The province of Granada has a large stock of Moorish buildings dating back to the Arabic period. The Neo-Moorish style wealthier house normally has a central courtyard with water features or a pool to allow natural cooling in the summer, a landscaped garden filled with fruit trees, natural herbs and flowers.

The south of Spain is rich in local handmade ceramics such as tiles and pottery which enhance the Mediterranean and Moorish style and provide a sense of pleasure and tranquillity when mixed with water features.

Village architecture is of a more modest nature, typical of additive architecture with rooms added over time as need required and resulting in a charming though somewhat anarchic collection of spaces typified by beamed ceilings, thick earth or stone walls, small windows and white lime washed or vividly coloured walls.

When starting from scratch or reworking an existing building, the choice must be made of maintaining these architectural traditions or evolving them into a style and content more appropriate to 21st Century living. Both can be valid approaches.

The average construction price of a Spanish property ranges from € 700 to € 900 per m2. It is entirely possible to spend more or less than this although these figures are an accurate reflection of the cost/quality balance that most are seeking. Usually the quality of the primary components (structural, services and general installation) does not greatly influence the building cost. However, secondary components (building finishes, special details and decorative elements) do cause substantial price variation. Typically, owners tend to spend an additional 25% to 50% of the amount spent on internal spaces on the immediate environs of the house. For a new build project on a rural site, it is only necessary to add the cost of site conditioning and the introduction of service installation (drinking water and electricity). Below is an example of costs based on a 150m2 house and using an average € 800/m2 construction rate.

Estimating project timescales and phasing

The average design and construction project, from the moment the architects and technicians start work until the moving in day, is approximately one year which can be broken down into the phases below. This time frame can be extended by the client by creating pauses between phases and even staging the construction works though this usually leads to additional cost.

3 months – Design and cost estimation : On occasions this period may take longer if the client chooses to have specialist details, which needs more time on the design phase or preliminary feasibility studies.

2 months – Planning Permission, Building Regulations and Contracts : The tendering process will select appropriate contractors who can construct the building at the agreed cost and time, whilst maintaining the specified quality.

7 months – Construction : This period is dependent upon the complexity of the site and the building as well as the size. Penalty clause contracts are available with appropriate additional costs.

Miscellaneous

If you are buying a property in an urbanisation, make sure that it is legal and registered by asking to see the approved ‘plan parcial’ at the town hall. If the property is on the beach, make sure the development is also approved by the Jefatura de Costas. For a new property, make sure that it has been declared for IBI and that the developer has made the ‘declaracion de obra nueva’. Also ensure that the escritura mentions the house you are purchasing as well as the plot of land on which it stands. As an additional safeguard, it is wise to examine the town planning maps for the area around the property, called the Plan General de Ordenacion Urbana, or PGOU.

The Escritura Publica and Nota Simple

The Escritura Publica is the registered title deed of the property. It is entered in the ‘Registro de la Propiedad’, the Property Registry, and is the only guarantee of title in Spain. It contains a description of the property, the details of the owner and any mortgages or legal claims that exist against the property. This document is important because it tells yyou if the seller is the owner of the property being sold. A nota simple contains further details of any mortgages or charges against the property and is also available from the Registry.

The Referencia Catastral

Every property sale must quote the ‘Referencia Catastral’ of the property in question. The Catastro is another system of property registration in Spain, concentrating on the location, physical description and boundaries of the property. While the Property Registry focuses almost exclusively on ownership and title, the Catastro is concerned with property valuation.

These two systems do not communicate with each other, and it is common to find that the catastral description of a property differs greatly from the one in the Property Registry. It is a good idea to request the actual certificate from the Catastro with a full description of the property. The certificate is in two parts, one being a description of the property and the other being either a plan or an aerial photograph.

Community fees, statutes and minutes of the AGM

This only applies if you are buying a property in an urbanisation or where there are some ‘communal’ resources, shared amongst a number of properties. These are the fees charged by the ‘Comunidad de Propietarios’, the Community of Property Owners, a legal body that controls all the elements held in common; the lift, gardens and pool for example. Each owner is assigned a quota, or percentage of the expenses which, by law, must be paid.

Utility bills

These assure you that the bills are paid and also provide an idea of what the running costs of the property will be.

Perhaps you own a mansion in Marbella … or something rural in Relleu. Whichever the case, there is usually a market for letting it, as long as the price and the advertising is right. In fact, if you take the rent as a percentage of the property´s value, the cheaper place could well end up being the higher earner of the two.

So … how do you avoid the pitfalls of letting?

You should, obviously, be cautious about whom you choose as a tenant but, apart from that, here are a few basic rules to follow.

1. Always give a contract, for this can protect the landlord just as much as the tenant. In Spain there are two sorts of contract: an arrienda de temporada, or short-term contract; and an arrienda de vivienda or long-term contract. It is best to concentrate on the short-term contract. This covers anything from holiday lets lasting a week or so, to lets of several months, and does not grant the tenant any right of extension.

The arrienda de vivienda, or long-term contract, tends to be made out for one year to start off with, but the tenant has the right of extension for up to five years. So, do make sure that your contract has the heading arrienda de temporada or contrato de temporada, for these do not give the right of automatic extension.

It is possible to obtain set contracts quite cheaply from tobacconist shops in Spain, both de temporada and de vivienda. However, you may have to visit several before finding a shop that stocks them and they will, of course, be in Spanish.

The other option is to ask an abogado (lawyer) or gestor (licensed administrative expert) to draw a suitable one up. You may even wish to have it translated into English.

2. Next, make an inventory of everything in the property. When you let the place, you will go through this with the new tenant when s/he signs the contract and, in this way, there will be no dispute as to what should be in the place when s/he leaves. S/he will sign and date the inventory along with the contract and you will both keep a copy.

3. Always take a deposit. Under Spanish law, the deposit or fianza usually consists of one month’s rent for residential property and two months’ rent for commercial premises. This will be returned at the end of the stay as long as there are no debts or damage to the property.

If doing the letting personally, you will probably hold the deposit yourself. But it can be held by an independent agency or even by the regional housing department, to be returned when both parties agree.

With very short holiday lets, you could always take a fixed amount as a booking fee, which could double up as a deposit and be returned at the end of the stay, when the keys are handed over.

4. Remember to give receipts. If no contract is given, the receipt implies a contract. Although a landlord may think this is not in his favour, in one way it is, for the implicit contract ends at the date stated on the receipt.

So … there are four basics. You will also need to consider whether you are going to ask possible tenants for references, who is to be responsible for electricity bills, and … taxes!

Happy letting!