Inspection reports:

In Spain all snagging lists must be submitted to the developer within 15 days from the signing of the Escritura (Deeds). This is an important factor as it can prove very difficult in some cases outside of this timeframe. As always, complete your snagging and remediation works prior to completion to avoid these pitfalls and aggravation.

Warranties:

Legally, your developer is responsible for any major defect for the first 10 years after completion following an amendment to Spanish Building Standards legislation (Ley 38/1999 de 5 de noviembre sobre la Ordenación de la Edificación) on 6th May 2000. Beforehand it was a civil law matter as the developer was not legally bound to the 15 year warranty ‘responsibility’ and any disputes would be settled in a court of law.

Unfortunately this isn’t quite as straight forward as it sounds. This warranty will only cover you for any major defect which could potentially endanger your health and safety.

This insurance policy will be presented to the Notary by your developer upon completion and your personal reference number and details will be added to the Escritura.

Thereafter, it is common for all new build properties to have an insurance policy covering all minor defects for the first year and all serious defects effecting habitability (utilities for example) for 3 years after completion. These are not compulsory obligations so we strongly recommend you check your developer's policy to make sure it meets these standard statutory requirements before completion.

Retention:

It is possible to request a retention amount relating to the final payment of your property as a safeguard against the works due to be completed; this would typically be 5% over a three month remediation period.

However, we would always recommend our clients to have all remediation works completed BEFORE completion, it’s incredible how quickly your property will be finished this way.