When does illegal building work become time-barred in Catalonia? How is it proved?

The time limits

The law deals separately with the order to regularise or demolish the work and with the fine. The time limits are as follows:

• The town council can order regularisation or demolition for six years from the completion of the work. If what is illegal is a use, such as living in commercial premises without having obtained the change of use, the time limit does not start to run while the use continues.
• A demolition order that has already been issued also becomes time-barred after six years.
• Neither the action nor the order ever becomes time-barred on land that the plan allocates to green spaces or streets or on non-developable land protected by legislation or by regional planning. This is not all rural land, only protected land.
• The fine has its own time limits. The infringement becomes time-barred after six years if it is very serious, four if it is serious and two if it is minor. A fine already imposed becomes time-barred after three years if the infringement is very serious, two if it is serious and one if it is minor. In green spaces, streets and protected non-developable land, neither the infringement nor the fine ever becomes time-barred.

For example, an extension built without a permit that complies with the plan and was completed in June 2021 is a minor infringement. No fine can be imposed after June 2023, but the town council can require it to be regularised until June 2027 and, if it is not regularised, order its demolition. Outside Catalonia, each of Spain's autonomous communities sets its own time limit.

Time-barred does not mean regularised

Once the six years have passed, the town council can no longer order demolition, but the work still has no permit. It is not regularised and is subject to restrictions, for example on extending it or carrying out major renovations. It can also complicate a sale, a mortgage or the certificate of habitability (“cédula de habitabilidad”), the document certifying that a home is fit to live in. If new works are carried out on the illegal construction, the time limit for those works starts to run when they are completed.

Waiting for the time limit to pass is no substitute for a permit. Until it expires, the town council can order demolition and, if the infringement is not time-barred, impose a fine. What the owners' association (the “comunidad de propietarios”) can claim is a separate matter, with its own four-year time limit and other conditions.

How to prove the age of the work

Whoever relies on the limitation period must prove when the work was completed. If there is any doubt, the courts usually resolve it against the owner. The most useful evidence is:

• A certificate from an architect or a building surveyor (“aparejador”) stating the completion date and explaining what it is based on.
• The descriptive and graphic cadastral certificate (“certificación catastral descriptiva y gráfica”), the Cadastre document that describes the property and what has been built on it, if the work already appears on it with its date.
• Old aerial photographs. The “Institut Cartogràfic i Geològic de Catalunya”, the Catalan mapping and geological institute, has an online comparison tool with aerial photographs going back to 1945. As photographs are not available for every year, they usually prove that the work was done between one survey flight and the next.
• A notarial record (“acta notarial”) describing the work. If it was drawn up years ago, it proves that the work already existed then.

Before buying a property with unlicensed works, ask the town council whether there is any open file on it and check whether it is noted on the land registry extract (“nota simple”), the summary issued by the “Registro de la Propiedad” (the Land Registry) of the property and its charges.