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ROLLED IN RONDA
We
live in the old town and wanted more outside space and decided that a roof top
terrace on top of our lovely old house would be perfect. A local Spanish friend
introduced us to a French speaking architect who was helpful as three years ago
we did not speak much Spanish but previously we had lived in France.
It took over twelve months
to get planning permission from both the Ronda Town Architect and the Malaga
Cultural department Architect but eventually the permission came through but
sadly our Ronda architect go so busy with a major Russian building project he
asked us to transfer to a technical architect to oversee the project.
We had one unsatisfactory
builders quote and approached an English speaking Estate Agents here in Ronda
partner called RR - Ronda Properties - Serrania
Property Services . 'This is what
we do' they told us. We have an excellent builder on our books that does
all our work and we will bring him round tomorrow. They arrived together
and I presented them with my 4 centimetre thick planning permission book and
building licence.
It was impressive that they
arrived again the next day with staircase constructors, electricians and
plumbers. The only problem was that the staircase man said the planning of the
interior access was not practical and he and the builder suggested that an
outside staircase would solve the problem.
'But is that in line
with the planning permission' I asked.
'Yes of course it is'
then
RR Ronda Properties - Serrania Property Services, informed me he had a meeting
planned that afternoon with our technical architect and would 'run it by' him to
make sure, but I should not worry as they did dozens of these roof terraces and
there would be no problem... A phrase I came to loath ' No Problem'.
No Problem
The builder produced a
quote and said if we paid cash the IVA would be deducted. (At this time we did
not know that when you come to sell your home in Spain the 'profit tax' of 50%
can have all home improvements deducted from it and save much more than the
IVA.) The works could start the following Monday and would take three weeks.
Payment was 50% up front and 50% on completion.
Monday dawned and the
scaffolding came in and the roof tiles started to come off. I was surprised when
the builder asked me to go with him to the town hall to organise permission for
a 'skip' and did not want to sign or indeed pay for it himself.
I and not a great believer
in health and safety but the actives of the workers balancing on a scaffold
tower held together mainly with string worried me. I checked with my Spanish
Lawyer about who was responsible if a worker had an accident whilst working in
my house.
You are totally
responsible for any injury to a worker in your house.
But provided the
registered/legal builder is properly insured then they are responsible for their
employees.
I called my the RR Ronda
Properties - Serrania Property Services to ask if the builders were properly
registered and legal and they said no but no problem as they, the
RR Ronda Properties - Serannia Property Servicess had taken on the legal role of
'constructors' and were in control of the project. The final part of the roof
tiling came off leaving the house open to the elements and the workers walked
across wobbling scaffold boards clutching tools and my old roofing tiles.
Then the technical
architect came by and started shouting that the works were totally illegal and
it must all stop. With no roof on the house and the old roof joists being
demolished, I stared at him with disbelief.
But
RR Ronda Properties - Serannia Property Services told me he was confirming with
you that the revised project was OK with you.
'Nonsense' he said 'I am reusing myself from all this and will inform the town
hall that that I am no longer associated with the project'.
I
looked at the sky and just hoped that it would not rain!
The work continued and the
RR Ronda Properties - Serannia Property Services and the builder assured me
there was 'No Problem' and that the architect was over reacting.
More works with cement
being poured, then a few days later a couple of representative arrived from the
town hall and demanded to see the works. We were horrified as there was not a
'hard hat' - work boots - safety harness or indeed a secured scaffold plank to
be seen. The site was an accident waiting to happen.
More and more cement was
poured and tiles laid when a letter arrived from the town hall telling me that
the works do not conform to the planning permission and must stop.
I pass this onto the RR
Ronda Properties - Serrania Property Services and the builder who tell me
'its no problem' the works will be completed tomorrow and will I please
arrange payment.
When I stopped laughing, I
told them that the final 50% would only be paid when the Town Hall signed off
the works as required in the building licence. The RR Ronda Properties -
Serrania Property Services and the builder said we will finish the works as a
sign of good faith and if you pay us now we will undertake the paperwork to
sort the problem free of charge.
A week later I received a
letter from Malaga Cultural Department stating that I was to be fined for
illegal building works and there would be a further fine if the existing
works were not re-instated to the original condition.
'No problem'
the RR Ronda Properties - Serrania Property Services said - happens all the
time. Just make the final payment and we will sort all this out. No Problem!
