whats been happening now? I know about the agent i think you mean, we had dealings with her too and I believe she is now in morocco selling property , but think her hubby or partner still hangs around bennifallet drinking.

The Generalitat de Catalunya now has a Registre d'Agents immobiliarias de Catalunya.All these agents will have a number ,without this number they are not legal in Catalunya.

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i totally agree with what you are saying i have said from the start all propertys built up until lets say the end off 2009 should all be made legal so all this mess can have an end put to it .our ajuntament is taking taxes from us for the lands  and the houses but still insist on calling them garages

hi ,if there is to be a meeting count me in ,its about time the authorities listened to common sense,if they had kept a closer eye on what was going on in their area in the first place none of us would be in this position now,it was their appointed representatives that were partly responsible for some of what has happened anyway in some areas .

"The Generalitat de Catalunya now has a Registre d'Agents immobiliarias de Catalunya.All these agents will have a number ,without this number they are not legal in Catalunya."

Last week I noticed a shop/office in the village that is NOT an estate agent,still has half a dozen finca's up for sale.
This law will never be enforced,at least not for the local Catalooian locals !

Good evening

If anyone's interested, a few words about the agent registry in Catalonia:

Since March 2010 estate agents in Catalonia are required to register on the Generalitat’s AICAT registry. Most have already done so, particularly those that belong to professional associations like API or APEI. Some smaller Spanish agencies may not have registered yet, but in my opinion this doesn’t automatically mean they are unprofessional or will disappear.

I have not heard if the Generalitat have started contacting non-aicat agents yet. They certainly don’t appear to have carried out any advertising. So some non-Spanish agents may still be completely unaware of the need to register.

Agencies located outside Catalonia (whether in other regions of Spain or elsewhere) that sell property in Catalonia are not required to register, neither are agents that only sell property on an occasional basis (quite a few retired agents would fall into this category, as would professionals in other fields that are perfectly capable of organising a property sale).

To become an aicat agent one has to:

-      Have at least 4 years’ proven professional experience or possess the appropriate qualifications*
-      Have civil responsibility insurance and a bank guarantee to demonstrate solvency
-      Have an office where the public can visit you (in theory you can work exclusively over the internet and have a home office but in practice it is hard to get the bank guarantee and is much more expensive. In my case, I stopped working from home and rented a small office.)
-      Adhere to the aicat professional code and procedures

*Certain professions don’t have to do this: lawyers, architects, economists, engineers, etc

More info (in Catalan) and a list of registered agents are available at www.agenciahabitatge.cat

The British Consulate in Barcelona have taken an interest in the cédula de habitabilidad problems and I understand they have had a series of meetings with the the Generalitat about this issue, including one with new president Artur Mas.

Additionally, the British Embassy in Madrid now has a consultant working on property-related problems, liasing with the Spanish authorities. This is a positive step in my view as formerly, the Consulate's stance always appeared to be limited to 'sorry but we cannot get involved'.

The Consul told me that they cannot champion individual cases but it seems to me it is well worth contacting them.

I think they will be specially interested to hear of cases where UK nationals are being denied registry on the padrón, access to healthcare, schooling, etc.

Finally, don't forget that the official channel for any complaint about the Catalan administration is the 'Sindic de Greuges'. You can do this in English on their website, see http://www.sindic.cat/en/page.asp?id=1

Hope this helps!

Jeff
(aicat agent number 2.671  )

hi all,the posting from jeff is usefull information ,but we need information on how to claim compensation for being mis-sold from so called agents and any mayor that was involved in mis-selling properies before all this new legislation came out.
how can somebody sell properties ,tell people that they can do certain things ,"no problem" was a saying i certainly heard many times when i asked all the right questions about what i could and couldnt do,so where has all the money that these agents made from so many people ,including myself, go !
its about time the catalan authorities brought certain individuals to task OR LEGALISE THE PROPERTIES THAT THEY HAVE ILLEGALY SOLD !
how long has this nonsense meant to go on before somebody sees sense and fixes this problem that continues to carry on.