HI. This is a reply from British Consulate Barcelona regarding Cedula's and payment of Tax to BASE.

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Thank you for your email regarding the problems you and other property owners are having securing habitation certificates for properties in Catalunya.



You asked why on your BASE tax form your home is listed as a residential vivienda, and yet you are unable to acquire a habitation certificate. You may be aware that this is because Generalitat decree 55/2009 which came into effect in April 2009 means that no habitation certificates are being issued for rural dwellings unless the local town council certifies that the house was built with all the correct permissions for a vivienda. Some of these rural properties, despite being registered as viviendas on the Property Registry and the Catastro do not have all these permissions.



Although the British Government is unable to intervene in individual cases, which concern local planning regulations and are a matter of Spanish internal law, we are aware of the difficulties British citizens are experiencing and UK Ministers, the Ambassador and the Consul-General have been working hard to lobby the Spanish government at both a regional and national level.



The Consul-General and I have both met with local and regional authorities to raise awareness of the impact that the habitation certificate decree is having on British property owners, including difficulties accessing water/electricity and not being able to sell the property.  Most recently, the Consul General met with Pere Solà i Busquets, the Director General at the Direcció General d'Urbanisme (Town Planning Department) in the Generalitat de Catalunya, who emphasised that the difficulties Britons are currently encountering with the habitation certificate were neither foreseen nor intentional and he expressed his concern at both the number of Britons and geographical areas affected. The Generalitat de Catalunya will now consider a legislative amendment to resolve the current cedula issues, which would need to be approved by the Catalan Parliament by December 2011.  Any further information we receive on this will be added to the property section of the UK in Spain website.

If you have not already done so, you may want to contact Rafael Ribó i Massó, the Ombudsman (Sindic de Greuges) for the region of Catalunya. The Ombudsman has the power to investigate and challenge all public bodies and authorities in the region.  It may also be worthwhile contacting the national ombudsman (Defensor del Pueblo), who has similar powers in respect of all bodies and authorities of the central government and the Autonomous Community Administrations, as well as Local Administrations. The contact details for both the regional and the national ombudsman are attached.



As an additional step, you could bring your case to the attention of Mr Lluis Recorder I Miralles, who is the Minister for Sustainability and the territory in the Regional Government of Catalunya. You may also wish to contact his colleague,  Sra Anna Fallos Molet, who is responsible for External Relations within the Housing department. Both Mr Lluis Recorder and Anna Fallos Molet’s contact details are included in the attached guidance, and a list of certified translators is available on the Spanish Ministry for Foreign Affairs website in case you need assistance in writing a letter in Spanish.



We have also appointed an advisor in the British Consulate General in Madrid to develop our expertise in the complex area of property laws and regulations.  Although much of the work will be research-based, a key focus will be monitoring the situation and identifying further sources of advice for British Nationals.  Likewise, further information will be provided on our website and in local English-speaking media.

Kind regards,


Mark Smithson| Vice-Consul. Head of Consular Section | British Consulate General | Avenida Diagonal 477 13th floor, 08036 Barcelona.

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We have also been to a local Notary and Architect and been told we need to get a certificate from the architect to confirm that our house exists,(why have a Escritura) cost in Gandesa 120€.
Just another money making venture.

Terry.

Hi Colin. The email address For British Consulate in Barcelona is Barcelona.Consulate@fco.gov.uk or
mark.smithson@fco.gov.uk

Regards Terry.