A dear friend, who has embarked on the wildest odyssey of buying an apartment, found what he initially considered a bargain in his favorite area of Barcelona. An investment fund was the owner, and the real estate company that marketed it had little information about it. Earnest money contract in hand, about to sign it, he reads a clause titled "URBAN SITUATION" that is somewhat peculiar. "There's a cat in here," he thought.
A query to the urban information portal details that the land on which the property is built is qualified for educational facilities according to the latest urban planning plan, and the qualification does not allow housing use. Nobody - not even the real estate agent - had noticed such a condition.
Consulting the urban situation of the building will help us to know if the home has damages that could reduce its sale value or legal implications such as the future expropriation of the home in exchange for compensation.
The General Metropolitan Plan, in force since 1976, leaves thousands of homes out of planning, due to being classified for another purpose or due to road effects. Some of these effects even come from previous urban plans, which the PGM-76 incorporated and expanded. Some of the projects have been implemented. Of others, almost 50 years later, there is no trace.
It is very possible that they will never be carried out, or that they will not be considered at least until the affected properties are demolished due to reaching the end of their useful life.
But the fossilization of these urban conditions means for the owners, apart from tremendous anxiety, frustrating limitations in terms of works and profitability.
"First of all," comments a technician from the Ciutat Vella district of Barcelona on the other end of the phone, "no changes in the use of the building would be accepted nor any consolidation works, but rather it should be kept as it is."
A change of use would be, for example, converting the building into a hotel. A consolidation work could be dividing a home into two or building an extra floor above; something, therefore, that consolidates its current use as a home.
When the building is demolished, the new construction must conform to the use indicated in the urban plan.
Therefore, only maintenance works are allowed - the minimum to keep the building standing - but they also have difficulties or limitations.
"If you want to carry out works," the professional tells me, "you must sign a document agreeing to waive the increase in the expropriation value derived from the value of the works." A document that must be registered in the Property Registry.
Renouncing the fact that the works carried out are considered for the calculation of the fair price means that keeping the home in its best condition is not the priority of the owners. Neighbors procrastinate the approval of budgets that will not revalue their homes, which accelerates the deterioration of the building.
That is what has happened, for example, in the homes on the Santa Eulàlia passatge, in Nou Barris, affected by the PGM-76 to build a local garden and public housing. Their neighbors, for a report published by Betevé, stated: "If they have to kick us out at any time, we will not invest in improvements."
On Carrer de la Jota, also in Nou Barris, there is an urban planning change for public facilities and to widen Avinguda Meridiana. One of the owners' children shared, also for Betevé, his experience as owners of an affected home: "I remember my parents always suffering," while they waited for the moment of an expropriation that never came.
Given this scenario, making the home profitable is something that the owners consider. And yes, of course, you can buy and, therefore, sell an apartment affected by urban planning. Of course, both parties must agree to this condition (and know the implications it entails).
It remains in doubt what amount the new owner will receive as compensation, if he has to go to the Provincial Expropriation Jury.
At the same time, "attracting buyers willing to take on the challenge is a possibility," comments Marc Bosch. "Some people looking for renovation projects or properties with lower prices may see this situation as an opportunity, in a market with high demand and low supply of apartments."
Now, it will be easier if they can pay the price without a doubt. And "banking entities also see it as a risk, so buyers may have difficulties obtaining mortgage financing" depending on the impact in question.
