, knock it down’ and you’ve just paid for it.
I wouldn’t go on the fact that you assume that the tasador noted that the house was bigger….. assuming here is very dangerous. I would ask for a copy of the report to confirm what meters are listed. What about the full deeds, have you been through those very carefully? I’ve been to the town hall Catastral office about six times in the past three months with various British friends who have less land, fewer property metres etc. than they assumed when they bought. Others have two sets of deeds for the upstairs bit, and then downstairs bit….others now share access with another neighbour, an endless mess of paperwork which now has to be sorted out.
Try and get it all clear before you buy. Is it a bank repossession? You don’t have to answer here, but if it is I would triple check that the bank aren’t trying to offload a problem onto you. Banks would do anything to get some money in, such as a mortgage deposit, at the moment.
Thank you very much for your help, I really appreciate it!
The property is not repossessed, we are buying it straight from the owner.
I was there personally during the tasacion, and I have spoken to the tasador a couple of times since as well, confirming that his valuation is based on the registered size, not the actual size. He noted that the house was bigger than registered and what parts were “extra” so to speak. This actually means we are getting a really good deal here, but of course it also means that the big kitchen which we love, officially does not exist. In the opinion of the tasador it would probably not
In the opinion of the tasador, because the extension was done a long time ago and no problems have arisen on account of it there should be no problem getting it registered. But yeah, it stands to reason to get the current owners to get the whole property registered and approved before we buy it, so we can sleep better at night.
My next port of call is to talk to the town hall and then to the owners.
You are welcome. I’m no expert but i’ve been involved with so many friends who went on the ‘it doesn’t matter, i’m sure it’ll be ok’ and they’ve then had nightmares!
Be more than 110% here in Spain and then you’ll be happy you’ve done all you can to protect yourself.
You should be buying a 100% legal house, not a house which is less than what it really is as they are passing the buck onto you.
Enjoy your purchase but make sure that you know what you are buying. I hope that the really good deal is a really good deal in Spain, rather than a good deal compared to a house in the UK. Your hard earned money is very precious and sellers here will bite your arm off at the moment….
More of us should have warned others years ago…..if each of us can share our experiences more people can buy safely in Spain.
The Tasador may have valued the property as it states in the Land registry. It could be a case of let sleeping dogs …… When the change of new ownership will take place some one might wake up to either fine you ( remember they are desparate for cash ) or instruct you to demolish the extra 40M2.
The current seller will not do it as I expect the seller is Spanish and it is inbuilt for them to not respect the law, rules, regulation & who can blame them. They have to muddle through town hall etc & no one will give the correct information/advise and later have to pay taxes & the Notary fee.
Why, should they bother as it does not enhance the value or quality of their life. It stands to reason that the extension may have been built without proper foundation etc.
The Tasador may have valued the property as it states in the Land registry. It could be a case of let sleeping dogs …… When the change of new ownership will take place some one might wake up to either fine you ( remember they are desparate for cash ) or instruct you to demolish the extra 40M2.
The current seller will not do it as I expect the seller is Spanish and it is inbuilt for them to not respect the law, rules, regulation & who can blame them. They have to muddle through town hall etc & no one will give the correct information/advise and later have to pay taxes & the Notary fee.
Why, should they bother as it does not enhance the value or quality of their life. It stands to reason that the extension may have been built without proper foundation etc.
You should not buy this property until you are very clear on the situation with the “missing” meters.
Adding meters to both the Catastro and the Property Register is now a much more complicated process which involves a surveyor to create a “certificate of antiquity”, the local town hall to ensure that these meters aren’t something that they have a problem with and then once you have an approved certificate of antiquity you then approach the two registries, the Catastro and the Property Register.
(You may also need a topographical survey of the land to update the Catastro as I would imagine that this is out of date as well as the built meters).
Stage one (the town hall/certificate of antiquity) can take months but the second stage can take a lot longer (the Catastro can take longer than a year) so you have to make a judgement call at some stage as to what you proceed on.
If the Catastro have accepted the application to update the meters and the Property Register is updated then i would proceed but you have a lot of work to do before you get to this point.
Personally, if you leave it to the seller to sort out, I would imagine it will take longer and you may not get exactly what you want registered.
Take a long hard look at this property to see if you really want to buy it and make sure you understand the implications of buying it with your lawyer. I would not proceed unless the missing meters were added to both the Catastro and the Property Register.
You should not buy this property until you are very clear on the situation with the “missing” meters.
Adding meters to both the Catastro and the Property Register is now a much more complicated process which involves a surveyor to create a “certificate of antiquity”, the local town hall to ensure that these meters aren’t something that they have a problem with and then once you have an approved certificate of antiquity you then approach the two registries, the Catastro and the Property Register.
(You may also need a topographical survey of the land to update the Catastro as I would imagine that this is out of date as well as the built meters).
Stage one (the town hall/certificate of antiquity) can take months but the second stage can take a lot longer (the Catastro can take longer than a year) so you have to make a judgement call at some stage as to what you proceed on.
If the Catastro have accepted the application to update the meters and the Property Register is updated then i would proceed but you have a lot of work to do before you get to this point.
Personally, if you leave it to the seller to sort out, I would imagine it will take longer and you may not get exactly what you want registered.
Take a long hard look at this property to see if you really want to buy it and make sure you understand the implications of buying it with your lawyer. I would not proceed unless the missing meters were added to both the Catastro and the Property Register.