Certificates of old new buildings in Spain

What is a Certificate of Antiquity for a dwelling?

A Certificate of Antiquity is a document that certifies the date of construction of an existing building. In the case of dwellings or urban buildings, this document must be signed by an Architect or Technical Architect.

Like other licenses and certificates, it can be called by other names. Among others, it can be called old new construction certificate, old new construction certificate or simply new construction certificate.

It is important to be clear that this is not the same as a Final Building Certificate. This type of certificate is issued at the end of the project management and is different in both content and responsibilities.

What is a Certificate of Antiquity or old new building for?

The main function of the Certificate of Antiquity is to allow the registration of a property in the Land Registry. These types of certificates can deal with complete buildings, but in general they are for single-family dwellings.

They can also refer to subsequent extensions to the dwelling or auxiliary constructions (swimming pools, barbecues, storage rooms, etc.).

Sometimes, banks may request it before granting a mortgage loan, and it may also be required when buying or renting a property. If the bank or buyer notice that the property deeds does not match with the real property, something will not add up and they will request it to be modified.

There are many clients who need the certificate of age or of the property because they want to regularise the state of their property before making a sale or purchase. In these cases you may also need a certificate of habitability or an energy performance certificate (EPC), we have discussed them in our blog, visit those links if you need more information about the procedures.

What conditions needs a property to be registered in the property registry?

It is very easy to understand. For a property to be registered it needs the urban license granted by the town hall for that specific building OR a certificate of old new house (certificado de obra nueva Antigua) that states that the infringement is administratively time-barred due to the age it has.

The architect will need to check and prove the age of the property and therefore state its approximately age. For this purpose any kind of document will be useful, for instance invoices or photographs.

Conclusion

The certificate of old new building in Spain (certificado de obra nueva Antigua in Spanish) is a very useful document to register a property in the property registry that It is not fully legal. Although It does not legalise the property, it does help to sell a property or to avoid possible fines from the government. Check our article on property legalisations to know more.