FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
- What is the Cèdula d’Habitabilitat?
- Studies, apartaments, lofts, etc… are they legal dwellings/housings?
- If it does not have the Cèdula but it is physically a housing, what's wrong then?
- Can a local be transformed into a housing?
- Can any local be transformed into a housing?
- How can a local be transformed into a housing?
- Is the Cèdula d'Habitabilitat done by an Architect?
- Are new homes legally the same as the old ones?
- Are housings the same in all municipalities?
- What is the Energy Certification?
- What is ITE?
- What is the useful surface?
- What is the built surface?
- What is the surface that is written in the sheet of the cadastre?
- What does it mean that a building is affected?
- What aluminosis?
1. What is the Cèdula d’Habitabilitat?
Cèdula d'Habitabilitat (Certificate of Occupancy) is the document issued by the Government of Catalonia that defines a space as a housing/dwelling. In other words, a space that has no Cèdula d’Habitabilitat is not a housing/dwelling, although it may seem as one, physically. Even with kitchen, bathrooms, bedrooms… if it has no Cèdula, is not a housing/dwelling.
The Decret d’Habitabilitat says what conditions must be fullfilled by a physical space for it to be considered as a housing/dwelling: useful surfaces, space measures, headroom, measures of ventilation and lighting (Windows, etc), doors width, types of spaces and minimum equipment, construction quality, etc.
A Cèdula d'Habitabilitat (Certificate of Occupancy) is required for any sale or rental contract of a dwelling, and it must be renewed every 10 years.
2. Studies, Apartaments, Lofts, etc. are they legal dwellings/housings?
Almost certainly not housing, Tha'ts why they are not named as "housing", because to do so could be considered a scam. The only official name for housing is housing. No other name is allowed in the legislation. You will do well to distrust local advertised as “loft”, “study”, “apartment”, “duplex”, “triplex”, “office”, “open space”, “a single environment”, or any other name other than housing. If they use words like those is probably because the space has no Cèdula d'Habitabilitat, and therefore they can not name it housing. Be very aware of all those kinds of misleading words..
3. If it does not have the Cèdula but it is physically a housing, what's wrong then?
If it has no Cèdula, that local is NOT a housing/dwelling, although it may seem it physically. Officially no one can live there. Also you can have problems when the gas contract, the water or the electricity supplyes. You may find that you would pay much more expensive rates than those that apply to housings/dwellings, or maybe suppliers could simply refuse to give you any service. Note that, if you may need funding to do the purchase, the bank will give you less percentage of the cost, to pay it back within less years, and with a higher interest rate than if it was really a housing/dwelling. The tax advantages for buying a housing/dwelling would not be applicable as well..
4. Can a local be transformed into a housing?
Yes, it is possible, but not always. The space must comply with the conditions of Habitability Decree and corresponding municipal regulations for new housing. The fact that the building which houses the restaurant is old does not involve any reduction in the demand for creating new housing, and therefore need to comply scrupulously all the requirements of a new housing, exactly as if it was brand new. There are physical requirements (measures, surfaces, heights, ventilacions, measures of ventilation and lighting, etc), and legal requirements (floor where there is the space, that the maximum number of dwellings that can exist into the building is not exhausted), etc.
5. Can any local be transformed into a housing?
Not all the premises can be transformed officially into a housing. If the site does not meet the physical and administrative provisions necessary, you can not change its use. A common example is to have a place that meets all the necessary physical requirements, but that is in a building where the maximum number of dwellings that may contain is already exhausted. In this case we will not be able to create another new housing, albeit segregating some of the existing ones to make two.
6. How can a local be transformed into a housing?
If the site meets all the requirements to turn it into housing, you will need an architect to do the project to change its use.
It is necessary to follow a quite complex process, that begins by asking for a building license to the city, to present an architectural project that defines how the housing will be, obtaining the permission, paying fees and taxes, doing the work itself, finishing it, the technical director of the work signing the Certificate of Work Ending, notifying that to the City, and hope that their technicians to visit the work to certify that everything has been done according to the defined project. Then the City Council is issuing the Certificate of First Occupation, which is sent to the Generalitat, together with the building permit and the Work Ending Certification, and it is the Department of Housing of the Generalitat who finally issues the Cèdula d'Habitabilitat. It is only from this moment on, when the space is officially considered as a housing/dwelling, and when the deeds can be changed and registered at the Land Registry and Cadastre according to this new use.
To sum up, you will need an architect to help you do it.
7. Is the Cèdula d'Habitabilitat done by an Architect?
No. The Cèdula is done by Generalitat (The Catalan Government), but to process it, you need a Certificate from the Architect.
