Frequent questions

Currently the most common ways to look for a flat are through real estate portals on the internet, through a real estate agency or through a Real Estate Personal Shopper (PSI).

In the first case, the portals with the greatest real estate offer are Fotocasa, Idealista and Habitaclia; all have search engines so you can select the characteristics of your ideal floor.

The agencies have their own portfolios, with the advantage that they know all the details of the floors, so you will save time and you will be advised by a professional.

The Real Estate Personal Shopper (PSI) is a professional specialized in finding, among all the offer of agencies and individuals, the floors that fit your preferences, select the best ones and negotiate their price for you.

The best thing to do is to put your apartment up for sale and start searching at the same time. Keep in mind that as a seller you can always reject an offer that arrives too soon, but if you need the sale of your apartment to buy another, as a buyer it is very risky to close a deal without having the sale of your closed floor.

The ideal situation is that you first find an interested party in your apartment and formalize a deposit contract (see point 8) with him. In this contract you will receive a deposit of money that you can use to reserve the apartment that interests you. A maximum date will also be fixed for the delivery of your flat, which should allow you to find the flat you are looking for.

The certificate of habitability of a home is a document that certifies the fulfillment of the minimum requirements so that a space can be inhabited by people at the level of health, hygiene and soundness.

It is legalized by the autonomous communities and expires after 15 years of being issued. This accreditation regulates the useful area, minimum, of the spaces of the house as well as the minimum equipment that must have: toilet, kitchen, hot water, etc. The requirements are not very demanding so the most usual thing is that the homes meet the minimum.

According to Law 18/2007 this document is required when a flat is rented or sold and also when hiring and registering water, electricity and gas services.

If you do not have the certificate of occupancy or you have expired, you can contact a technical architect, this will make a visual inspection of the property and check whether or not it meets the current regulations.

Once the Certificate is available, it must be delivered to the corresponding administration along with the rest of the necessary documentation. The response to this process does not usually take more than a month, although it depends on each Autonomous Community.

In compliance with Royal Decree 235/2013, of April 5, every owner who wants to sell or rent their used home (built before 2007) must have the energy efficiency certificate.

It is a document that includes the qualification of energy efficiency and consumption of a building or part of it (housing, premises, office etc.), procedure information, description of energy characteristics and viable improvement recommendations. The qualification must be registered in an official organism of the corresponding autonomous community so that it has the character of certificate.

It has a validity of 10 years and is the owner responsible for its renewal or update It will be issued by a competent technician (Architect, Technical Architect or Engineer) that is approved for this purpose and that will be chosen freely by the owner.

The most advisable thing is to dialogue with the tenant in the first instance. Try to solve the issue by proposing a payment plan and if the situation is irremediable, agree on a specific day for the departure of the home. Our experience has shown us that most payment problems are solved in this way.

In case the first option does not succeed or the tenant ignores us, the decision to initiate an eviction process must be IMMEDIATE. For this the most advisable thing is to contact a lawyer specialized in this type of situations. In case an administrator has been hired to manage the rental contract, we usually take care of the paperwork (not of the costs).

There is also the option of contracting a non-payment insurance. There are several products according to the insurer, but most cover 6-11 months of non-payment, all costs and legal proceedings of the eviction process. Its cost usually oscillates around 5-6% of the value of the rent.

Taking into account our experience, this is a situation that occurs very little. Normally, if there is a good relationship between tenant and property, this type of incident usually never occurs.

To cover possible damage to the apartment there is a deposit (1 month's rent) that the tenant delivers at the signing of the rental agreement. However, this amount can cover small damages (such as scratches on a door, a broken tile ...), common after a few years of living on the floor.

There is also the Additional Guarantee, which is any amount that the owner decides to add to the deposit. However, it is not advisable since it makes it extremely difficult to find a tenant who is willing to pay a significant amount of money for an additional guarantee, when in most floors it is not requested.

There are other products, such as payment protection insurance, or the option of adding a supportive guarantor for example, which are points to take into account when initiating a rental contract, which greatly help, in the event that this happens, and finally, we always have to start a legal claim process.