Hi again BigEd,....I always thought a habitation certificate was applied for when doing work on or extending you property i.e. converting an underbuild into a liveable space,...thus requiring an architect to approve the work being done for ceiling height and access,..things like that. But of course if the certificate was not applied for you can do it after the fact,...in the case of your friend, had she had work done on her house with only a small works licence? this enables you to do many alterations to your house i.e. underbuild storage, but doesn't qualify the underbuild as habitable,...a lot of people went down this road years ago thinking they were never going to sell,..but should the circumstance arise and you have added extra habitable space to your property, then before being able to sell your house you would have to register for the habitable licence for the extra space added to your property.it can only be added on to your sale particulars as storage space if no habitation licence is obtained. As for the cost of a habitation licence I'm sure each council has their own costing system but I'm pretty sure that round here it depends on the extra habitable space that has been added to the property,...hope that helps pal.

Thanks for the info, r m.
I believe to sell your house, you now need the new Electric Certificate (another rip-off) and a Habitacion Certificate. The HC is to check on enlarged living space (I believe) such as extensions, underbuilds etc.

not heard of having to have a habitation certificate just to sell your property if it has not been extended,...but as you say,...it could very well be another rip off,...and I'm not quite sure that the energy efficiency certificate (or electric certificate as you called it) is fully legal over here either,...I keep hearing conflicting stories,...someone on here will undoubtedly be able to put us in the picture

I am sure the energy certificate is legal, in fact Spain brought it into being, after most European Countries, as it kept postponing it.
I think the query over legality was the fact that some people were doing the checks were not certificated to do it,thereby making the certificate they gave, was not worth the paper it was printed on.

Having just been through all this ourselves I would suggest you contact a proper spanish architect - and the energy cert has nothing to do with electric - I can suggest a very good architect if anyone requires one - and he speaks very good english and is very quick at sorting everything out

A certificate of habitation is given when a property is completed by the builder. This enables the purchaser to get utilities, ie water and eletricity connected. Without one you cannot get these services. They are, however, valid for 10 years due to fairly recent legislative changes unless this has now changed yet again and yes, you must have one to sell your property. My advice would be to ask at the Ayunamiento Office on the Urbanizacion. They will certainly know the current state of play with the time limits.

When I sold one a few years ago the cost of a new certificate was 200 euros. I did mine through the estate agent selling the house. What happens is a surveyor from the Ayunamiento will come around and survey the house to make sure it is fit to live in ( big joke and money maker really). Then the report is submitted to the Town Hall who will then issue a new certificate to you.

Thanks again Nikki.

We live in a finca on the edge of the village and when we put it up for sale we were told we needed a habitation certificate, we paid 435 euros for a surveyor who spent about 15 minutes in the house , we duly received the paperwork which I then took to the Ayuntamiento . A man then came to inspect the house but the certificate was refused because we are not connected to mains sewage although we do not have a cess pit , , it goes away through pipes. .We were told we have to install a water puryfying system which will cost several thousand euros , when I asked if all the other houses in the area who are on the same system also have to install this system he just shrugged his shoulders and said not unless they out the property up for sale..It therefore seems that they can live in their properties for life and do not have to do a thing ..If the Ayuntamiento or the EU want these things done surely they cannot expect the property owner to find thousands of euros to comply with their demands, We are therefore still with out a certificate

You don't need a new electric certificate to sell you house, you need an energy certificate, ( which I can supply at a cost of €191,50 inc. IVA ). also you do need a habitation certificate. All houses on Urb. Marina are legal so there is no problem to obtain one, The cost is anything from €300 to €500, from an Architect, and this is because the water board ( AGUAGEST ) will not change the name on the contract without a habitation certificate. If you need any further information, let me know.

Well commented marv.75

Nobody changes the name on the Aquagest bill. Reason being they want 150 euros to do so. Even Aqugest itself accepts this. All they care about is that the bills are paid. They only want a bank account to debit the bills from and do not care whose name it is in.

Iberdrola on the other hand do not charge for name changes.

Nicki I don't know where you get your information from, but, I can assure you that Aquagest do not charge for changing the name on their contract. But they will only do it if you have a certificate of Habitation. ( Cedular de Habilitidad ) in Spanish.

I was actually told that by Aquagest in San Fulgencio