Buying a house in Spain (Andalucia) : : Architect's opinion : : Must watch before buying!

(Affiliate link)

Wild idea: let's move to Southern Spain! Let's look at many houses in Andalucia! I've seen many properties in Andalucia last year and I have some important points that anyone looking for a house, in general, should know.

Creative direction, main shots & edit by: Axi Molnar
Final edit by: Koen De Croo

Main shots:
On-site shots:

Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
License code: SXBTVO32ZGY886ZE

Write to me on Instagram @zzziana

[pedropascual]

As a Spaniard, I agree with you as to the legallity of properties in the countryside. I also have this romantic idea of living surrounded by trees but at the same time not too isolated. You yourself realised that living like that in Spain is actually living off-grid, and that implies that if you are someone used to living in a town, you will most probably have an awful time living in the countryside. Maybe where you come from it's quite usual to live in a house surrounded by nature, with neighbours 200 m away, but the layout of towns in Spain is not like that, and off-grid homes are simply illegal. Bear that in mind, it takes much more than researching for properties when you buy abroad, it requires looking outside your box, finding out about the area and how things are done, which doesn't necessarily mean that it's wrong just because it doesn't comply with your own standards, it simply is different: either you accept it or leave it.

[harambeibogainedetoxcenter]

If the house was built illegally in the 90s then it can be legalized and registered ion your escritura (deeds). you can register at the local council even with an illegally built house, you can also have a PO box at your local village. The rubbish is recycled and you must do that in the village whilst taking any non recycled to the village communal bins, no big deal. I love living off grid, I have animals and big land. It is so peaceful and the stars at night are amazing!

[Luke-dyld]

A mistake I've seen a lot of foreigners make when shopping for houses in Spain is asking "who designed this?" or "why did they design it like this?" in truth it was not designed at all. Most were converted from animal sheds or tractor barns with no plan or oversight. I do always get a kick out of watching professional builders try to fix issues in a house they've just bought like:
-"there's no damp protection!"
-"all those rooftiles are only held on by gravity!"
-"there's no insulation anywhere!"
I could go on.
The only reason anyone can live in these shoddy boxes is that the weather makes it easier. In any other country they would be illegal. (even in spain half of them are)

[MrGulliver]

You literally want to go live in houses for animals or to store tools used in the fields, most of these houses were made dozens of years ago and belonged to poor people, farmers or ranchers who lived with just enough. These "houses" have been inherited over time and reformed to get to what you see today. Others are simply second or third homes for people who only use it for a month or two in summer. You think that you are coming to live in paradise with internet, running water, roads and services, but you are going to buy in the periphery of the periphery. This is not the USA where there is a Wallmart every 3 km and you have to take the car even to buy bread. Either you live in nature or outside of it, with all its consequences. End.

[koendecroo]

thank you for your useful support in finding our new home!

[TheDotBot]

From what I've seen, Spain is also super stringent on building alterations, and fines or retroactive permissions or fixes can be expensive. Real estate is not a protected or certified profession in Spain so they can sell what they want and walk away. They work for the seller, not the buyer. They'll always tell you what you want to hear whether true or accurate or not. It's always wise to get an independent Spanish conveyancing lawyer and a technical architect (sth like a building surveyor) to check administrative and technical legality before finalising that kind of investment.

Brilliant video and so true about buying out in rural areas of Spain. A lot of people buy finca, s which are not really designed to be made bigger or even get permission to do anything inside or out. Look forward to seeing more of your videos. You have a new subscriber 👍🇪🇸

[mamarrachopunpun]

Cheers from Spain.
I am sure you learnt this already: Whatever is cheap is cheap for a reason, or for MANY reasons.
So in the end you will end up quitting the idea of finding bargains, and end up buying a more pricey property.
Good luck!

[benfermore]

Great to see a good honest video, look forward to seeing more.

[MichyMini]

I so agree with points 1/2/3. Same in Valencia.

[johnnhy]

Nowadays you need 15000 m² of land to build a legal house on rural land. in addition to other requeriments ( such as building septic tanks) in order to get electricity and water.
what people have done for decades is build a small tool house (casa de aperos) or a small hen house to ask for licenses to be able to build a well or bring electricity.
Once you have this, people will build a house where the tool house was. when the cadastre satellite gets the new images of the area you will receive a fine. This fine is much cheaper than complying with all the requeriments to build a house.
but there is a risk that they will make you demolish the house, although it is very rare

[guywuytack]

yes, 2 years in Madrid and looked around a bit for holiday house finca.. lot of under 100k possibilities with > 5000-10000m2 land but usually only with a small garage/shed looking "house" .. So the permits probably only allow a small farm tool shop and not building a house.. however, did you check if putting a prefab cottage, which is removable at any time, would be allowed?

[rvz]

The license for a pool is €800 and the fine for an illegal pool is €600. That’s why they do thinks like this in Spain. I was living there for 10 years and maried with a lawyer!

[neckarsulme]

What a great informative video! Thank you for posting🤩

[erwinjansen]

Hi Axi, After nearly 23 years of living in Andalusia (Alhaurin el Grande) we decided to change to an other area of Europe to live an other life. What you said in your video is 100% correct. I will check your other videos. Regards Erwin from Alhaurinrentals

[Floren_Andro]

I live in a community building with 30 flats in the center of my town. I have Internet, Gas, Electricity, etc.
There are also pharmacies, supermarkets, hospitals, health centers. Surrounded by recreation areas and bars/restaurants.
I live in Andalusia.
If you try to buy Buckingham Palace at the price of a kennel, you will get exactly what you see in the video.
Spend more if what you see is not to your liking.
You leave the people of Andalusia very badly showing something like that when it is your fault for wanting to buy for a pittance.

[ISPRI]

Well...here in Romania on the "rural land" people go around by obtaining permission and building "anexa agricola/agricultural annex" which may have a living space...or "mobile house" (a small house without foundation usually on wooden pillars). It may work well as long as the investment as such is small. Probable the golden rule everywhere for foreigners is to rent and live in a particular location for at least one solid year before investing hard worked money anywhere in a foreign country.

[bogdan]

I like the last piece of advice, many of us have all kind of ideas but we need to invest in this intermediate step where we should make a trip to see how actually our dream will look like. This trip is a "must" in order to clarify our wishes. For example many people want to live in Germany but they didn't visit Germany to see if they will like it, they just take a job and then become disapointed.

[seapearltoo]

The region of Andalucia is massive! I'm an American living in the Andalucian province of Cadiz, which is in itself a very large area. Not all rural areas in Andalucia are as remote as you featured in your video.

[sheilakerr-jones]

In that part of Spain, and at the time the video shot part 4, the people built their homes with lower doors as they were very small people. That has to be taken into consideration when looking at homes in the country. My stepson is 2.07 mtrs and has to mind his head in our house that is indeed built to spec. In other countries real estate agents are required by law to take some schooling about different laws, building and construction, etc., but you’re right, not in Spain. Something that is hard for us to get our head around, as you can basically walk of the street and sell or show a home.