Welcome to my blog

I moved over to Catalunya permanently in May 2004 with my young son, who was then 6 years old. I visited the area earlier, to search for a property in the countryside, where I could build a Red Cedar wood house from Canada, which would obviously be our home, but also a show house for other like minded people, who wanted to do the same. I arranged a sales contract with a company in Canada to sell and market their houses.

I went out with a couple of Spanish estate agents in the area to view some prospective pieces of land. I fell in love with almost 2 hectares of olive and almond groves not far from the town of Gandesa. There was a dramatic mountain back drop on the finca, beautiful views down the valley, good access on a tarmac country lane, mains electricity only a couple of hundred meters away, and the neighbouring property had mains water, absolutely perfect, as I didn't want to be without all my home comforts, but wanted space and fresh air, and a safe environment to raise my son.

Nothing wrong with that you might think!

The estate agent said there was no problem with putting the wooden house on the land, and I would definitely be able to connect to both water and the electricity.............mission accomplished! I put a deposit down on the finca, and went back to the UK to put my house on the market, and plan the rest of our lives.
I returned a few weeks later to sign the contract at the Notary, and the finca was mine. My friend and I took a bottle of the best Cava, and christened the finca, I was ecstatic.

We set off for Spain on 23rd May, with the car loaded up, and everything else in storage until I could ship it over.

I rented an apartment in a village close by, and my son started school, life was just so good............until I went to the local Ajuntament (council office) to apply for the water and electricity connections. In my broken pidgeon Spanish I explained that the estate agent told me to come here and apply for the connections, I could tell by the look on the man's face that he thought I was joking!!!!

To cut a long story short, I would never get permission for either, and as for a wooden house, well, forget it........................I was devastated, to say the least.

Now, before I go any further, I am not out to name and shame estate agents, but you can imagine what I wanted to do. I had also paid an English man who "claimed" he was a builder, to clear and level the land where the house was going to go, and also repair the driveway. I later discovered that he was nothing more than a cowboy, who had ripped off other unsuspecting people, and let me add, he is still doing it now! One thing you will learn very quickly here is that almost everyone you meet is a builder, electrician, plumber etc etc etc, ask to see their paperwork from the UK, and see their faces drop!

I started to look into the rules and regulations of building or renovating property in the countryside in Catalunya. The more I discovered, the more annoyed I became, as I met more and more people in the same boat. The only difference was, they were all building and getting on with it, and never asked permission for anything. They all seemed to believe what the "bar room barristers" were telling them, "oh just get on with it, they will give you a fine at the end, pay the fine, and your house then becomes legal".

Well, I'm sorry, but i wasn't prepared to put all my money on the line for a gamble, and end up as another British statistic, who runs out of money, and has to return to the UK penniless, having taken your children out of the school system, and had them in school over here learning a new language for nothing!

OK, so plan A, was a no go zone, so I had to re-evaluate what I wanted for myself and my son. I decided that because of the rapidly changing laws for building in Catalunya seemed to be changing by the minute, I decided to go for the soft option and by a town house in the village. We had already integrated with the local community, and I had made some new Spanish friends.

Now, am I so glad that I did, because only a few weeks ago, the authorities went to all the properties with illegal buildings on them. They took photographs and measurements, gave the owners a written report from the district Architect, and now they are basically waiting to see what happens. I have heard through an Architect friend that they are going to make examples of the worst offenders, the ones who have built huge two storey houses, and give them huge fines of up to 40,000 Euros, or take the house down, which you will be billed for as well.
Others have already been told to demolish them, and are currently trying to take the estate agent to court .

Now................what is absolutely amazing me is that, it is common knowledge here, that you cannot build houses on rustic land, and in the majority of cases you cant even renovate a house that is already on a finca. Basically, they don't want you living on "the campo".

BUT, if you look at any of the estate agents websites, the majority of them are still saying that you can!!!!! Some of them even say that you cant build, but you can put a mobile home or a wooden house on there instead, again not true in 99% of cases.

