Which occupancy licence or habitability certificate does a home need?

What do the Spanish names actually mean?

A licencia de primera ocupación is a first-occupation licence. Where that system applies, the authority checks completed works against their permission and authorises use. A cédula de habitabilidad is an administrative habitability certificate, assessing suitability as a home. The names describe different legal routes; asking an agent for an “LPO” everywhere in Spain can produce the wrong answer.

A declaración responsable de ocupación is a responsible declaration for occupation. The applicant states that the requirements are met, holds the evidence and undertakes to keep complying. A comunicación previa is a prior notification to the authority. A filing receipt proves submission; it is not a municipal approval. Essential falsehoods or missing evidence can prevent occupation from continuing under Ley 39/2015, article 69.

A certificado final de obra is a technical completion certificate. It may belong in the occupancy file, but is not interchangeable with an administrative licence or cédula. If you receive a document headed “habitability certificate”, establish who issued it and whether it is merely the technician's certificate supporting a separate administrative step.

Which route applies in the region where you are buying?

The property's location determines the regional rules. The following comparison covers six regions. Elsewhere, ask the town hall to identify the applicable route rather than borrowing these expiry periods or procedures.

What should you request in Andalusia?

Under the LISTA, Andalusia's Ley 7/2021, article 138, occupation of completed buildings covered by a works licence or works declaration uses a declaración responsable where the building matches that permission and its intended use complies with the rules. The file needs the completion certificate for new works or the required descriptive and graphic certificate for existing buildings. Any required prior sectoral permissions must already be obtained.

A compliant declaration with the required documents has effects from filing, subject to later checks. Another provision covers certain existing buildings on urban land outside urban redevelopment schemes, without works, which comply with planning or have legal fuera de ordenación status, a restricted status under planning law. It is not a general route for every unlicensed rural house.

An agent may instead mention AFO, asimilado a fuera de ordenación, a recognised status for an irregular building. Obtain the actual decision. Article 174 says AFO does not legalise the building. Utility access can be authorised subject to conditions, including connection to existing networks with no works beyond the necessary connections and confirmation of feasibility by the companies. Do not infer permission to enlarge or change use.

A change in the holder of a licence or responsible declaration must be notified to the town hall (article 138.6.a). Without that notification, buyer and seller are jointly and severally liable for actions carried out under the licence or declaration. Before paying a deposit, agree who will file the notification and provide the receipt. This is a change-of-holder step, separate from obtaining first-occupation permission.

When does a resale in the Valencia region need another filing?

In the Comunitat Valenciana, the TRLOTUP planning law places first and subsequent residential occupation under declaración responsable. Decreto 12/2021 sets out the file and its effects. Submit it to the municipality where the house is located.

Ley 3/2004 makes the history of the building decisive. Once ten years have elapsed since obtaining the first occupancy document, renewal is required for a second or later transfer of ownership or when a new water, gas or electricity contract is needed. If the building never had an occupancy document, those events require obtaining one without waiting for that ten-year threshold. The starting point is obtaining the document, not someone moving in.

Keeping the same account holder and switching supplier does not count as a new contract for this rule. Relevant alterations or a change of use can require a fresh occupancy document regardless of the previous document's age. A barn converted into accommodation cannot simply be assumed eligible as an unchanged home undergoing “second occupation”.

For a newly built vivienda protegida, a home subject to a statutory housing protection regime, the calificación definitiva, final protected-housing approval, substitutes for the occupancy document on the first transfer. Later transfers follow the rules above.

Before relying on a declaration, check whether the town hall had already opened a planning enforcement or restoration proceeding awaiting a decision. Declarations filed in those circumstances have no validity or effect (Decreto 12/2021, article 2.5).

For second occupation, the declaration includes a competent technician's certificate. The decree gives that supporting certificate a maximum validity of three months from signature when filed. That limit concerns the supporting certificate, rather than how long the occupancy document lasts. Check later notices: a municipal request to correct deficiencies suspends the declaration's effects. València city's current procedure illustrates the paperwork; use the procedure of the town where you are buying.

What has changed in Murcia?

The Región de Murcia's Ley 13/2015, article 264, covers first occupation of new buildings and subsequent occupations in existing buildings through declaración responsable. Its current wording includes a July 2026 amendment. An old form mentioning only new-build occupation may not explain your transaction.

Ask for the filed declaration, location plan, supporting evidence and receipt for the applicable public charges. The declaration takes effect when all required documentation is filed in the municipal general registry. The town hall retains checking and inspection powers. Have your lawyer establish the filing needed for this purchase and whether any documents remain outstanding.

Why does Catalonia require a current cédula?

Catalonia's Ley 18/2007, article 26, requires habitability accreditation before occupation and a current cédula for sales, rentals and transfers of use, subject to the legal exceptions. The competent housing administration issues it, with provision for delegation. Utility companies must require it for domestic service contracts. For protected housing, the law provides for the calificación definitiva as the equivalent document; for utilities, that substitution applies to first occupation.

Under the current rules, a new-build first-occupation cédula lasts 25 years from issue; second-occupation and rehabilitation first-occupation cédulas last 15 years. Read the actual document and its historical regime rather than assigning those periods retrospectively. A new-build application also needs the prior municipal first-occupation notification. That notification and the regional cédula are separate documents.

Article 132.a restricts express exemptions from the seller's obligation for used homes. For a purchase requiring rehabilitation, a competent technician must report that the house can obtain a cédula after the necessary works. Demolition, an expressly non-residential destination and regulatory exceptions are also contemplated. Do not sign a blanket waiver without your lawyer identifying the applicable exception and its consequences for your plans.

The law expressly says the cédula does not legalise residential use under planning law. A warning about that issue on the certificate needs investigation, even if the property is advertised as ready to move into.

