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Reply from Mark Smithson re GenCat Meeting 27 July

Thank you for your email.
As you know on July 27th we met with Mrs Nuria Pedrals, General director at the “Direccio General de l’ Edificacio i Rehabilitacio de l’ habitatge”.
Mrs Padrals and the head of the legal department went over the details of “habitatge” law 18/2007 (DOGC 5044) and gave us a copy of a set of instructions that has been circulated to town halls and notaries in Catalunya in which guidelines are provided on how properties built before 1984 can obtain cedulas de habitabilidad. These are the same documents that you kindly forwarded to me on your email of July 26. As you rightly pointed out to me then, the first point of the said set of instructions circulated to town halls and notaries refers to properties built before 1984 and point two refers to properties with an original building license. The third and last point in the document is an attempt to provide solutions to property owners whose properties do not fall under either category. This solution would require changing the description of the property on the deeds and the cadastre registry from “Vivienda” to “Rural Property” thus avoiding the need for a Cedula. This as you mention in your email could severely impact on the value of the property in any subsequent sale. This is a message we reinforced during our meeting.

Mrs Padrals and her team believe point 1 and 2 will go some way in solving the vast majority of outstanding “Cedula” related property problems. Whilst that may be the case, we continued to raise our concern for all property owners whose properties fall under point three. We specifically mentioned the case of British Nationals who purchased properties in accordance to the law at the time, went through lawyers and notaries and whose properties were allowed to be registered on deeds and on the cadastre registry as “Viviendas”. We argued that in many cases property owners have paid all municipal taxes – IBI, etc- to town Halls that now deny them access to the Cedula. Mrs Padrols and her team are sympathetic and understanding of the impact law 18/2007 (DOGC 5044) has had for many property owners. The meeting ended with Mrs Padrals suggesting a meeting with Mr Pere Sola, “Director General. Urbanisme”. The outstanding issues in her view are now a matter for “Urbanisme” to resolve. This meeting, which Mrs Padrals will also attend, has been scheduled to take place in September.

As always, I promise I will keep you fully informed.
Kind regards,
Mark Smithson

It refers to the latest set of instructions released by Habitatge and basically means very little has changed for anyone UNLESS:

a) You can prove the house was built before 1984
b) The house has an original building licence

Both those groups form a small part of the overall total of Vivienda’s in the Campo so the option remaining for anyone wishing to sell who’s house doesn’t fit the above criteria is to change the escritura.

It’s unclear at the moment what type of house doesn’t need a cedula; some say a Casa de Campo doesn’t but I haven’t had confirmation of this from a notary.   One description that definitely doesn’t need a cedula is ‘edificio rural’, but – and this is a massive but – from what I’ve been told a bank will not lend money on this type of property.

Habitatge releases new instructions

The link below is to a pdf of instructions were released by habitatge within the past week or so but I’ve been trying to get some clarity on point 3 and have now received that from GenCat via Mark Smithson in the post above.

cedula-new-instructions

British Vice Consul meeting with Generalitat

Mark Smithson has informed me that the British Consulate in Barcelona will meet with Generalitat officials on July 27th to discuss the problems with the cedula de habitabilidad.

It’s therefore really important that as many people as possible email Mark to express their concern and anger about the cedula situation BEFORE this meeting takes place.  It may be the only chance we get to get something done and to get across the scale of the problem.

email Mark Smithson at:
Mark.Smithson@fco.gov.uk

Update from British Vice Consul to Barcelona

I recently wrote to Nick Clegg about the cedula issue following a meeting he had with Zapatero last week. I copied the email to the Vice Consul, Mark Smithson, and received the reply below:

Thank you very much for your email.
Although your email is not addressed to me I thought I should make you aware of the steps we have taken since we last spoke on the phone.

On May 17, Andrew Gwatkin, Consul General, Manuel Vallve and myself met with Mr Joan-Vianney M. Arbeola i Rigau, Generalitat de Catalunya’s Head of the department for housing and the environment for the province of Tarragona. In that meeting we raised our concerns for the impact law 18/2007 (DOGC 5044) is having on British Nationals who in the absence of a “cedula de habitabilidad” are now unable to sell their properties. Mr Arbeola promised to inform the Catalan minister for Housing and environment of the situation. Since then, we have been in contact with the Generalitat de Catalunya and we are in the process of arranging a meeting with the Mr Baltassar, Catalan minister for housing and the environment. When this meeting takes place we will ask the minister for what advice should be given to British nationals who are no longer able to sell their properties. I will be in contact with you once the meeting has taken place to update you on the latest advice from the Generalitat. In the meantime, we would advice you to seek legal advice.

