Hey folks
I've viewed a Cave house near Baza that has no water or electricity. Looking at the water specifically, the agent isn't sure on the costs but thinks there are three options that probably wouldn't cost more than €3000:
1) Connect an intake to the nearby river. Is a river in this area going to be reliable?
2) Dig a well near the river (river is around 20m from one corner of the house)
3) Connect to village mains.
Is €3000 realistic-ish?
Solar will be in the region of €15k-25k from my early research.
Cheers
Water connection costs
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- Andalucia.com Amigo
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Re: Water connection costs
The agent is selling on behalf of theirclient. They may be right about the cost but equally it could be lots more or not possible.
A question to ask is why water wasnt in the cave house already?
If you do a search , a few years back I did a detailed post on how to drill a bore hole including costs. A key point is that you cannot guarantee hitting an aquifer or that it would continue to deliver water. Having a bore hole or connection to draw water from a river requires permission from Hydrografia in Granada. Some dont bother. If a river that flows throughout the year is 20 metres away that would be their preferred source.
Connecting to village mains. That to me would be the prefered method but remember that in Spain connection is not a right. You would pay the costs. I am fairly certain that there are no flat rate connection fees. One other thing to know is not all water supplies are municipal. Our village has its own supply run by the village and has or had a rigourously enforced max number of households that could be on. The only exception was if a child married and lived in premises in the village. Unlikely nowadays as rural communities are declining in size.
Hope that helps.
A question to ask is why water wasnt in the cave house already?
If you do a search , a few years back I did a detailed post on how to drill a bore hole including costs. A key point is that you cannot guarantee hitting an aquifer or that it would continue to deliver water. Having a bore hole or connection to draw water from a river requires permission from Hydrografia in Granada. Some dont bother. If a river that flows throughout the year is 20 metres away that would be their preferred source.
Connecting to village mains. That to me would be the prefered method but remember that in Spain connection is not a right. You would pay the costs. I am fairly certain that there are no flat rate connection fees. One other thing to know is not all water supplies are municipal. Our village has its own supply run by the village and has or had a rigourously enforced max number of households that could be on. The only exception was if a child married and lived in premises in the village. Unlikely nowadays as rural communities are declining in size.
Hope that helps.
Re: Water connection costs
Another thing you need to consider is the drainage of your waste waters - grey is general used water, black is WC flushings. Often in rural areas the grey water was left to run off onto the land, or via an open drainage down a hill and hopefully into a river ... and black water was sent within the property to a pozo negro - black hote!!! which is a soakaway type of septic tank system, some more effective than others, eventually draining after filtering, onto the land ... NOW with EU rulings the pozo negros have to be changed to proper Septic tanks which can cost several hundreds of euros to put in, and as I understand it from local admin sources here, if you put in MAINS water you also have to provide proof of your septic tank, so that the water used in whatever fashion is seen to be drained in a legal way ... Unless there is some special arrangement for grants via your town hall or provincial government, it is most likely that YOU will have to pay not only for the length of water mains pipe, and any digging up of roads etc and re-making thereof, but also the septic tank, on your property, and make sure it is accessible for lorry/cistern with long pipe for eventual drainage of the tank when/if need be.
I would suggest also that to get your house approved as a legal habitable residence - vivienda - a water supply from a river (could be polluted or dry up, or be considered as depriving others lower downstream of their water-rights) might not pass regulations - check with a local architect or the cadastral office of the town hall first as to planning permissions. Even in our area wells can be dodgy - most properties in the country can drill a well and happily hit a good supply by about 100 meters, but from one plot to the next the next, the well drilled can come up dry. Expensive and hit-and-miss to put in a new well. Is there a Licencia de Occupacion or equivalent, provided with the house' paperwork already? This shows whether it is an approved habitable residence as to construction and facilities, because if not when you come to move on, you will have to do it yourself and this will probably cost around 3000 euros in itself! Officially all properties for human habitation should have the relevant license before sale ....
Do not believe the estate agent or the current sellers of the property - they are out to sell it, not help you out. Do your own research or walk away. Do you have a lawyer/solicitor to help you with your house purchase - an abogado will work for you, not them!
I would suggest also that to get your house approved as a legal habitable residence - vivienda - a water supply from a river (could be polluted or dry up, or be considered as depriving others lower downstream of their water-rights) might not pass regulations - check with a local architect or the cadastral office of the town hall first as to planning permissions. Even in our area wells can be dodgy - most properties in the country can drill a well and happily hit a good supply by about 100 meters, but from one plot to the next the next, the well drilled can come up dry. Expensive and hit-and-miss to put in a new well. Is there a Licencia de Occupacion or equivalent, provided with the house' paperwork already? This shows whether it is an approved habitable residence as to construction and facilities, because if not when you come to move on, you will have to do it yourself and this will probably cost around 3000 euros in itself! Officially all properties for human habitation should have the relevant license before sale ....
Do not believe the estate agent or the current sellers of the property - they are out to sell it, not help you out. Do your own research or walk away. Do you have a lawyer/solicitor to help you with your house purchase - an abogado will work for you, not them!
Re: Water connection costs
A proper Septic Tank fitted from scratch will cost around 2 to 2500€ which is what we have recently paid. This was the middle quote. In hindsight we should have taken the high quote which was a tad over 3,000€ but would have been better finished off.
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- Andalucia Guru
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Re: Water connection costs
Bet you are scratching your head now...dont worry it always sounds worse than it is...
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Re: Water connection costs
As gasman says, Make sure from town hall that all is legal and any works you want to do via architect and lawyer will be approved. There is so much out there in that region of builders who renovate and cave enthusiasts that there are blogs and a cave house forum. Speak to as many people who have done it as you can before you sign anything.
There are also knowledgable estate agents who specialise in cave houses. What you are hearing sounds like fairy tales from someone who has't a clue. Tempting as it is, don't sign anything until you have done all your research. There are loads of cave houses.
There are also knowledgable estate agents who specialise in cave houses. What you are hearing sounds like fairy tales from someone who has't a clue. Tempting as it is, don't sign anything until you have done all your research. There are loads of cave houses.
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- Andalucia.com Amigo
- Posts: 123
- Joined: Tue Jul 16, 2013 5:45 pm
Re: Water connection costs
Thanks guys n gals. I was going to put a septic tank in any way, but my concern about the river was year round flow in what is a very arid area, and the concern with the mains water is there's about 500m to the nearest connected house - that's a lot of pipe to lay. The house is overpriced considering the lack of these two utilities (gas is no problem as we all know). And I wont be jumping into anything
RE Solar - I have no reason for this, but I feel uneasy about putting €15,000 of panels on my roof in a rural property. Have you heard of instances of them being stolen? There will be long periods when I'm away and it would be gut wrenching to return to find them 'missing'. Maybe I've got my UK head on though where everything needs to be bolted down.
RE Solar - I have no reason for this, but I feel uneasy about putting €15,000 of panels on my roof in a rural property. Have you heard of instances of them being stolen? There will be long periods when I'm away and it would be gut wrenching to return to find them 'missing'. Maybe I've got my UK head on though where everything needs to be bolted down.
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