If you want to build your own house in Spain the first thing you have to do after buying the plot on which you intend to buy the house is to get an architect to design and do the drawings of the your dream property. The drawings need to get an approval stamp issued by the board of architects (Colegio de Arquitectos) only the you will be able to apply for a building license.

When applying for the building license you will be asked to provide detailed information and drawings of the planned house in order to be able to get the building permit, which is applied for at the local town hall.

The architect will normally take about 6-8 weeks to get the design ready for submission to the authorities. The project is first submitted to the Board of Architects for approval. Once approved the project is submitted to the Town Hall, along with a complementary health and safety planning which has also to be certificated by the (Colegio de Aparejadores). The license (if all the paper work is in order) will normally be ready in about 4 to 6 weeks. All this paper work will normally be taken care of by your architect.

It is when you get your building permit granted when you will be able to start the actual construction, during the construction it can be highly recommended having an independent technical architect (aparejador) hired by you and not the constructor to make sure that the constructor complies with the construction standards given by the architect.

When the property is finished it is important that you make sure that the builder obtains and handles over to you a certificate of the completion of the building and a certificate of livable standards (Certificado de Primera Ocupación) which is issued by the local town hall. This certificate is mandatory in order to be able to move in to the house and to get the contracts for light, water and phone.

The next step will be to get your new property registered at the Spanish Land Registry, as the title deed you got when buying the plot only contains the registration of the plot without the new house. To be able to register the new property it is necessary to make a declare the new property (Declaración de Obra Nueva) and to do that you will have to provide a certificate for the new building which includes the Building Permit, the certificate of the building completion and the a certificate of first occupancy.

When applying for a mortgage to buy land or a plot to construct on you will notice that banks wont give you more than 50% of the land value and this makes it more difficult than buying an already built property. The reason for this lower lending rate is that the bank does not have a too valuable security until a construction is done.

You can obtain a mortgage to construct your property for this you will have to have all the documentation in order including building licenses, the architects plans approved by the town hall and a contract with a builder that shows the exacts cost of the construction.