Lynn R

Well, it makes Amideislas sound sensible, which is quite a feat.

amideislas

Sorry. Evidently flew over your head.

No surprise. After all, you do seem to think that being required to buy a "licence" to paint your lounge is somehow acceptable. What will we need to buy a licence for next?

Ahh...forget it.

MikeJ

There's a fundamental difference in the approach to the legal system between the UK and a lot of European countries - including Spain. In the UK you can do anything that is not illegal - against the law. Elsewhere you can do anything which is permitted by the law - hence the proliferation of licences etc in order to permit specific actvities. I think it is based on the difference between "Common Law" and "Code Napoleon" (but I'm no lawyer). I think that's why we have so much problem in the UK with EU Directives.
Although I'm not sure that understanding the reason helps with the fustrations! LOL

Kernal Bogie

Brrrumphh! Bloody well right Amideislas.....These bloody people on this forum live in their well cosseted, fluffy dream struck, numb fantasy, G & T sodden, bland limbo land and like all, put out to graze ex-pats, accept the mindless boundaries shoved down their well oiled throats without a coherent thought!

jimenato

This could be fun.

Fred James

For a first post that sounds like some serious trolling.

We can do without that and it is contrary to the site rules.

Please don't make your next post your last.

fadingstarlight

By painting or renovating that is a betterment and also it is maintaining or raising my house value. I am not allowing it to become an eyesore or a failing apart building that becomes abandoned and then the city takes ownership for at a loss.

I don't see why I have to pay a license fee to paint my wall. I have already paid house taxes purchasing the home, i have paid annual property taxes and I have also paid taxes by purchasing the paint.

I can see asking for permissions if I am changing something structural or the outside of the house which is not in line with keeping up the "look" of the town.. or you have a historical home that has to stay as is because of that reason.
No one I know has ever asked for permission , but I guess if i somehow have someone from the ajuntamento asking me to pay in the future then I guess I will just cross that bridge if and when I get there.

snikpoh

Is n't that rather like stealing something and then saying "if they catch me, i'll take the consequences"?

Surely rules are there for a reason and should be followed? Are we not in someone else's country whose customs we should adopt?

Lynn R

I agree. In a democratic country, laws (be they local or national) are made by our elected representatives. If we all chose to comply only with those laws which we as individuals thought were fair and sensible, then we would have anarchy. If you don't like a particular aspect of the law, campaign to change it, don't just ignore it.

fadingstarlight

if i was actually doing something that was harmful or something that even mattered to the world other then me, then i would worry about it. i am applying paint to my terrace. exchanging old white paint for new white paint. i am not gonna go ask permission like a 5 year old child to do something that is not changing anything. i have asked friends and family here yesterday if they have ever asked for permission for painting inside or on their terraces, they all said no. just doing painting is nothing. they said structural changes or outside the front house painting maybe but not for what i am doing. so it is not a matter of if i get "caught" , i am following what people here have done all their lives and doing what they do. they havent ever heard of asking for interior painting or of a terrace no one sees.

amideislas

The reason is obvious. The purpose, however, is not.

Therefore, nobody asks/pays anyway - because most intelligent people realise it's just a waste time and money for no useful purpose, like much of the senseless regulation imposed on we "children of the state".

amideislas

Yeah, Laws are great, that's why we have so many of them. How many are actually manufactured daily? 100? 500? 5000?
It seems political productivity is improving.

I'm sure glad I have faceless, lazy, common and corrupt bureaucrats deciding how I must live, so I don't have to be bothered with deciding to set my watch or take a sh*t. Otherwise, we could hurt ourselves, or even worse, end up with a nicer life, or god forbid, make better decisions or even become more prosperous than them (which wouldn't be fair, would it?).

By the way, I have news for you: The ones who make these laws aren't elected.

Kernal Bogie

Hear, hear!

bobd22

I must admit to painting both my terrace and outside of my house, the latter nearly every time I visit due to the paint coming off very quickly in places. I must also admit that I was not aware you needed permission and certainly none of my Spanish neighbours ever say anything. I also have wooden windows which need regular varnishing to prevent deteriation. I do find that requiring permission to carry out routine sensible maintainance odd, but accept that we have to abide by the laws of the land & off course that ignorance of a law is not a defence. One point you see the local Spanish decorator doing the rounds do they get the licence? or does the owner? or possibly does no one bother.

Lynn R

With regard to outside painting of houses, as I live in a town not only do I have to get a licence but also a separate permit to carry out work in the street - cue Amideislas to go ballistic!

With the other stuff, it's not so much needing permission but a kind of extra local tax in the form of a licence fee. I'm quite relaxed about it as the IBI tax is quite low, as others have said, and for the past few years I've benefited from a discount on mine, since our catastral values were revised. They need to get the money to provide local services from somewhere, after all. I am happy that some of my money is going towards schemes such as our Ayuntamiento's Renta Basica whereby unemployed people are paid a low wage for six months to work on community projects or go on training courses.

Nearly always the Spanish neighbours do not bother to get a licence other than for major reforms. I also have to hold my hands up and admit that this week I have been repainting my wooden window frames without getting a licence, I am waiting for somebody to come and clap me in irons. I have applied for them in the past though for refitting our kitchen, reforming the bathrooms and retiling the stairs, as well as outside work. Basically anything that involves us having to get materials delivered to the house and have a skip outside to get the rubble taken away. If you have got a licence and paid the fees, and got an invoice if you didn't do the work yourself, you can also reclaim the costs against capital gains tax if you sell (provided the day ever comes when you would be in the happy position of making a gain, that is!).