Social Housing has a main advantage, a lower price of purchasing than the open market housing, which makes that in general more affordable for the customer. On the other hand, they have some limitations, like the size -they offer max 90 m2-, being used as a residential home, you cannot sell it in the first 10 years -with some exceptions, and the selling or renting price is established.
Although nowadays there are social housing for every type of clients, it will be necessary to study the requirement to fulfill them, which will depend on each region; because in Spain the competences in housing are delegated in the Autonomous Communities and vary from one to another.
In addition, with the approval of the new “Plan Estatal de Vivienda 2018-2021”-you can review the previous article here-; there are a series of financial support and subsidies by the Government and the different Autonomous Communities, from which we can benefit. In Andalusia, it has been approved recently the law “Ley 1/2018, de 26 de abril” that introduces some changes about the rights and measures for the social housing.
SOCIAL HOUSING REQUIREMENTS IN ANDALUSIA
In that sense, and due to my experience and operating area is mainly Andalusia Community, I am going to focus on the demanded requirements for this territory:
- To ask for a social house in renting you must be registered in the “Registro Público Municipal de Demandantes de Vivienda Protegida” of the city in which you want to live.
- That house has to be your residential and permanent home.
- The buyer must use the house within six months after the key handover, in case of a buying, and within three months in case of renting.
- The length of the legal regime of qualified homes as VPOs under the “Plan de Vivienda y Rehabilitación de Andalucía 2016-2020” will be 30 years, without possibility of any change.
- Along the legal period of protection, any conveyance of the house will be fixed at a maximum selling price.
- They could not be transferred inter vivos nor their cede use within ten years from the date of purchase, except when you have the authorization of the “Delegación Territorial de Fomento y Vivienda”.
- Within the legal period of protection, the house will be fixed to the legal retrospective right of first refusal option in favour of the Junta de Andalucia Administration, the council or public entity appointed.
- They will be used by family units which incomes do not overcome 5.5 times the IPREM (Public Indicator of Rent). Nevertheless, each of these programs will establish the limitations for their access and legal regime, highlighting the following:-Protected Houses of Special Regime: Destined to family units which annual incomes do not overcome 2.5 times the IPREM.-Protected Houses of General Regime: Destined to family units which annual incomes do not overcome 3.5 times the IPREM.
-Protected Houses of Limited Price: Destined to family units which annual incomes do not overcome 5.5 times the IPREM.
Depending on the type of protection that the house has, the price for both buying and renting will be fixed, and depending on the income level of a person, he will benefit from the subsidies in that proportion.
ABOUT THE SELLING PROCESS AND ELIMINATING THE PROTECTION
According to this, you cannot sell the house within the first 10 years of purchase, you must ask for authorization from the Autonomous Community, and you will have to give back the received subsidies until that moment. In addition, the maximum selling price will be limited, due to its qualification as a protected house. Even from the 10 years on, that qualification will follow existing until it gets the 30 years that the current law demands, and to avoid it, you will have to eliminate the protection.
During that period, not only the maximum price will be limited, but the client that could buy the house has to fulfil the same VPOs requirements detailed in the previous paragraph. Also, the Administration will have a legal retrospective right of first refusal option, which gives it a preferential right of acquisition.
This process for eliminating the protection must be done at “Delegacion Territorial de Vivienda” depending on the province where the house is, and it lasts a maximum of three months period. That process will be conditioned by giving the subsidies back to the government and the auto-liquidation of the fiscal benefits involved. After that, this new legal situation of the property could be registered in the correspondent Land Register.
Finally, as a conclusion, we see how both the purchasing and especially the selling process, are easier said than done, and therefore, the most recommendable thing is putting this matter in the hands of any professional with experience for advising, about the way of taking the operation in the most safely and fast way, avoiding the different risks involved and inconveniences that could come up with their correspondent economic losses.
