Conflict and confusion

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costa-brava
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Conflict and confusion

Post by costa-brava »

In the last few weeks there have been some items of confusion that come up. People often blame the language but it’s the same in all languages not just Spanish. (Take, for example, outlook and lookout in English)
Anyway here are a few of them:
1. Rustic and rural (rustico y rural). The term “rustic” or “terreno rustic” is a classification of land. It means green belt country land for agriculture or forestation etc. and not for building. (There are some very old buildings and very small storage buildings and sometimes there are houses that are not strictly legal). Rural, on the other hand, means something out in the countryside as opposed to in the town. There are lots of small villages and hamlets that are classified as rural especially in reference to tourism in Spain.
2. Vivienda Rural and Casa Rural. These are two similar classifications of holiday accommodation out in the countryside away from the hubble-bubble of the tourist resorts. Vivienda is when you rent the complete dwelling and Casa is when you operate a B&B or guest-house with individual rooms. For a Casa Rural the owner generally has to be resident in the house while for the Vivienda Rural the owner can’t share the house.
3. “Certificado de primer Ocupacion” and “cedula de habitabilidad”. When a house or block of flats is new or newly renovated the builder, as part of the planning permission, has to submit an application to the “Ayuntamiento” town hall for a certifícate that says it is habitable. This certification last for 15 years during which time you can obtain a duplicate if it is mislaid. After the 15 years you need to have it renewed by a surveyor “arquitecto tecnico” and it is then called a “cedula de habitabilidad” and is issued by the department of industry not the town hall. All dwellings should have one or other if you want to rent it out or sell it.
4. “Escritura”. There are many types of escritura because it really means that the action or transaction has been inscribed into the public records by a “Notario”. There is the “escritura de compraventa” which is NOT A TITLE DEED but just a public record of the sale and the conditions of the sale of a house, flat, land, garage or commercial premises. You may be asked for an “escritura de constitucion” of something and this will be where the notary signed off on the constitution of a limited company or a community of owners or perhaps even a church or charity.
5. “Vivienda de uso turistico” and “apartamento turistico”. The majority of LMhatters in Spain own one or more “viviendas de uso turistico” even if you haven’t registered as such (this is apart from people who own a rural property). I believe that nobody posting in LMH owns an “apartamento turistico” because this term refers to the blocks of tourist apartments or aparthotels that operate as a tourist business. The “vivienda de uso turistico” refers to single, privately owned houses and flats.
No doubt there are several others but these are the ones that seem to cause most confusion.