Before the builder starts on Monday
Building and renovation permits in Spain
Small works leave paperwork too, and the fine is not small
"It's only a new bathroom" is the sentence that opens the most files. On this coast some works are declared and started the same day, and some cannot start at all without a paper signed by a technician. Nobody tells you until a neighbour calls.
What you get
- The written ruling: licence, responsible declaration, or nothing, for what you intend to do.
- A reading of YOUR municipality's by-laws, not a general rule found on the internet.
- The complete file for the town hall, with the itemised budget they require.
- The list of what to demand from your builder before signing anything.
- Notice of whether your case needs a technician, and exactly what they must sign.
Why this matters now
In the Valencian Community the consolidated Planning Act (Legislative Decree 1/2021) separates works needing a licence from works it is enough to declare under your own responsibility — and declaring does not mean going free: the town hall checks afterwards, and if what was declared is not what was built, it can order restoration. Every job also pays the construction tax and the municipal fee, whose rates each town hall sets in its own fiscal by-law and which change from one village to the next. Starting without paper does not save the tax: it postpones it and adds the penalty.
What this service is NOT
We are not architects or technical architects and we sign no projects or certificates: when your works need a technician, the town hall says so and the technician signs, charging separately and saying so before starting. Nor are we your builder and we do not supervise: we do not choose materials, we do not oversee the bricklayer and we do not answer for the execution. We build the file and tell you what can start and what cannot.
Questions about this service
I want to close the terrace with a pergola. What is that?
It depends on whether it is demountable, whether it adds volume, and on your municipality's by-law, which varies a lot along this coast. It is exactly the case where asking first pays: a badly declared pergola ends up in the Cadastre and in the registry extract, and surfaces on the day of the sale.
Can I start now and legalise later?
Sometimes you can legalise, and it always costs more. Some works are not legalisable at all because they breach the plan, and then what arrives is an order to demolish what was built. It is not common, but it is final.
My builder says he takes care of everything.
That may be true and it is worth checking, because the file is in your name and the liability is yours, not his. What we do is ask him in writing for what he must hand over, and check that what was filed matches what is being built in your house.
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This page was last checked on 4 September 2026
Responsible for this content Sullivan Benedetto · Torrevieja (Alicante), España
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