Hello everyone

In Catalunya, my personal experience is that a cédula de habitabilidad (have you tried saying it?) is now needed when you sell any property that is registered as a dwelling (vivienda) at the Land Registry (Registro de la Propiedad) - regardless of whether it is an apartment, a townhouse... or a country property.

If you don't have it, the Land Registry cannot register the property and the notary -at least the ones I deal with- will not conduct the sale.

In some towns and villages, you may need a cédula for a rental contract, so that the tenant can register as a resident (empadronamiento) at the local council.

And of course you usually need the cédula to contract mains services too.

If the building doesn't meet habitation standards, an alternative certificate can be issued, stating that if work xxxx were carried out, a cédula could be issued. This won't be any good for contracting mains services of course, but in my experience, it will enable you to sell the property.

If I remember rightly the last cédula I had done cost around 350 euros*. Cédulas can be issued by an architect or an 'aparejador' (technical architect/surveyor), who inspects the property and draws up a simple plan and fills in a form. This is then stamped by the official architects'/aparejadors' association.

*I use an aparejador.

The form then goes to the local Consell Comarcal for processing, and is (if I remember correctly) sent to the Departament d'Habitatge in Barcelona. In Tortosa at any rate, this is the longest part of the process - takes at least three weeks. The next time I need one in a hurry I'll take it the form to Barcelona myself...

A few months back, a client of mine had a cédula de habitabilidad issued when she sold her finca, as the building on it was classed as a dwelling on the Catastro. That way the buyer was able to get the building registered as a dwelling at the Land Registry - useful indeed.

Anyway I hope this helps someone out there and is not too tedious...

AgentX