Replacement roof

[jane grant]

We have a neighbour who needs a new roof on their property, and has applied to the town hall for a licensia de obras. We have just recieved (on their behalf) a the obligatory notice that we must take the architect approved drawings to the town hall for this to be carried out, or they will sto the work! The policia local (who delivered said notice) told us not to bother with it as nobody ever has the drawings, but on talking to spanish firends they were of devided opinion as to whether a replacement roof needs drawings, or you only need them is it is a new roof (ie a roof being built where there was never a roof before). Can anyone spread some light on this. The licensia was applied for in the anticiaption of the roof being done, as they live in the UK and are only out a couple of times a year. So the town hall can't stop the replacement as it hasn't started, nor is it likey to this year.

[silver]

a new roof

does need

architect approved drawings

and specifications and licensia de obras.

The policia local (who delivered said notice) told us not to bother with it as nobody ever has the drawings

What town are you in?..Are these guys retired or something..this used to be so ( a few years back) but is no longer valid...and a policia should well know that...and if a policia advised you to go against the law, he is risking his own job.

[jpinks]

If you are going to taker the old roof off and put a new one on you need the full permissions with the associated architects input. If - on the other hand - you are just putting new tiles on an existing roof, you do not. And if you were to replace some of the sarking and an odd rafter while you were at it - I don't think anyone would say anything. But it seems that your friends are going to have to use a builder, and not do it themselves, so I would think the full permission is going to be needed.

One aspect of this is sometimes overlooked by the DIY'ers. If you undertake some work on your house and there is an accident, then the insurance loss-adjusters will be the ones looking at the status of the permissions and will consult the Junta. At that point you can be sure that all the beaurocrats will "fail-safe" and say that full permission is needed for what ever the work is - even replacing a few tiles on you roof.

[jane grant]

The whole roof does need replacing, and it was always the iintention to get in a local builder to do the work (even my very experienced husband would not attempt to do it as a DIY project). The other factor being my neighbour is lookng to see if a grant is available to help with the cost. She applied for the license in anticipation (as apart from a couple of weeks here at Christmas she will probably not be here again before next August), so getting the paper work in place seemed like a good idea. So it looks like we will have to employ and architect then. Does it matter that the plans have not been drawn up yet, as the proposed project will not be taking place thgis year?