Still no Clarity from Habitatge

Following the meeting between the API & the Secretaria de Vivienda y Medio Ambiente de la Generalitat de Cataluña, Carme Trilla 2 weeks ago (see API’s assessment here) there’s still no clarity from Habitatge on what documentation will be required to ‘prove’ a house existed prior to 1984. There has also been no further information or resolution to the situation facing thousands of home owners who’s house was built after 1984. So while Spain and Catalunya sinks the politicians still seem to be content with re-arranging the deckchairs!

A Resolution!

I’ve spoken to 3 different people who have spoken to contacts at Habitatge and architects and it seems a solution to the cedula problem has been found following yesterday’s meeting of the API. The details aren’t yet certain but the proposal seems to include a change to the way the law is implemented meaning that vivienda’s built before 1984 will be issued with a cedula. For those built after this date the proposal is less clear but there will apparently be a way of selling either by a change of description or another as yet unannounced method. Architects are being informed of the new rules which should come into force over the next 4-6 weeks.

API Meeting to RESOLVE! the issue with cedulas de habitabilidad

API is the professional estate agents body and have a meeting this week about the cedula problem – click here for details.  I can’t quite believe they are using the word ‘resolve’ in Catalunya but it’s there! Whether they will or not is another matter but the intentions look good. They have the day and date mixed up but it’s no surprise to me they don’t know what day of the week it is!  Thanks again to The Olive Press for this information.

Article in L’Ebre Newspaper 14 May 2010

This article appeared in L’Ebre newspaper highlighting the cedula de habitabilidad problem.  Click on the image to get a larger version – thanks to The Olive Press for getting hold of a copy and for the translation below.

l'ebre article - page 1

l'ebre article - page 2

Translation:
A procedure paralyses the sale of houses

Sales people and estate agents are pulling their hair out. City and regional councils have added themselves to the general complaint provoked by the application of a rule that requires that one has the habitation certificate in order to sell a house. It is this procedure that is paralyzing dozens of operations that affect the agencies that do not dispose of a certificate of urbanistic legalisation in order to apply for a cedula, basically for being on land which is not urbanizable. The department of Habitatge assures that they are studying the matter to find solutions to the conflict.

The process for many owners who want to sell a house and need to obtain a cedula, procedure in order to finalize the process, begins in the following way: first it is necessary to acquire a certificate from a professional such as an architect or surveyor, stamped by the corresponding association (Architects) for which about 200€ has to be paid, a quantity which varies depending on certain criteria such as number of square metres. This certificate has to added to the rest of the documentation, among which figure a copy of the title deeds, which has to be submitted to the pertinent local council office for starting the whole process and which later will transfer everything to the department of Habitatge which is the issuing organism. It is necessary to pay a tax of 6€ and this will bring with it a notification that a certificate of urbanistic legalization is necessary as demanded by current law. Now it is necessary to go to the local town hall where one pays 6,50€ more and this is where the problem arises because if the Habitatge office does not have the building/construction licence nor the cedula required for first occupation of a new residence, because it was built on land considered non-urbanizable, the town hall cannot issue a certificate of urbanistic legalization and so since January the applications for cedulas have been turned down repeatedly. This situation has brought much criticism on the part of the sellers – each with their own particular story of their need to sell their property, the local councils – according to what was said by four presidents in a recent debate that took place on L’Ebre TV, the town halls – annoyed with the number of complaints that citizens have presented, and the intermediaries, the estate agents – who see their operations interrupted just when at the moment when they can’t close on the sale. “There are many people who can’t sell and are desperate. People who have contracts signed and have to return the money, people pressurised by the banks for lack of payment and who can’t sell even though they have buyers… The situation is paralyzing the economy.” An estate agent has said this week. According to these agents, at the moment there are dozens of operations in Terres de l’Ebre which have been paralysed and for which they express their indignation. “It is beyond comprehension that in a moment of economic crisis in which the property sector has come to a standstill that this law is imposed which collapses new movements,” complained another agent.

“Really we believe that the situation is very serious. It is impossible to understand how this territory is so affected by a rule that is applied in such a restrictive way and that vetoes each time more operations in a moment of crisis such as we have now”, affirmed the official of Urbanism at Tortosa town hall, Meritxell Roigé. Concretely, in this city cases are found in the areas of Canalet, la Simpatica, with the exception of the first row which is on urban land, or Sant Josep de la Muntanya, to give a few examples, which are having problems. But this situation has been extended to other regions, spread along the coast and also in interior areas, properties acquired in past years by a massive influx of foreign buyers, some of whom have tried to sell without success because they have been refused the cedula. In fact, public notaries have also confirmed that they have detected this situation.

