The first person you need to find is a really good firm of architects. They will prepare the Projecto and will normally suggest a number of possible builders who they will then ask to submit detailed estimates for the build.

You may well end up using the services of two architects who work together. One will do the design work and the other, called an aperajador, is a technical architect and he also oversee the building process and be the main driver in preparing the Projecto which is submitted as part of the application for the building licence.

Re Rotor - yes I am concerned regarding your comments but trying to take a balanced view that there will be examples of people who have bought a plot and had a reasonable experience. I would certainly be expecting some challenges. The Tosalet plots for example have services already in place and I was thinking of allocating perhaps 300,000 - 400,000 sterling not including buying the land for the build

Fred mentioned finding good architects etc and it would be helpful to have some names D’ARA ARQUITECTES have been mentioned and what about
M3BT as builders.

I am thinking of just buying something already done or eprhaps a smaller run down property on a larger site that would lend itself to extension. I have concerns regarding building construction quality and I guess there are pros and cons to building versus buying already made.

Regarding the people responding here - what have you done re your property and what problems have been encountered. Rotor clearly has had a bad experience but is this universal? Many thanks

RF

If you use a decent architect you will have no problems. Construction quality has moved on enormously since 2000 and the building regulations are as good as they are in the UK.

As the promotors you will have to have the mandatory 10 year insurance and to get that you have to go through some very complex requirements including concrete tests and steel tests at every major stage of the construction with an engineers report at the end of the project, separate from anything the architect may provide. We also had to have a full geological survey and a seismic risk report and our house had to be constructed to earthquake proof standards.

Thanks Fred, so which architect did you use? thanks

RF

Far too far away from you!

Risk is relative to rewards. We have for some time lived in France and have some 25 years of this Republique.

We are renting in Spain and nothing bar nothing would make us change us minds. The thought of committing hard earned cash to a less that 'secure' project fills us with fear.

Thus it is nothing like the UK with registered land and HM Land Registry so if you do not know the system why tinker with it.

Go to HM Land Registry at Swansea Plymouth and Tunbridge Wells it is not Spain.

The land registry system in Spain is in my opinion in advance of that in UK certainly more accesable online and easy to get information from without special access.

No it's not.

They can't even get the same plot size details on the registry that they use on the Catastro register or the escritura. It's a complete shambles.

I have three completely different figures on each register for my plot and none of them are correct based on an expensive survey.

Sorry I do believe that the HM Land Registry is a first class organisation. Of course they do get it wrong sometimes. But from a system where everything was unregistered land the majority is now registered land.

Access has never been a problem and this comment equally applies to Companies House in Cardiff.

Can you explain how I get on-line access to the land registry please. I don't mean the cadastral as that is completely different to the land registry.

SORRY I was wrong what I meant was the Cadastral and as soon as Fred replied I knew I was wrong but I was keeping my head down. I must say that my only dealings with the local Land Registry office here in Ayamonte have been good in 2004 I walked in asked for a Nota Simple and it was produced within a couple of hours for about €9. Later I used an online request system to get the full registration from UK to Madrid and that worked as well. I must redo it all again now to make sure they have the house right on the plot after Fred's warning.

The Cadastral system is what I meant and that works brilliantly for me but of course does not show ownership.

One of the impressive things done by the LR UK is to publish quarterly selling price figures which show up the rubbish we used to be peddled by Estate Agents and banks with their indices.

As far as I know only Notarios have online access to the LR and they use it to check just before you sign for the house.

Hi

I built my new villa in Javea a couple of years ago. I am in Toscal and have lived in Spain for 27 years. I bought the plot, got ripped off by the Ayuntamiento, designed the villa with help of local architect, supervised all the building works with the architect and surveyor (both compulsory), finished project and am now happily living in my villa. The costs of permissions, licences, college of Arquitectos & Aparejadores fees, ceding part of your land to council in-lieu of green zone, having to put in pavements and street lighting for your plot when no-one else in the street has it, etc. is beyond belief. I am more than willing to let you know my experiences of the whole project good and bad from start to finish. By the way we love and villa and would do it all again. My brother in-law is finishing his contract in Bahrain soon and he has already bought a plot here and will be building within 2 years, so it is not all bad and you will get a villa built to your specifications and design. It will not be cheap but will be better than most of the other secondhand villas here. I know, I own other older villas here in Javea and this is exactly why I chose to build this one. Underfloor central heating, properly insulated floors, walls and roof make it confortable to live in all year round!

Kind regards
David

As Concierge for the Spanish section of BE I would like to say hello and welcome.

BE is a very large expat website, so if you have problems finding your way around we have concierges who will try to direct you. The moderators for the Spanish forums are Mitzyboy and Fred James, moderators are there to ensure that the site runs smoothly within the rules of BE. Problems and complaints should always be addressed to a moderador who will look into the matter and deal with it efficiently and fairly. Our members who post in the Spain Forums are friendly and helpful with a wealth of knowledge of the issues of living in Spain. At the top of the page you will find a quirkily named thread called Free Beer which is full of important and useful information. Hope you enjoy your time participating in the forums.

Please let me know if you need any further help.

Rosemary

Ha Ha ha This man...is this woman. Used to be the case that I did all the building. But I've recently handed the drill to him. That there fella is the other half. But quite right we have been through most of the difficulties and pleasures of self building including rather a lot of brick on brick action with our own bare hands. And that website could do with an update! But really happy to share experiences as self building is still very rare over here.

message for Grizzly12 - Thanks for your comments. I'd be very interested in speaking with you regarding your message. Apparently you need to have posted 3 times to receive a private message so I am having trouble contacting you. If this is not practical for you I can add my email here if that would be helpful. Thanks

Bob