Changes to a house design

[Lavanda]

We made a few changes to the design of our house, as we went along, after consulting with the architect. Some of these changes were at the suggestion of the architect. We made a few changes ourselves without consulting the architect. We did not have the telephone points installed nor the TV dishes or antenna, as we have neither a phone line in the campo nor a TV by choice. We put in an arch where there had been a door. The final payment is due to the architect but she is muttering about not giving us the final paperwork as we made unauthorized changes. We have explained that we accept responsibility for those changes but she seems to have gone into a bit of a silence.

What can she do? What can we do?

[hillybilly]

Well, it depends on the contractual agreement between you and your architect.
No changes, however small, should be made by either party without written notification and agreement. Your architect would probably be within her rights to "mutter" if you went ahead and made changes without notifying her as soon as you knew you wanted to make them. However, as it sounds as if the changes are very minor in nature and not structural then, hopefully, she will take a pragmatic view and accept them. I would suggest that you need, if you haven't already done so, to put in writing what changes you made, reiterating that you accept responsibility etc.
However, building regs (minimas de habitabilidad) do come into play regarding phone points, TV etc and so it is possible that even these (to you) small omissions do now in some way contravene building regs...ditto a door omission...

[julian]

I imagine she means she can´t give a certificate that the house is completed exactly as per the licence, which means you can´t get the licencia de primera ocupacion, ask her exactly what needs to be changed for her to give you the certificate.

[Lavanda]

Wow. Thanks, Hilly. Changes that the architect made as things progressed were only agreed to verbally. She put nothing in writing for us. Equally, we put nothing in writing for her but she knew we would not have a phone line in the campo so phone points would be useless. She also knew we do not have a TV so the €3000 for a TV dish and antennas and TV points (in every room) looked like a waste of money. I will write to her listing the changes and put everything down - with explanations. However, can she with-hold the paperwork?

Also, as the promoters of the build, we do not get the 10 year guarantee. Both the architect and the builder cover one year. Obviously we have a hefty insurance ourselves. As time has already elapsed she only has another nine months to be 'responsible' or does that start from when we get the papers?

PS I'll write to her re: your suggestions, Julian.

[hillybilly]

She may not have any choice but to "withhold" the paperwork (assume you're referring to the cedula de habitabilidad?) because if the building doesn't comply (for whatever reason) then it simply can't be issued. There may have to be some lengthy paperwork exchanges between the architect, the College of Architects and the Ayuntamiento/Junta explaining why the house has no telecommuncations etc etc. All depends what was in the original application!

The start date for any warranties should be given in your contract with the builder and your contract with the architect. Either way, they are normally considered to commence at "practical completion" i.e. when your architect certifies that the build is complete (minus snagging).

[Lavanda]

Thanks, Hilly. I can see I might be in for a tough time explaining that there are no telecommunications in the house because there ARE no telecommunications within 2 km of us - and are not likely to be. If a house must have telecommunications to comply with building regs: then must Telefonica provide the means to link them up? What have others in the campo done?

[julian]

if she is due the final payment it´s a bit strange for her to have gone silent, the logical thing would be for her to give you a list the things that are wrong and need changing.
I can understand he not signing the certificate for major changes that have been made, but a few tv plugs shouldn´t really make the difference...if she wants tv sockets then change a few of the plug fronts for blank ariel sockets.
seems a bit odd to me, maybe she has other reasons !

[Lavanda]

She e-mailed today. We have a meeting on Monday. I'll keep my fingers crossed and get back to you both. Thanks for your input.

[Lavanda]

The meeting was fine and we got the papers. All she really seemed concerned with was areas of responsibility if something goes 'wrong' with the bits that are not in the proyecto. As we have drawn up a contract with the builder to cover those areas, the architect seemed happy. I guess I was just worrying that at the eleventh hour something might be problematical - as if we hadn't had enough problems at the start. All-in-all, would I recommend building your own house (having one built, I mean) ... er .... I don't think so. It's HUGELY stressful and time-consuming ... but I might feel differently in a few weeks WHEN IT STOPS RAINING.

[hillybilly]

Good news!

[TinaTapas]

Our architect got us a rehab licence for our "extension" to our existing house ....apparently that means there's a lot more leeway for changes like internal doors etc....basically anything that doesn't affect the way in which the structure needs to be built as far as support is concerned. So if you suddenly want a tower section instead of the normal pitch, then that needs to be communicated

Our architect charged us a flat fee and said he wouldn't charge us for any changes that we implemented......time will tell as we've not actually started to build yet