The person responsible for Habitatge territorial services in Terres de l?Ebre, David Jarque, admits that there is a conflict and even publishes that now the refusal of applications is 10% – 12% which is slightly lower than the global % in Catalunya but that there are some areas in Baix Ebre which are more affected. He assures us that the application of the law is in all Catalunya and is not in any case more restrictive in Terres de l’Ebre. Some sellers and estate agents have begun to appeal to the General Director of Quality in the Building and Rehabilitation department of Habitatge, which means a prolongation of the selling process, enough to put off any would be buyer.

Jarque however, assures us that a protocol is being drawn up to find a solution to this conflict, which remember, “refers to illegal residencies”. In fact, he explains that now is the time to analyse how to make some processes easier, such as the procedure for obtaining documentation for residences which are built on urbanizable land for urbanizations (not single houses)

Reply from Habitatge in Tortosa

Below is the reply I’ve received from Agustí Bel Beltran responding to my enquiry as to why they are not issuing a cedula de habitabilidad for rural property.  All the bold and underlines were made by him.  If you don’t understand Catalan stick it through Google Translate to get an idea, but the gist of it is a cedula will not be issued without an original building licence – something that simply didn’t happen for rural properties.

El Servei d’Informació, Qualitat de Processos i Atenció Ciutadana de la Secretaria d’Habitatge ha tramès a aquest Servei Territorial la queixa que heu manifestat per correu electrònic a la bústia del Departament, en relació amb les sol·licituds de cèdules d’habitabilitat d’habitatge usat (o cèdules per a segona i successives ocupacions, d’acord amb l’article 14 del Decret 55/2009, de 7 d’abril, sobre les condicions d’habitabilitat dels habitatges i la cèdula d’habitabilitat) per a construccions situades en Sòl No Urbanitzable o rústic.

En resposta a la vostra petició, hem de fer-vos avinent que la Secció 3ª de la Sala del contenciós administratiu del Tribunal Superior de Justícia de Catalunya (TSJC), en relació justament amb una cèdula d’habitabilitat sol·licitada en terrenys classificats com a Sòl No Urbanitzable, ha declarat en la seva sentència de 6 de juliol de 2009 (núm. 667/2009) que “no es sólo que la previa existencia de la licencia de obras o titulación equivalente sea esencial a los efectos de la obtención de la cédula de habitabilidad sino que se erige con la naturaleza y fuerza necesaria como para constituirse como un requisito esencial para poder adquirir los derechos correspondientes al régimen propio y los trascendentes efectos de la cédula de habitabilidad” (fonament de dret 3r.2.c’).

Esperem haver esclarit la qüestió plantejada.

Atentament,

Agustí Bel Beltran
Cap del Servei Territorial d’Habitatge
de Terres de l’Ebre
Departament de Medi Ambient i Habitatge
Carrer de Sant Ildefons, núm. 6 bis – 43500 Tortosa
Tel: 977 44 87 75 – Telefax: 977 44 83 84

British Consulate visit El Perelló

The British Consulate are coming to El Perelló on May 25 to discuss Pension, Benefits and Healthcare. It would be good to get as many people along there as possible to change the subject to Cedula’s and try and get some response from them or Manuel Vallvé (the Honorary Consul for Tarragona) on the issue.

To get tickets for this you need to call 917 146 443 and register.

Event details:

Tuesday 25th May 2010 – 11.30am (Doors open at 10.45am)

Cine Auditori Victoria
Carrer Nava, 49
El Perelló

Olive Press Advert

There’s a advert going in next months Olive Press that says:
‘Confused about the need for a Cedula de habitabilidad?’
‘Have you been told that you can’t sell your property without one?’

I have spoken to the architect and the way they a proposing to get round the problem is to change the escritura removing the word ‘Vivienda’, or any other term that requires a cedula to sell (eg Casa, Casa de Campo, etc) and replace it with something that describes a vivienda but doesn’t actually say that. I asked whether this would involve the word almacen and she said not. By her own admission not a great solution but the only thing that’s available at the moment.

HOWEVER a bank is highly unlikely to lend money to purchase a house such as this and according to my bank manager would only allow the sale to take place if it was to a cash buyer.

Reply from the Catalan Ombudsman

I have received a phone call reply to a letter I sent to the Catalan Ombudsman who said they are able to take up the case for those people who have been refused a cedula and lost a subsequent appeal.  If you are in this position and would like further details you can contact Maite Hipalgo at the Catalan Ombudsman on 933 018 075.

Maxine from Perello Properties on TV3

Maxine from Perello Properties interviewed on TV3 about the reasons for British people leaving the Baix Ebre area and the problems facing those trying to sell but unable to because of the cedula de habitabilidad.