It
was hard to know whether to laugh more or burst into tears. I decided to take
'Malaga' seriously and employed an excellent new architect to arrange the
re-instatement of the works. He negotiated planning permission to re-instate
much of the roof with Malaga and a new legal registered construction company
were employed to remove the staircase and replace the demolished roof as
required by Malaga Cultural Department.
This all took almost nine
months but the good news was that 'Malaga' only imposed a fine of Three
Thousand Euros yes 3000€ for the illegal works. I suggested that the RR
Ronda Properties - Serrania Property Services, who were the legal constructor
and advised us pay this fine but he just walked away.
The reinstatement of the
roof cost me ten thousand euros 10,.000€ and I suggested that RR Ronda
Properties - Serrania Property Services the builder pay for this work but they
declined.
We then applied for
planning permission for the terrace again and nine months later it came through,
as well as the licence for building works from Ronda Town hall. These works which
are legal and different from the 'bodge' which the RR Ronda Properties -
Serannia Property Services constructed, but are going to cost another sixteen
thousand euros 16,000€!
There is a moral in this
somewhere but I cannot find it. I tried to do everything legally. Get the
required planning permissions, licences but made the basic error of believing an
English speaking RR Ronda Properties - Serannia Property Services when he said
that it was 'No Problem' - We will take care of it all.
There
is no sign of RR Ronda Properties - Serrania Property Services paying the fine
for their illegal works or for the cost over run for which they caused by
organising illegal building works.
Rather sad - never trust!
'No problem, this is perfectly legal, we do
this all the time' .
'No Problem! We often do
works that do not get planning permission until after it is all finished' -
'This sort of job does not need planning permission'
'Don't worry we will take care of it'!!!
The scaffold access 3 stories up to roof - not a guard rail in site - held
together with old string!
'We often do works that do not get planning permission until after it is all
finished' - 'This sort of job does not need planning permssion' - Don't worry we will take care of it'!!!
I am 45,000€ down the drain and does anybody at Ronda
Properties - Serranía
Property
Services, care?..................
The charming and serious estate agent Tom Becker, who´s mum
sold us our lovely house, and has always been kind, helpful and most efficient,
are not the subject of the above article - They have lots of properties in Ronda
and the surrounding area and
are 100% reliable
www.marybeker.com
Another
excellent agent that I really recommend is
Olvera.Properties
Calle
Llana Bajo2
Olvera 11690
Zoe (0044) 7969 450 206
Anne
Marie (0034) 686131 908
 
If
you want to make any alteration to your flat or house in Spain you will need to
follow the rules and regulations – failure to adhere to these will prove
costly, if not disastrous!
When you sell your house the 'profit' on the
house is taxed
at 50% - you can set legal building works off against that tax.
Make no mistake planning permission
in Spain is at least as stringent as that in the UK and the planning laws are
now being enforced to the point where 'illegal' constructions have been
bulldozed and illegal works removed or returned to original state.
There is also a very serious
potential demand on your present and future wealth, by using unlicensed builders, electricians,
plumbers, bricklayers etc etc.
If you directly employ an unlicensed
tradesperson and they have an accident on your property you are criminally
liable.
Interestingly it appears to be impossible to get insurance against this
eventuality. The picture, centre above, shows the totally unprotected
scaffold tower going up 3 floors without a guard rail in sight and held in place
with old ropes knotted in a way that would never be tolerated in my boat. The
metal cross plank on which workers balanced to get to the roof was held in place
by a piece of string at one end only...
We discovered, too late, that the
builder was unlicensed, his workers uninsured and if one fell and sustained
serious injury we could have been supporting their wife and family for ever!!!
You will find that English speaking
Estate Agents will sometimes set themselves up as 'Licensed Constructors' but
the estimates for the work will come from unlicensed builders.
One financial element about the
decision to use 'black' labour' for a lower price and avoid VAT and planning
permission is that you will end up without a legal receipt. When you come to
sell your house, even if you are resident in Spain is that unless you have been
paying income tax you will have to pay capital gains tax on any difference
between the price you purchased your home for and the price you sell it for.
This tax is around 50%!!!!! (there is also a relatively small
tax payment to be paid to the local authority on completion of the sale.)
If you have employed licensced
contractors and hang on to the receipted bill(s) then when you come to sell you
can add the money you have spent on the house to the basic price you paid so not
pay the 50% tax on any profit. Whilst it may save 20% VAT when the work is
done 'black' when you come to sell you will loose 50%...
This applies to almost anything you
do to your property and of course you can deduct the architects and planning
application fees.. I wish I had known that earlier!
How do you know that a
Builder/Constructor/tradesperson is licensed or not?
