What should you check before buying a flat in Valencia?

The building inspection in Valencia: what the rules require

In the Valencian Community every residential building over 50 years old needs a building assessment report, the local form of the Spanish building inspection (ITE or IEE). It is governed by Decree 53/2018 of 27 April. The owners pay for it, an architect or building engineer signs it, and it stays valid for 10 years from the day it is filed online with the regional register.

The 2021 census counts 193,385 homes in Valencia in buildings put up between 1961 and 1980. Those from the 1960s are already past the 50-year mark and those from the 1970s are reaching it now, so the obligation covers a large share of the resale flats you will see on Spanish portals.

The regional government runs a public search tool for summary reports, GESIEE, where you can look up an address and see whether a report exists and when it was filed. What a buyer really needs is the detail: which defects the surveyor recorded, in which part of the building, how urgent each repair is and how long the report remains valid. Check 01 of the report sets that out, with the date on which the register was consulted.

Flood risk in Valencia: five ARPSI areas and PATRICOVA

Spain's national flood-zone mapping system (SNCZI), run by the Ministry for the Ecological Transition, places 5 areas of significant potential flood risk (ARPSI) across the municipality. According to the SNCZI, they group stretches such as the Turia river down to the city, the Chiva or Poyo ravine, the Carraixet ravine, the Picassent ravine towards the Albufera lagoon and a coastal stretch from the mouth of the Carraixet to Malvarrosa beach. The first layer to cross the municipality is the 10-year river flood.

The regional government adds its own flood plan, PATRICOVA, approved by Decree 201/2015. Its hazard map, published by the Valencian Cartographic Institute (ICV), has six levels combining how often a flood is expected (every 25, 100 or 500 years) with water depth, above or below 0.8 metres, plus a geomorphological class. A building can sit outside the national map and inside PATRICOVA, or the other way round, so the report checks both and draws a map for each.

The DANA storm that began on 28 October 2024 caused severe flooding in the province. Royal Decree-law 6/2024 listed Valencia's southern districts among the affected areas: Faitanar, La Torre, Forn d'Alcedo, Castellar-Oliveral, Pinedo, El Saler, El Perellonet and El Palmar. If you are looking there, ask the owners' association (comunidad de propietarios) whether water reached the ground floor or garage, what was repaired, whether any insurance claims are still open and whether new works are planned.

Earthquakes, radon and ground movement

Spain's seismic building code, NCSE-02, gives Valencia a basic ground acceleration of 0.06 g. From 0.04 g the code applies to ordinary buildings, except well-braced frame structures while the value stays below 0.08 g. For a block from the 1960s or 1970s, built before that code, the useful question is what structural work it has had and what the inspection says about it.

On radon the picture is simpler: Valencia is not listed in appendix B of the radon section of the Spanish Building Code, so it is in neither zone I nor zone II. Check 22 of the report still adds the radon potential mapped by the Nuclear Safety Council for the plot, and check 13 shows vertical ground movement measured by the Copernicus satellites.

Noise, energy certificate and nearby industry

In Valencia the report uses the city council's own 24-hour noise map from 2022 as well as the national strategic map; it is the only Valencian city where that municipal layer is available today. For a flat facing a main avenue or ring road, noise can matter as much as orientation.

The regional register of energy performance certificates, published by the ICV, is searched by cadastral reference: when a certificate exists, the report gives its rating, energy use, emissions and expiry date. The regional register of industrial facilities (RAICV) lets the report list the nearest industrial and waste sites.

For market context, the Ministry of Housing reports an average appraised value of €2,907.9 per m² for Valencia in the first quarter of 2026, up 17% on a year earlier. The Interior Ministry's crime statistics record 74.32 criminal offences per 1,000 residents in 2025, against a national average of 50.38.

What the report gives you in Valencia and what it costs

Before asking you for anything, HOUSINGFAX checks free of charge whether the regional register holds the building's inspection. If it does, you can choose the Complete report with building condition (€19): result, defects by deadline, accessibility and validity, plus every other check. If it does not, the Essential report (€11) covers the rest. The free report first shows all 22 checks for your building with the key data blurred.

Our sample report is a real report on a Valencia building, with identifying details hidden, so you can see how the inspection, PATRICOVA and the noise map read in practice. A nota simple from the Land Registry tells you who owns the flat; HOUSINGFAX tells you what state the building is in. The report does not replace a technical inspection of the building itself.