Hello, new member here. Grateful for any advice, specifically on the legal situation for this.



I am looking to buy a property that belongs legally to a community of owners. However, my solicitor has confirmed that the community has never been organized because there are no common areas and no expenses that need to be shared. The property is a townhouse with properties either side and built in 1997. Is there anything that I should be aware of or that would be relevant to this situation? Is there a way to check that there is definitely no community of owners?



Linked to this, there have been some alterations made to the property (prior to the current owner) which were never informed to the land registry. I have been told that this would normally be rectified by the current owner but because there is no community of owners it is not possible to obtain their approval (and therefore approval from the town hall cannot be obtained and there can be no updating of the Land Registry). As a result the description remains the same as when originally built. I have been told that the catastro works with satellites and has detected that there was something else and has calculated the new square metres (other properties nearby have also been altered). I have been told that from a legal point of view there are almost no consequences as the construction is older than 15 years and therefore the Town Hall cannot take any action against it. Also as the catastro is correct, from the tax point of view there is also no problem (I have been told that the registered square metres would be used if the property was valued for a mortgage, which I do not require). Are there any ways of checking or finding out whether the changes were more than 15 years ago (I suspect not)? Does the above sound accurate? Is there anything else that would be important to know about this?



Any advice / information from anyone who is aware of the legal situation or has encountered a similar situation previously would be welcome.



Thank you.

This doesn't sound right and I would be wary of your solicitor. He should be doing the research & advising you but he sounds like he's leaving it all up to you.

Do you know the reason why the community was never set up? AFAIK this isn't optional on communities of a certain size.

I would be worried about the illegal building extensions and would want the vendor to legalise these additions with the town hall prior to the sale. The planning law was changed some time ago and the previous 4 year grace for illegal development was extended to 15 years. Has the vendor got proof that this work was done over 15 years ago? If he can't provide proof how will you?

Wow. What a money pit. Bin that property and change solicitor.
Surprised you're still looking at it, must be very cheap (usual carrot for unwary).

Thanks for your reply Wanderer. The solicitor certainly doesn't fill me with confidence and seems to only provide limited information. I have been told that the community was never set up as there are no shared areas, facilities, etc. and no one felt the need. I have also seen from further searching that it is not an optional requirement.

I'm completely in agreement about proving the 15 years and had contacted the solicitor earlier regarding this. All I have been able to find from my searching is that an architect's report would confirm when it was completed but would need to include aerial photos, which I doubt anyone would be able to provide.

Thank you again for your response.

Thanks EU flag. Have to say that is exactly what I am now thinking. Time to look for another property and solicitor

It's not mandatory to set up a comunidad if there are less than five properties.