Another way around it, is to say that you want to build an almacen, which is basically a storehouse for a tractor and machinery. Some estate agents are saying that you can build a "house" of 40 m2 on two floors, but it's not a house as we know it, it is an agricultural building to store things in. Do you really want to invest all of your hard earned money in buying a rural Spanish property, to be looking over your shoulder all the time, in case anyone sees you living in your "almacen", and don't forget, if you build it and caught living in it.........down it has to come!

You could never sell the property on again stating that it had a legal building on it, but, here we go again, the majority of the people who have built what the hell they want on their finca's, now have them up for sale, at huge prices. So what about the poor souls who just might buy them, they then live with the threat, of when the authorities decide to do whatever they are going to do.

Please, please,please, if you are planning to buy a property in Catalunya, CHECK, CHECK, and DOUBLE CHECK, that the house is legally registered on the escritura (deeds) and also is registered with the land registry as well.

Now I'm sure similar things go on all over Spain, but i cant comment, because I only know the details here in Catalunya. The estate agent trade here is not regulated like in the UK, so always do your own homework, and use a solicitor, would you ever consider buying a property in the UK without one, of course not, so why the hell do we flock over here and buy property like it is a bag of groceries, think about it, yes, it's another expense, but not as expensive as finding out that you cant renovate your Catalan masia, because the ruin no longer has a roof, or the house already there never had permissions for building!!!

I am a naturally inquisitive person (nosy.....lol) and while I was working for an English magazine here in Catalunya, I was asked by a Spanish client of the mag, how he could sell some property in Aragon without using an estate agent. He explained that you can build there, so long as you use an Architect for the plans. We never thought any more about it.

Now the title of this blog is Catalunya or Aragon? Are you wondering why? Let me tell you.

My Spanish friend and I were over in Matarrana, a beautiful area of Aragon, just across the border of Catalunya, we were working for the magazine selling advertising. Chatting in a cafe at the lunch time, we overheard some people talking of building a house on a finca, with Architects plans and full permissions, so we started to do some research of our own.

To cut a long story short, you can build on any property which has more than 1 hectare, it doesn't matter if there is already a building on it or not, one village actually insists that you need a minimum of 2.5 hectares before you can build, but the rest of them it's only one hectare. The actual facts and figures are as follows. On land between one hectare and 1.8 hectares, you can build a house up to 150 m2, but once you own more than 1.8 hectares, you can build up to 300 m2, that is one hell of a large house, believe me.

We began contacting everyone we knew in Aragon to let them know that we were offering an advertising service in English and Spanish, if they wanted to sell any property. The response was amazing, and we now have a good portfolio of fincas and town houses, mainly in the region of Matarrana, and also some in Maella.

I cant tell you how gratifying it is, to help people achieve the same thing that I originally came here to do, and the greatest thing of all is that they can do it legally, not look over their shoulder in case the authorities come to visit, not live in a tractor almacen, and not worry , if they want to sell their property later, because it is all 100% LEGAL.

Some of the properties we advertise, are only a few hundred meters over the border of Catalunya, but the whole world changes when you cross that border, if you want to build your dream home.

I intend writing and reporting on here as often as i have the time. I will also ask people who have been told lies, and lost money or property through no fault of their own, if i can interview them and put their stories on here.

I don't want anyone to go through the same worry and upset, when you come here for a better life, that's exactly what it should be, but until the Spanish government get their act together, and stop this kind of thing happening, there will be other victims just like me, because the sharks are sat here waiting for them to get off the planes, rubbing their hands together.

If all of this helps at least one person, it has been more than worthwhile, until the next report, have a look at www.libercasa.co.uk and search for Matarrana, or www.kyero.com and search for Teruel, you can be assured that if you are looking to buy without building problems, this is a beautiful untouched part of Spain, and yet only an hour from the coast, and one and a half hours from Reus airport.