Firstly they will have headed
notepaper (not just impressive business cards) and on it will be a CIF
(Certificado de Identificación Fiscal) which is their tax registration number
and they will show a IVA number (which is the same as UK VAT) and is charged at
21% . Do not think that unlicensed workers, who require 'cash in hand', are
any cheaper than registered workers.
In my experience, having used both, the
unregistered unlicensed builder is often far more expensive - he will charge
what he thinks the market (you) will pay. Licence builders are in business for
the long term and want to build a satisfied client base.
The Spanish planning application
system is complicated and not really a DIY job, but Spanish Architects and
Spanish Draftsmen (Technical Architects) are very inexpensive and included in
these low fees are the planning application, supervising the construction once
it has commenced and signing it off as legal at the town hall (Ayuntamiento)
when finished. The challenge is to find one that speaks enough English for you
to communicate with.
An easy way is to google
eg:
Architect Ronda Spain or whatever your town is and you will come up with a
list. Just get on the telephone or go to their offices and see if you can
communicate reasonably.
Always remember there is a
'commission' system operating in most of Spain, by which your 'friendly' estate
agent etc receives a commission from the person who he has recommended or is
doing the translation for. Not necessarily bad, but worth remembering!
Your architect
will advise you or rather just make the correct application on your behalf, but there are two sorts of building licences in Spain
Licencia de Obra Mayor (Licence for major work): this is for those who wish to
extend a property or alter its structure in any way. You will need a local
architect for this and permission from your town hall.
Licencia de Obra Menor (Licence for minor work): this applies to
interior work, alterations, replacements, painting interior walls, patios or
anything that is invisible from the outside of a property.
Of courses there are different types of licences within each category which need different documentation.
You may need a:
Licencia de obra Mayor de Amplificación - (Licence to extend existing
structures) if you are extending the existing
building.
Licencia de obra Mayor por rehabilitación de edificios (major works licence for
building restoration) - if you are restoring a historic building in a city
centre. These buildings are of national importance, like listed buildings in the
UK.
Licencia de obra Menor – if you are restoring the property internally, for
example if you are installing central heating for example, adding bathrooms,
repainting walls, repairing carpentry and altering the plumbing or electrical
installations.
Once your town hall has all the necessary information, they will calculate the
tax payable to carry out the renovation. This varies from authority to authority
but is usually somewhere between 2-6% of the cost of the project.
What happens in reality is that
your architect 'creates' a cost list for the project and submits it to the town
hall. You then pay a fee for this planning permission based on this but it
has little to do with reality. The actual costs of the project may be much
more and seldom less!!!
If your property is in an 'old
town' or is an 'old farm' in the countryside it is almost certainly a listed
building. The town hall has a set of rules and regulations for 'new build'
but if you want to do works to an 'historical building' then application to the
'Provincial Cultural Authority' is also required. The town hall may OK your
proposals but the Cultural Department may refuse them! If that happens your
architect needs to negotiate with the Cultural Department in order to solve the
problem
The system is based on a 'game'
played between Architects and the local Town Hall and Cultural Departments of
your local authority. This is not stuff to get personally involved with rather
leave it to the guys you are paying - Architect - Draftsman - Structural
Engineer then sit and wait. It will take at least 3 months if they accept
the 'plan' at once or another 3 months for the first modification and so on.
Do not ever, ever trust the
enthusiastic helpful,
'I am a really nice person' estate agents or builders who
tell you that 'there is no problem' - 'We often do works that do not get
planning permission until after it is all finished' - 'This sort of job
does not need planning permssion' - Don't worry we will take care of it'!!!
Certainly you will get the work
done. It will probably be to an OK standard rather than the highest, but make no
mistake, when the planning authorities come round 6 months later, a year or two
later or when you want to sell and move, the friendly estate agent - builder - constructor will be really
sympathetic and offer you a deal that if ' as you are my friend' to
redo the works they promised are legal, then charge you for them like an 'angry
Spanish bull'
If you apply for a building licence
then within 15 days of completion of the works you or your architect must have to apply to the town hall for a 'sign off' visit by
the Architects department of the town hall. If they accept the works then make the final payment
to your builder - if they don't, then wait until his 'workmanship' complies with
the law.
I highly recommend
builders, who recovered
the terrace disaster and installed the inside staircase with all the works
done to the highest standards at very , very reasonable prices.
They cover the entire Andalucía
area and Carlos speaks perfect English & German. Email:-
jcsalas@salasduran.com
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