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Buying A Home "Off Plan" In Spain

by Mark Flanighan

Many who buy a new property in Spain will buy it "off plan." This means the property is little more than an artist's impression when the contract is signed.

In most cases it is cheaper to buy this way and you get the best chance of choosing the best plots.

A few years ago, unless you were building a property yourself, this was probably he only way to buy a property new in Spain, such was the demand.

However buying a property you have never seen, two years in advance does have its issues. First of all your contract only covers you for your own house and not what is around you.

For example, your home could be part of a complex that includes underground car parking and communal pool. These are deemed to be owned by everyone on the complex, so until a committee is formed with elected officials to challenge the builders, you have no right to complain about an unfinished pool or parking or anything else not physically on your property. Of course this means that these structures tend to be finished last.

This could also mean that these items are not exactly as the drawn plans, an example is a plan drawn with gates to give the impression of a gated community. Trees and shrubs, outdoor lighting, fences around the pool or lack of, are all things that can change how you property looks to the original artists impression. Beware aware of this from day one can save some frustration at the finishing stages.

An example of this is the La Cinuelica complex in Los Altos just south of Torrevieja. The artists impression shows a different style of wall, shrubs growing from the walls, the doors and windows are the opposite way round to what was built, the underground car park was shown at the opposite part of the site, the plans show it as a gated community, the list goes on from what actually was built.

Ironically the owners are still pretty happy with the final results except for a few that wanted it to be gated. There are the details inside the house too. If it is not written on the specifications of the house then it is subject to change from the show house you have been shown. Again in the La Cinuelica complex, those buying a newer house or flat had smaller water heaters installed than the older houses. These are all issues that are never discussed with your agent when you sign.

Buying and then being an owner within a Spanish complex is also different to being at home. Committees are set up to decide on local community services, pool cleaning and issues like that. But other rules can also be enforced. Food around the pool, times to use the pool, canopies over you patio, built in conservatories, underground cellars are examples of where the decision is not in your hands but the committees of what you can do with you house.

You just cannot put an underground cellar under our home for example without everyone's agreement; you are now part of a local community, even if it is only your holiday home. If you buy on an existing complex you can establish the rules before you agree to buy, but if you buy "off Plan" at this point you don't not know your neighbours or what they will agree are the rules of the complex until well after you have received the keys.

The final comments are the proposed completion dates. Do not expect your home to be ready by the dates they claim to be. The builders are normally given a safe period after, say 6 months and you can be pretty sure they use it. The exception being if they want money in to start another project. If you are looking to buy off plan in Spain, just expect these issues, so when the excitement of the initial purchase dies down and you await the final result, you are not disappointed.

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Mark is webmaster for Home And Contents Insurance and Car Breakdown Cover

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