Selling up in the UK and buying a villa in Spain can be an exciting proposition. The cash received from your old-terraced house in Wigan will buy a four-bed villa with a swimming pool in Almeria. But like a child in a sweetshop, shopping for houses in Spain, can seriously affect your judgement! All common-sense fly’s out of the window and you’ve signed on the dotted line before you’ve consumed your second pint of San Miguel. I don’t want to act as Scrooge, but honestly, a bit of patience isn’t a bad thing.
And here’s why! A villa can be a bit like a Cadillac without an engine. Its looks great, the whitewashed walls set off by purple bougainvillea clambering over the trellising looks an absolute picture as you conjure up imagines of sitting by the pool on balmy summer evening sipping you G&T. It looks so exotic, and the sun is always shining…. Ah, happy days!
But open the bonnet and there’s nothing underneath! In your excitement you forgot to check the villa’s legal status, or whether the swimming had the correct permissions, and even if the electric and water were connected. So, let’s take a step backwards, shall we? We’ll start our search again but this time we’ll be armed with the right questions. We won’t rush, headlong into disaster but make some rational decisions to set yourself up nicely for a stress-free future.
Fortunately, there is little likelihood of Pedro turning up in his bulldozer to demolish your dream home in the Spain of today. Illegal homes of yesterday have, largely, been granted legal status today. However, ‘question one’ should always be to check the legal status of the property. Many, many properties were built illegally in the ‘campo’ in Andalusia but in 2012, after a long campaign, the Spanish government introduced a scheme which allowed owners to legalise their hitherto outlawed houses by granting an Asimilado al Regimen de Fuera de Ordenacion, commonly abbreviated to AFO. Of course, this is Spain so there is a certain amount of bureaucracy and cost involved in registering your house under the scheme.
The key point to remember is that it is the seller’s responsibility to ensure the property has an appropriate AFO. I would be very weary of buying a rural property without one unless the cost of acquiring the said AFO, plus compensation was paid to me in advance. Even with this stipulation I would want a qualified solicitor has cast an eye over the documentation.
Electric and Water
In the UK if the electric had been turned-off in a house you were buying you would hardly bat an eyelid. Not so here! It can be nightmarishly difficult persuading Endesa to reconnect your service. I’ve personally had to wait more than a year to get a connection to a house in a small town in Spain. So, if the electric is off, my advice would be to insist the current owner reinstate it before the contracts are signed or at the very least, ask your legal representative/ gestor to take charge of the reconnection.
Water in inland Almeria does not always come from the mains. The spring waters flowing down the mountains can be found in wells and channels throughout the district. This water is generally clear and clean and can often to diverted or pumped to a water deposit. You may choose to drink bottled water, but the free spring water can be used for everything else from irrigation to filling your swimming pool and your daily showers. Check out the water situation and if you live in a town or village with mains water, ensure there is a connection with a stop cock and meter attached to the house you are buying.
It sounds basic but many buyers assume all property has mains water. In southern Spain, they often don’t!
Other Considerations
Remember, in winter Spain can get surprisingly cold, particularly at night and in the mountains, so don’t forget to factor in the value/cost of insulation and heating. If we return to our Cadillac a second, a car without an engine looks just as good as a car with an engine, if the bonnet is closed! Look under the bonnet!! Insulation is pretty much invisible but so valuable as it keeps your house warm in the winter and cool in the summer.
And the same with central heating. A good central heating system would easily set you back eu10,000 so factor this in when assessing the value of a property you are looking at.