In this year we have published several blog articles regarding tax changes on property subjects which the Spanish Central Government has passed over this year. In that regard, the deadline to implement most of them finishes on the 31st of December.
As a requirement to increase tax revenues, this new year will bring the removal of some tax reliefs which are currently enjoyed by home buyers in Spain.
From the 1st of January, home buyers in Spain should consider that the following tax incentives will disappear:
1) 50% tax exemption on capital gains …

The Spanish Government, particularly Mr Cristobal Montoro, Chancellor of the Exchequer, has announced last Friday 13th of July that, from the 1st of January 2013, will apply a VAT of 10% (of the declared value of the property) to new properties, with regard to the current 4%.
 
During the press conference after the Council of Ministers, the Chancellor has recalled that the application of the reduced VAT (4%) for the purchase of a property had an “expiry date”, that the Government has stated today for the beginning of 2013.
Mr Montoro has …

We have recently known, through our clients’ consultations, of the situation that most of the owners of La Axarquía area suffer, which comes from the lack of a License of First Occupation on their properties, particularly, regarding those problems with contract the supplies, such as the electricity supply for their first time or for its restoration, after being cut off by the electricity company (i.e. end of construction site temporary power).
 
The License of First Occupation is a certificate issued by the town hall that confirms that a newly-built property fully complies with …

The possibility of registration in the Land Registry of constructions without building permits after four years of completion, is provided by a State regulation—Spanish Royal Decree Real Decreto 1093/1997 of 7th of July, Section 52 provides this possibility, as well as the following requirements for this registration: 1) proceedings of town planning discipline shall not appear in the Land Registry against the construction; 2) the time fixed by law shall have been elapsed in order to “tackle” this infraction through the administrative procedure and 3) certification of the year of …

Three weeks ago, we received in our offices a copy of the draft implementing Decree of 20th of June 2011, which regulates building and scattered rural settlements on non-developable (non-urbanizable) land in Andalusia.
This draft is supposed to be created as an attempt to regulate the situation of a large number of properties located on non-developable (non-urbanizable) land in Andalusia, where criminal or administrative proceedings cannot be filed against them for land development liability, because the offense or infringement is extinguished by prescription. The Andalusian Regional Government is partially responsible for …

Due to the urban complexity that most of the municipalities of La Axarquía are immersed because of the Spanish local elections held in May, the changes in the local governments could mean changes in the way of managing each municipality and in the solutions that such local governments could propose in view of the complex urban development in this area.
We have to take into account that, nowadays, most of the municipalities are working in the production and approval of their new General Plans for Urban Zoning (PGOU) to adapt them …

In la Axarquía, as well as in many municipalities in Málaga and Andalucía, there are at present thousands of properties which are built on land not designated for construction. These properties have been built without any building permit whatsoever and no responsibility may be claimed as the criminal or administrative actions that would have applied, have lapsed. We refer to thousands of dwellings which will remain built for many years, and their use and enjoy will never change.
From a logical point of view, and why not mention it, from an …

Now that many municipalities in Málaga are approving their development plans in an attempt to regulate the urban chaos in relation to dwellings on undeveloped land, and to adapt those plans to the Law on Urban Planning of Andalusia (LOUA,) the obvious question is; what will happen to the irregular housing that cannot be legalized by the new urban plan adopted by each municipality?
A possible solution to these houses can be the designating them as homes “fuera de ordenación” (out of regulation), ie homes or buildings that do not satisfy …

Last Monday, the 13th of December, I read an    article in the newspaper EL MUNDO in which  they inform that about a hundred people from   Northern Ireland were victims of a property fraud through the Ocean View Properties agency. It was supposed that the development company would build a housing estate in a plot located in Estepona (Malaga). Apparently fraud people made important payments on account of the purchase price in 2005 and 2006 for their future homes in Spain.
Concerning these off-plan property sales, directly from the developer (new property), …