The Licence of First Occupation Explained

[Andy Nash]

Dear Patricia,
Many thanks for your speedy reply to my query. In these hard times it is a surprising change to find a group of VERY professional people to offer advice for free rather than the usual expat rumours,most of which are usually totally wrong.
ON BEHALF OF MYSELF AND EVERYBODY WHO YOU HAVE HELPED WITH FREE ADVICE MAY WE WISH ALL OF YOU A HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND A HOPEFULLY PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR.

Best Wishes Andy

[Patricia]

Hello Andy,

Thank you for your compliments! Fortunately our business model allows us to contribute to the community in these hard times.

Happy Christmas!

[margaret]

I bought my house in an urbanisation in costa blanca in 2003. We are fully connected to electric, water etc but do not have a certificate of habitation.The developer went bust several years ago. Can I legally sell my house?

[Marta]

Hello Margaret

In your case there are two possible hypothesis:

1) That there is a habitation license in place but you never got hold of it. This could have perfectly happened. Please ask the community administrator, neighbours, Town Hall, or even bank if you obtained a mortgage for this property, whether they know if there is one in place.

2) That it was never granted, in which case you could find out the reasons for the absence of it. You could check with the community administrator or Town Hall.

You are legally entitled to sell your property without the habitation license as your property is in a perfectly habitable state and it has its water, gas & electricity supplies. However you might find it difficult to find a buyer.

[Fuzzynana]

se bought a townhouse in an super community 2 years ago. we didnt need a mortgage so the issue of the LFO did not arise, but now we want to sell. the community has several phases and our phase is the only one that does not have an LFO, our phase is now 12 years old, we all have elec, water, pai IBI etc. our presidents have been working hard in order to get the licence and our lawyer has assured us thet it has passed all the tests they make and we will be getting it. the propblem is, the planning dept in Marbella has moved, and happen top have lost one of the pieces of paper. how on earth can we sort this out. Our lawyer says we have to wait till they find it! our presidents have been to the planning dept themselves and seen the boxes piled up where our application is lost. how can we get them to find our lost paper?? several of us are now wanting to sell our homes. is there a way that we can find out online if our phase has been granted the LFO, or now that it is 12 years old, can we assume that the prospective buyers will not be needing to see the LFO.

[Fuzzynana]

i forgot to mention the urbanisation is Los Pinos De Aloha Golf phase 4, Nueva Andalucia. we just need to know who we need to push, our lawyer, or the town hall, although we all thought that by ujsing a lawyer that it would be up to them to pursue and chase it. we are a bit scared to push too much!!!! to get the LFO
kind regards

[Patricia]

Hello Fuzzynana,

The LFO is required in order to sell your property allowing the buyer to register the property in his/her name. Lacking it, the CO can apply for it, which they are now doing, and according to your message the Town hall has failed to issue it yet due to internal organizational and administrative reasons, beyond the control of any lawyer. Therefore, I am afraid that you can only wait for the document to be found or re-issued in order to finalize the LFO granting process.

Regards,

[Fuzzynana]

thanks for your reply. our lawyer contacted us again yesterday to confirm that the urbanisation has passed the tests made and that the paperwork is boxed up at the town hall!! We did not seem to have a problem registering the property in our name when we bought it 2 years ago, our lawyer at the time ensured us that it wouldnt be a problem as it was a 10 year old property. now it is 12 years old we all believed that it would only cause a problem should a buyer try to get a mortgage, and if they was a cash buyer it wouldnt be needed. as for waiting, we have been waiting over 6 months for them to open the boxes!!! is it up to us to opush our laweyer or is there something that us the residents can do to hurry things along.
kind regards

[Patricia]

Hello Fuzzynana,

The only thing hat can be done for the time being is rely on the Administrator and lawyer that are already in contact with the Town Hall and that they keep on insisting.

Regards,

[longlostson]

Hi, we are looking to purchase a house just outside Rafal on a small complex of houses.

These were completed 8 years ago without the Certificate of Habitation, and some have been resold since (all fully connected to mains, water, etc).

They are currently going through the "regularisation / legalisation" process - this is all that is outstanding. As such, the price is €100k less than other properties in the area.

In terms of risk v reward, this looks like a viable property & the bank that has a mortgage on it already is willing to fund 50% LTV.

Does this sound like "issues galore", or that the houses in the hamlet are going through the process - it's all about time?


Thanks in advance,

LLS