Do the Balearic Islands still use habitability certificates?

The Illes Balears changed their first-occupation system. Ley 7/2024, article 53, replaced the first-occupation cédula with the occupancy or first-use licence across the islands, subject to the island councils' power to regulate otherwise. After ten years from the grant of the licence, a renewal cédula must be requested.

Transitional rules preserve the earlier procedure for certain applications and older licences. Ask both the town hall and the consell insular, the island council, which document applies to the dates and contents of this file. The reform does not itself invalidate an earlier cédula. Check its date, though: under the general regime in Decreto 145/1997, article 13, a cédula expires ten years from issue, regardless of who owns the property. That starting date differs from the grant of an occupancy licence. Confirm the applicable island rules.

For a house completed before 1 March 1987 that never had a cédula, ask the island council about a cédula de carencia, the certificate route for older buildings without one. The ordinary route requires technical habitability certification and municipal evidence of the age, no current planning infringement proceeding and no later works requiring first-occupation certification. Age alone neither establishes eligibility nor legalises the building.

For protected housing, the calificación definitiva replaces the cédula at first occupation; second and subsequent occupations require the corresponding cédula.

Under Ley 5/2018, a copy of the applicable current occupancy document must be attached to the sale contract or deed. If it is missing, that fact must be expressly recorded in the private contract or public deed. Recording the absence does not authorise occupation. Permanent utility contracts require the applicable current cédula, equivalent document or licence. A deed mentioning that no certificate was produced does not resolve the supply problem.

Why is a filing receipt not enough to move in immediately in the Canaries?

In Canarias, Ley 4/2017, article 332, places first occupation under comunicación previa. Decreto 182/2018 replaced references to the cédula with the notification accompanied by the relevant habitability certification.

For buildings constructed with the necessary permission, article 33 of the Regulation requires that permission to be identified and a completion certificate confirming conformity with the project and the required use and habitability conditions. Actual occupation is allowed only once one month has elapsed from complete submission, or the relevant correction or completion of the documents. Count from the complete file, not necessarily the first upload.

There is a separate route for buildings with fuera de ordenación status, requiring structural safety and habitability evidence. For such a property, obtain a technical and planning assessment before assuming that its age allows residential occupation.

Why do electricity and water companies ask for occupancy paperwork?

Regional laws connect domestic service contracts to occupancy or habitability documents. Andalusia's LISTA expressly distinguishes temporary construction supplies from permanent supplies. Catalonia requires the cédula or the protected-housing equivalent described above; the Balearics recognise the applicable current document or equivalent. In the Valencia region, a new contract can trigger renewal under the rules above.

An electricity bill shows a supply relationship. It does not establish that the extra bedroom, enclosed terrace or current residential use is authorised. Obtain the contract and a recent bill, then ask each company about your specific operation: taking over a running account, reactivating a disconnected supply or obtaining a new connection.

Send the occupancy document and identify the dwelling precisely. Ask which technical evidence is still needed and whether the proposed connection is feasible. The occupancy document is not a connection quotation or confirmation of network capacity. For the separate infrastructure checks, see electricity, water and drainage on rural land.

If the seller offers to leave the supply in their name, that does not answer what will happen when you need a contract yourself. Resolve the documentary question before relying on the house as immediately usable.

Does the notary guarantee that the house can be lived in?

For the ordinary declaration of a completed new building, article 28 of Spain's state Land Law requires technical evidence and use authorisations. Where the applicable regime is a declaration or notification, evidence of filing and expiry of the relevant waiting period substitutes, provided no decision preventing it appears in the Land Registry. Registrars demand the corresponding requirements for registration through that route.

That is not a nationwide rule requiring the same first-occupation licence for every resale. Catalonia's cédula and exemption rules apply separately; the Balearics require the occupancy document or an express statement that it is missing. Send your documents to the notary before agreeing the completion appointment and ask what this transaction needs.

Old-building registration under article 28.4 is a distinct route. A house appearing in a deed or a nota simple, the Land Registry information extract, does not by itself prove authorised occupation. Your lawyer and technician still need to compare the administrative file with the building.

What if the seller has no document, and what will fixing it cost?

Separate a lost copy from an expired certificate and a building that never had the required permission. Ask the seller to obtain the administrative record or cooperate in retrieving it. An expired cédula calls for checking the renewal route. An unauthorised residential conversion may require a different planning solution; a fresh technician's certificate cannot be promised as the cure.

Request separate prices for the administrative charge, the technical inspection and certificate, and any remedial works. Filing a responsible declaration does not inherently make the procedure free. Municipal charges depend on the relevant ordinance, and the technical work needs a quotation for this property. There is no single Spanish price or reliable delivery promise without examining the file.

Ask the technician to identify defects preventing certification. Have your lawyer establish the admissible administrative route. Allow for that work when agreeing the completion date. A declaration taking effect on submission of a compliant file does not make an unresolved building defect disappear on the same day.

What should be settled before paying arras?

Before paying arras, the purchase deposit, have your own lawyer record the documentary checks and the consequences of failure in the agreement.

Do not pay the deposit yet if…

• Bills or cadastral records are offered in place of an identifiable occupancy document.
• The home or an annex you need does not match the authorised building.
• Planning enforcement proceedings remain unresolved, required corrections are unanswered, effects are suspended or an expired cédula has not been renewed.
• You are asked to waive the cédula without a justified exception or obtain the permission after purchase yourself.
• You need a utility contract whose documentary requirements remain unresolved.
• The contract binds you to complete even if the agreed evidence is not delivered.

Ask your lawyer to specify the seller's tasks, the evidence to deliver, the agreed date and who pays. State what happens to both the reservation payment and arras if the condition fails. If works form part of the proposed solution, define their scope and the proof needed to accept completion. See also arras contracts and reservation deposits.