For 2n hand homes ( existing) the Certificat d'Habitabilitat de Segona Ocupació is needed, and for new construction housing or housings resulting from a change of use it is needed the Certificate of Work Ending . Any of these documents are done by the Architect.
8. Are new homes legally the same as the old ones?
The Cèdula d’Habitabilitat depends on Habitability Decree of the Government of Catalonia. The HabitabilityDecree currently in force is from 2012, but there have been others before. In previous versions the conditions that a housing had to meet were less stringent than today. They could be smaller, have less ventilation and natural light, narrower doors, etc. That's why there are old houses, with Cèdula d’Habitabilitat, that if they were built today thet could not get it. Even, before 1979, date of the first Order of Habitability, there were no regulations governing what could be considered a housing/dwelling or not, and there are homes before that date which have nothing to do with those who are created today.
9. The houses are equal to all municipalities?
No. Some councils (not all of them) requires some feature beyond the provisions of the Decree of Habitability. For example, wider doors, or other details.
10. What is the Energy Certification?
It is a technical document that gives an idea of how much energy can be consumed in a home or local, and how many CO2 emissions can represent this energy. So, it gives an orientation of how much may cost to be comfortable into that housing, bypassing neither cold in winter nor heat in summer , and making regular use of hot water.
The result is the energy label Energy Certification, that classifies households from A to G, just as with appliances (light bulbs, refrigerators, air conditioning, televisions, etc), Where A devices are more efficient than B devices, and these more than C ones, and so on until the G ones. That they are more efficient means that manage to make their work using less energy.
Energy Certification also gives guidelines to improve the current rating of the housing, suggesting technical measures to achieve greater energy savings or lower CO2 emissions, e.g., improving insulation, changing the glass panes, the carpentry, the boiler, etc.
The Energy Certification is mandatory for any contract of sale or rent, and it must be renewed every 10 years.
11. What is ITE?
ITE is the Building Techical Inspection. It is a document similar to vehicles ITV, that tells you if the building is properly maintained, or if you have any pathology instead (cracks, humidity, etc.) which must be corrected. Within the ITE, for each pathology detected in the building establishes a gravity level (slight, important, serious or very serious), and a period of time to repair it. ITE can give us a reference, so, of an estimated cost to update and properly maintain the building for the coming years. To say it in other words, it warns us about “expenses” we would provably face with in the coming years to maintain the building conditions.
The ITE is required for any contract of sale or rental of a dwelling, and it must be renewed every 10 years.
12. What is the useful surface?
The useful area is the surface of all interior spaces of a building, if they have more than 150 cm height. It is the surface that we can actually use.
13. What is the built surface?
The built surface is the area forming the housing spaces, plus the area that is occuped by distribution walls, facades, the pillars, etc. The surface of the balconies are also counted in the built area in some cases.
14. What is the surface that is written in the sheet of the cadastre?
In the sheet of cadastre there are written, on one hand, the built area of a property (housing, local, etc), but there are also common elements that belong to it. This area is part of the lobby staircase, the stairs of the building, the local community, counters, etc., they are all community property, and usually allocated to different entities depending on the ratio of participation in the building, if the Scriptures do not say anything different explicitly.
15. What does it mean that a building is affected?
A building affected means it is located in an area of the city where important urban changes are expected to happen. This can be caused by many reasons, but the most common are the site where the building is located is planned to allocate a green area, a way (for a street), to build some equipment (school, CAP, etc.). An affected area, sooner or later will be claimed by the administration to give it the use the intended in the planning, and is usually subject to a compulsory purchase appraised price, not negociable, and usually well below the market price. The time it may take to take this step can vary greatly, from a few weeks to many years, but the term only depends Administration, and the order of priorities set for execution, without any particular being able to change it.. All of the above, for all practical purposes, means that a planning affected home may be expropriated and turn down to make, for example, a wider street, with no option to oppose to it , at anytime. That is why it is very important to know if a home is affected or not before you buy it. In fact, the notary is obliged to show it to the signing of the contract of sale.
16. What aluminosis?
The aluminosis pathology of a type of concrete that was used a lot during the 60 twentieth century. It is a degradation of the concrete that leaves the reinforced steel it contains unprotected, and accelerates the oxidation, measures of ventilation and lighting. Occurs only under certain conditions of temperature and humidity, and that is why the mere presence of aluminous cement in a building that has no means of developing this disease. You can have information on whether or not an aluminous cement with a relatively simple laboratory test, inexpensive, and fast to do.