What documentation is needed to carry out reforms?
Before tackling the restoration of a building, or before minor works in the interior of a property to be reformed, we must have supporting documentation, without which we cannot start the proposed project. The type of documentation needed will depend on the type of restoration to be carried out (small-scale and large-scale projects) : for the small construction jobs needed to improve the finished project, change of installations and the remainder of simple jobs, you only need to inform the town council, even though a written request form, accompanied by payment of the relevant tax is actually required. In the case where one is talking about major works, we require another type of request form, along with more documentation.
When we are confronted with a work of major reform, the majority of town councils will ask for a plan of the situation of the work to be carried out, a sketch of the works you intend to carry out, and, if the council considers it necessary, they can ask for dimensional drawings of what you want to do, including plant, section and elevation, a list of the finishing materials which are going to be used and a budget of the work, with the signature of the contractor who is going to carry out the work, as well as the request form approved by the Council for the type of work you have specified and for the authorisation of the payment of fees and taxes.
But when talking about a major work, such as we have talked about in another post, including new buildings, extension of the space in volume or height, works which change the use of the building, integral restoration of buildings and works which modify the structural set amongst others, a technical licence, which establishes what kind of work is to be done and how it is going to be realised, endorsed by the relevant Colegio Oficial de Arquitectos, must be acquired and presented to the Council.
Although the requirements to obtain this licence vary from one Council to another, as a general rule, you can be asked for up to 3 copies of the technical project endorsed by the College of Architects, a report, a summary and plans of the project, optional management by both the architect and the surveyor, a certificate of geometric viability, a study of health and safety and geotechnical study.
Also, we must obtain the remaining licences or authorisations that are required. For example, independent of the type of work, probably we are going to generate rubble for which we will need an authorisation to occupy the public road with a sack or skip. The procedure to get a skip consists of filling in a form and paying the tax. For all the above, it is necessary to add the time it will take us to obtain licenses and permits, to the time of the execution of the work, although in the case of minor works or the authorisation for the occupation of the public way, that doesn’t generally take too much time, but when we talk of major works with deadlines, it can take 3 months, or even more, to get a license, depending on the city council, and this must be taken into account. Once the work license has been granted, the period of validity of the licence and the resources is usually 6 months from the start of the work.
