fadingstarlight

I m in Alfafar, they are pretty relaxed here. i am not doing anything structural.

when i look at doing work on my rooftop terrace then i will ask for permissions cause i will be potentially creating permanent structures by using bricks and wood to make a pergola. and some fencing to keep my cats from trolling along my neighbours roofs. and i can add the painting in there of the upstairs terrace walls at that time too cause they need it. its a massive area up there and you will be able to see the front fencing.

amideislas

Here in Mallorca, it seems whatever you request permission for (even the smallest of things like painting an internal wall), the answer will be "no" (unless of course you are a contibutor to the local school, the football club, or a local community in some way). If it's on record that they said "no" and you did it anyway, then the fines are very steep. up to €40K.

If you don't ask permission, and they show up to inspect for any reason (rare and highly unlikely), you can always play dumb and only suffer a warning, provided the work was not a new structure of some sort.

So, almost nobody asks permission.

Lynn R

When I applied for a licence to retile the front of my house, the application was refused in the first instance. However, I went back to them with photographs to prove that the facade had been tiled when I originally bought the house and the tiles were now in a bad state of repair, and asked if they would prefer it if I left it that way. The licence was then granted - perhaps sometimes people aren't persistent enough.

larryX

Fadingstarlight.

None of the guys here who are giving you advice necessarily expect you to take. They are telling you what the law is.

If you choose not to apply for a licence that’s your business, but no what you say about no one being able to see it etc. it does not change the law which says, you must have a licence.

That you choose not to apply is fine but accept that is your position i.e. you will ignore the law and take the consequences.

Just like a friend friend of mine who was fined quite heavily for re-tiling his kitchen. In his case he did not know he needed a licence, but he still had to pay the fine.

"You pays your money and takes your choice" or maybe in this case, "You takes your choice and then pays your money"

amideislas

I know many people just accept it, but I find it a rather unnerving that we have to ask some faceless local bureaucrat whether we can paint our living room or put up tile in a bath on property we own outright. This is getting really over-the-top in my opinion.

What business does anyone have dictating to me whether I can paint or tile on my own property? Health and Safety? Please. What can the council possibly gain from this kind of dictatorship? A sense of power? What else? Fees of some sort?

This increasing ideology of over-regulation and control achieves nothing more than to shift control of our lives from us to "them" (and even more befuddling, "they" haven't proven effective at managing much of anything so far). It's a bit like handing control of your life to the next door neighbour's 10 year old, but you remain accountable for anything that 10 year old decides for you.

Even more ironic, this kind of nonsense only throws yet another hurdle at anyone wanting to spend their hard-earned money into the economy, at a time when we really need some growth.

And we wonder why we have 23% unemployment and a teetering economy?

Rosemary

We have not asked permission to do anything in our house. What we have done is inform them of what we are doing and gained the relevant licence which has meant paying a nominal amount of tax. I think that this is a very fair way of putting money into the town coffers because this helps to keep the town tax on our house low.

Rosemary

amideislas

We already pay too much tax. I already pay 18% IVA on every bucket of paint, every screw, nail, tile and pipe. I pay increasing IBI (not going down, but just increased another 10%), plus council taxes and other substantial add-on-fees for virtually everything. And they are only going up.

This is a tax and spend economy, which helps explain how we got here in the first place. Seems to me that at some point, someone might figure out that more of the same isn't going to reverse the downward trend.

This nonsense of selling "licences" for petty things for the sole purpose of collecting even more money isn't going to help either.

This morning, hubby put up a painting on the wall. Do I need a "licence" for that? Will they impose a fine if they catch me with a painting on our wall?

And last night hubby parked the car several metres away from where he usually parks in our driveway. Do we need a "licence" for this? Could a satellite discover this and compel the ajuntament to charge a fine for not parking in precisely the same spot on our property?

These things would after all, put some money in the "town coffers" for someone to benefit from.

Rosemary

You always seem to be so angry regarding just about everything in your chosen location. As it is impossible for an individual to change the things that they perceive to be wrong with a place it makes more sense for them to make a move to a place that suits them more.

Rosemary

amideislas

Well, considering the already high taxes and never-ending fees we already pay, if they continue to pass even more laws requiring payment for their "permission" to make our own decisions in virtually anything in life, if we are forced to pay more and more for less and less, then leaving may be the only sensible consideration... Many of our friends have left in the past few years for just that reason.

Sadly, you're right - there is a growing trend to move away from Spain, and Europe in general, as more and more arcane restrictions, regulations, and higher taxes are imposed for the overall "betterment" of the population, who ironically, ultimately all suffer as a result.

pwwm

Hear hear, it is cheap enough here and as our small town is reather broke I actually do not mind at all. What we do is lump all the jobs we wish to do and pay nominal fee for the lot. IBI here is way below rates for our house in UK, as is car tax.

amideislas

Then you feel it's OK to require a "licence" (read: PAYMENT) to set your watch or take a bubble bath? How about a licence for farting? For wearing a hat? For having rocks? If birds fly over your property? If the sky is blue?

That would put more money in the local "coffers". Anything else you can think of? Hey, why don't we have a tax for putting things on top of things? Putting plates on the table for dinner? - €1, please (and if you don't pay it, €100 fine).

Please. If you want to give something to your town, make a donation. But don't force me to do it. I already pay a lot, and some of it undoubtedly pays your politicians and their golfing pals, who surely don't need council permission or have to pay for any stinking "licence".

Rosemary

Lost your cause completely with this.

Rosemary

lynnxa

very true

mikelincs

Your car tax and IBI is well below those in the UK, so your taxes are also well below, I pay £140 a month council tax, and car tax would be somewhere in the region of £200, if I had a car, UK VAT is rising to meet the same level as the rest of Europe as well.

mikelincs

anyone understand this post?