Seventeen cases of non-compliance with the obligation to allocate 30% of new flats as affordable housing

Housing Glossary

You will find information here on all topics relating to housing in Barcelona

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Accrued interest

The interest applied as a penalisation when the debtor does not comply with repayment obligations. The amount must be established in the contract.

Active supermortgage

This allows the client to choose their loan's benchmark index (MIBOR at three months, six months or a year) so that payment can benefit from lower interest rates sooner.

Adaptable instalment

Characteristic of UCI superloans that allow the borrower to not pay one instalment a year for the first three years if there are problems due to holidays, extraordinary expenses, etc.

Advanced cancellation fee

A commission arising from the financial risk involved in the advanced cancellation of an operation. The applied commission compensates the financial institution for its financial losses.

AEDE

Direct state aid for paying the deposit on a property.

Affordable housing

Group of social housing or dwellings from social renovation projects that are sold or rented at below-market prices.

Affordable rent

The cost of renting these dwellings is below market prices after being included in operations concerning the rented flat pool, social renovation or social housing promotions.

Amortisation

Payment made to repay a loan.

Amortisation period

The duration of the loan. The contract establishes the date of the first and last payments. The longer the period, the lower the payments are, but the higher the interest. You therefore pay more in the end. The monthly instalment should not exceed 35% of your net income.

API

Estate agent. A qualified professional who acts as an intermediary between the two interested parties to facilitate the signing of a real estate contract, which can be a rental agreement, a sales agreement or another similar contract. They usually charge a percentage of the sales price as compensation or commission.

Applicant

A citizen who makes a registration application to the Barcelona Social Housing Applicants Registry, and who represents the other members of the dwelling unit included in the application.

APR

Annual Equivalent Rate. Effective annual cost of the mortgage in terms of interest, commissions and the repayment period. To compare loans, it is not enough to just look at the lowest APR, you also have to compare the conditions, the repayment period and the distribution of instalment payments.

Arbitri municipal de plusvàlua

Former denomination of the capital gains tax on landed property.

Assessment

The value of a dwelling certified by a specialised assessment company, in accordance with the mortgage market law. This certificate not only indicates the real value of the property, it also serves as a reference for obtaining the necessary financing.

Authorisation

Document in which the owner authorises the tenant to carry out building work in the dwelling's interior.

Housing. Proceedings will be brought for fines of between 90,000 and 900,000 euros and promotors required to create the corresponding number of affordable flats in the area.

A campaign to inspect 1,368 properties with building permits between 2019 and April this year detected 138 cases of works which did not comply with the current regulations. Seventeen of these cases represented very serious breaches where projects failed to satisfy the obligation to allocate 30% of newly built flats as affordable housing, as set out in the current urban planning regulations, in force since December 2018.

The 17 developments which should have applied a reserve of 30% of affordable housing account for 222 homes between them, meaning that if the current regulations had been correctly applied the city would have gained nearly 70 affordable flats. The developments which covered up major works by presenting various minor works permits are in Ciutat Vella (1), L’Eixample (8), Sants-Montjuïc (2), Sarrià – Sant Gervasi (3) and Gràcia (3).

Given the seriousness of the matter, the building promotors are being requested to re-establish the legality of current urban planning. This means they will have to apply for the right permit to match the corresponding requirements. In addition, where the 30% reserve has not been complied with, promotors will be requested to generate the protected homes that they avoided creating. If these flats can be directly given over to affordable housing, they will be classified as such. If this is not possible, either because they have already been sold or for some other reason, options will be studied on how the planning prevision of 30% can be fulfilled and flats created in an alternative building in the same neighbourhood.

In parallel, proceedings will be brought to fine the promotors so that the same thing does not happen again. In cases where the 30% reserve was not complied with, the City Council will apply the Act on the Right to Housing in Catalonia, which allows for penalties for serious infringements ranging from 90,000 to 900,000 euros.

At the same time, the inspection operation to detect irregularities will remain in place, creating automatic alerts if different work permit applications are notified for the same building. When this occurs, a disciplinary case will automatically be generated so that inspectors can verify compliance with the regulations before work is completed, thus avoiding irregularities.