“Making constructions like these is illegal. It will violate the intended use”. This is how the professor of administrative law at the UB, Domènec Sibina, expresses himself. He explains that the sanctions can range from the demolition of the built part to financial fines. But it has a statute of limitations: after 6 years without being detected, they can’t stop you from using it. “But it’s one thing that you can live there and not be fined, and another thing is that you can regularize it,” he explains.
The key to all of this is urban planning. In all the cases that appear in this report, the classification is of single-family housing. This means that legally only one house exists. “This qualification is very important because it opens the door to the rest of things: from having the habitability certificate to own electricity meters”. And what is more important, he points out, when you have to sell it “it will be listed as a single unit”.
In fact, there are mechanisms to ensure that separate homes can be considered, but Sibina states that it is a very complex process, “with multiple difficulties from an administrative point of view”.
In any case, he points out that this is not a new phenomenon: “This was already happening. The difference is that as access to housing becomes more complicated, the usual problems are intensified. And what used to be a much smaller percentage, now multiplies”.
The mystery: how many cases are there?
The difficulty lies in knowing how many houses or flats it is happening in. “It’s a hidden phenomenon, it’s impossible to have data”, says Albert Sales, researcher at the Institute of Regional and Metropolitan Studies in Barcelona. As he explains, the situation in the real estate market is increasing formulas to make better use of homes, either for profit-making purposes – such as renting out rooms – or with the creation of new spaces to be able to help children. But in either case it becomes difficult, if not impossible, to study the phenomenon properly. The problem is the tools. Because the main instrument that exists to know what is happening is the register, and the reality is that it has many limitations, because it is often not updated. In fact, many young people leave home and remain registered at the family home.
“The bottom line in these cases is the question of intergenerational opportunities,” says Sales. “There was a generation with access to housing. Even in the case of those who received not very high incomes. And now they see that they cannot help their children if they do not have cash to be able to pay the entrance of a mortgage”. In any case, Sales points out that whoever can afford to do this is, despite the difficulties, in a privileged situation. “Not everyone has a garden or square meters to build a house on,” he says.