The first occupation licence and AFO: the papers a villa needs to be lived in, connected and sold

Every home in Andalucía needs two kinds of paper: permission to build it and permission to live in it. This guide covers the second. It explains the licence of first occupation and the declaración responsable that has largely replaced it, the routes for older homes that never had one, and the AFO, the status of a home built outside the rules that the town hall can no longer act against. It then sets out how to tell which papers a home has, and what each means for you as a buyer, for a mortgage and for the water and electricity. The rules are Andalucía’s land law, Ley 7/2021, known as LISTA and in force since 23 December 2021, and its regulation, Decreto 550/2022, as they stand in October 2026.

The subject sounds harder than it is. Every home’s position can be read from its papers, and the point is to know it before you commit.

The licence of first occupation, and what replaced it

The licencia de primera ocupación is the phrase most buyers know: the town hall’s confirmation that a finished building matches its building licence and may be lived in. Under LISTA, a building put up under its licence no longer needs a second licence for that step. Article 138 puts the occupation of a building that was built under a licence, is finished in line with it and is put to a permitted use under a declaración responsable instead, a formal statement filed with the town hall. It takes effect from the day it is filed with its documents, and the town hall checks afterwards.

For a new building the statement goes in with the final works certificate signed by the technician, a plan that fixes the building’s position on the map, the papers for the installations and, where they apply, the utility companies’ certificates that the connections were made properly (Decreto 550/2022, article 293). The notary needs it too. A deed declaring a finished new building must include the occupation licence or proof that the declaración responsable was filed, and the Land Registry checks the same before it registers the building (LISTA, ninth additional provision).

On a new build the developer files it, and it is one of the documents your lawyer confirms before completion. How it ties in with the bank guarantee on your stage payments is set out in buying off plan in Spain, and what building a villa of your own involves, from the plot to this last step, in buying a plot and building a villa.

Older homes without one

An older resale home may never have had the paper, and there is a route for it too. Article 138 also covers the occupation of existing buildings on urban land that conform to the current plan, or that were built lawfully and fell out of line only when the plan changed, provided no later works were done without a licence. The statement then goes in with a certificate from a technician describing the building: when it was finished, its condition, its installations and that it is fit for its use, with its cadastral and registry details and the planning rules that apply (Decreto 550/2022, article 293). Works done without a licence have to be legalised first.

Two older groups are treated as licensed. A building without a licence on land not designated for development, finished before the land law of 2 May 1975 came into force, is treated as having a licence for its construction and its occupation, for the use it had at that time. Later works done without a licence are not covered. The same applies to an irregular building on urban or development land if the time for the town hall to act had already run out when the land law of 25 July 1990 came into force. The owner can ask the town hall for a certificate saying so, and neither rule applies on the coastal public domain and its easements (LISTA, fifth transitional provision).

The AFO: homes built outside the rules

A home built without a licence, or against the one it had, is an irregular building. The town hall can take steps to restore the planning position, but only within a time limit. Under article 153 it has six years from the day the works were completely finished, or from when outside signs made them visible, if that is later.

There is no time limit in these places and cases:

• the public domain and its protection easements
• rustic land with real risks, such as landslides or flooding
• rustic land in the coastal zone of influence
• buildings in the general catalogue of Andalucía’s historic heritage
• green spaces and open spaces
• the splitting of rustic land into building plots, apart from the plot of a building already beyond the six years

Once the six years have passed, a finished irregular building is in the situation called asimilado a fuera de ordenación, AFO for short (article 173). The town hall recognises it by a resolution, at the owner’s request or on its own initiative, and has six months to decide. If it has not answered by then, the request is treated as refused.

What the town hall asks for. The request goes in with a report by a technician (Decreto 550/2022, articles 405 to 407). It identifies the building, the class of land and any natural risks, gives its size, use and the date it was finished, and certifies that it meets the minimum conditions of safety and health. Unless the town has rules of its own, those conditions are a sound structure, a building that keeps water and damp out, a supply of water and of electricity adequate for its use, and drainage with treatment that works. A home also needs at least one room for living and sleeping, a kitchen and a separate bathroom, with no habitable room in a basement and daylight and fresh air from outside.

What an AFO allows, and what it does not

The law is plain that an AFO is not a legalisation (article 174). It records that the building can no longer be acted against and that it is physically fit for use. From there:

• The utilities. Before recognition an irregular building cannot be connected to the basic services or have works done, other than those the town hall orders for safety and health. After it, a connection can be authorised where nothing more is needed than the link to existing networks, and the utility companies ask for the AFO resolution to sign the contract. Where there are no networks, the supply comes from self-contained installations with the authorisation they need (Decreto 550/2022, article 410).
• Works. Conservation, reform and consolidation can be authorised, under a licence or, for minor works, a declaración responsable. Nothing that increases the footprint or the built volume, and nothing that creates a new breach of the plan.
• The register. The AFO is noted in the margin of the property’s entry in the Land Registry, so it travels with the home.
• Plot divisions. Where the home stands on a plot created by an unauthorised division of land, the recognition covers the building and the plot it stands on.

Groups of irregular homes are not simply left as they are. The town hall can draw up a special plan to bring them shared services, and can bring them into the town plan when it revises it (articles 175 and 176).

How to tell which papers a home has

Your lawyer runs the checks set out in the legal checks before you buy, and the planning status is one of them. These are the papers that answer it.

Three checks sit behind the table. The nota simple shows whether the building is registered and any planning note against it. When an old building is registered on the strength of its age, the registrar tells the town hall, which then has to record the building’s planning position in the register, with any limits it imposes (national land law, article 28). The town hall’s file shows the licences and any AFO resolution with its conditions. And what stands on the ground has to match both, which is where a survey earns its place on a villa. An extension, a pool or an enclosed terrace added later has its own status, separate from the house.

What each means for you

Buying. A home with its occupation papers in order is the straightforward case. A home with an AFO can be bought, lived in, repaired and sold, and its resolution tells you what it allows. The price should reflect what the home may become as well as what it is, since it can be kept and improved but not enlarged. A home still inside the six years, or in one of the places with no time limit, has no AFO to offer, and is a purchase to consider only once its position has been settled.

A mortgage. A bank decides for itself whether to lend on a home with an AFO, and how much, and its valuer reads the same papers your lawyer does. Ask the bank before you commit, not after.

Water and electricity. For a permanent supply contract, the utility companies ask for the occupation licence or the declaración responsable with its technician’s certificate, or the AFO resolution, or the certificate for buildings finished before 1975 (LISTA, article 142). A home whose supplies are already contracted is simpler, and your lawyer checks that they can pass to you. The contracts themselves are covered in electricity, water and internet in a new home.

Letting and later works. A holiday let has requirements of its own, set out in the tourist licence guide. Works on a home with an AFO stay within the limits above, and the permits for works are covered in renovating a resale home.

How I handle it

I ask for the occupation papers at the first viewing, with the nota simple and the cadastral record, so that the planning status is known before an offer rather than found in the legal checks. On a villa or a country house I compare what the papers describe with what stands on the plot, room by room and terrace by terrace, and I say plainly when I think a surveyor should see it.

Where a home has an AFO, I read the resolution with your lawyer, set out what it allows and what it does not, and price the home on that basis in the negotiation. Where a home has no status at all, I tell you so, and we either wait until it is settled or move on. If you have a villa in mind, from the higher-value homes on this site or anywhere else on the coast, book a call and we can go through its papers together. Buying with me sets out how I work.

Common questions