What is a building inspection in Spain, and what if it fails?

What it is, in plain English

A qualified professional walks through the shared parts of the building: façades, roof, visible structure and shared services. They record the defects they see, grade them by seriousness and state the deadline for repairing them. The resulting document goes to the town hall or to the regional register.

There are two formats. The classic technical inspection covers the state of repair. The building assessment report adds accessibility and energy efficiency and, in many regions, has replaced the first. Both are visual inspections: the Government of Catalonia points out that its inspection is never meant to find hidden defects.

Who requires it and how often

Article 29 of Spain's consolidated Land and Urban Regeneration Act of 2015 only says that the authorities may ask owners in blocks of flats to show the building's state of repair, accessibility and energy efficiency. The Constitutional Court struck down the sections that set out the rest in 2017, so each region and town hall sets its own timetable. Three examples:

Valencian Community: the assessment report is compulsory once a residential building is more than 50 years old and is valid for 10 years from its online submission (Decree 53/2018).

City of Madrid: blocks of flats more than 50 years old must submit it within five years of reaching that age, and a full report is valid for 10 years (Decree 103/2016 of the Community of Madrid).

Catalonia: every building with homes must pass the inspection before it turns 45, counting from the year recorded in the Spanish Cadastre. The next one is due after 10, 6 or 3 years depending on how serious the findings were (Decree 67/2015).

What an unfavourable result means

Unfavourable means the professional found defects that must be put right within a deadline. It does not mean the building is about to collapse; it means the community of owners has works pending. Each region uses its own terms: in Catalonia, with significant defects the building is only provisionally fit; with serious or very serious defects, the community must approve a refurbishment plan within six months and, if it has not taken precautionary measures, fitness is refused.

For a buyer, an unfavourable result usually means works and a special levy (derrama). Spain's Horizontal Property Act makes repair works compulsory without a prior vote of the owners' meeting, and each owner pays according to their ownership quota. Ask which defects were recorded, whether they have been repaired and whether works are approved, and agree in writing in the contract who pays for them.

What the HOUSINGFAX report tells you

Check 01, «Building condition assessment», looks for the building's registered inspection in the Valencian Community, the Basque Country and Madrid and shows its date, its result and, where the register publishes them, the defects by element with their deadline. If the building has one, you will see it in the Complete report with building condition (€19); if no register is available, the report says so.

That inspection also feeds check 03, «Aluminosis»: a mention of cracks in the floors changes the reading. See the sample report and check your home for free.

What an inspection does not tell you

A favourable inspection describes what the professional saw that day, with the access they had; it does not rule out hidden defects or say anything about the years that follow. In the same way, the report summarises what the records say and does not replace a technical inspection of the building.