Building inspection in Spain: the ITE and IEE

When you buy a second-hand car, the first thing you check is the MOT. When you buy a second-hand home, almost nobody asks whether the building's mandatory inspection is up to date. And yet it exists, it is compulsory once a building reaches a certain age, and it can tell you a great deal about the real condition of what you are about to buy.

What the ITE is

The Inspeccion Tecnica de Edificios (ITE, Technical Building Inspection) is a mandatory periodic inspection carried out by a qualified professional - an architect, technical architect or aparejador - who assesses the building's state of repair: structure, facades, roofs and shared installations. The result may be favourable or unfavourable, and an unfavourable result obliges the owners to carry out the necessary works.

Deadlines vary by autonomous community and municipality. In Madrid, the ITE is mandatory from 30 years onwards. In Catalonia, the threshold is 45 years. In the Comunitat Valenciana, the IEEV.CV is required from 50 years onwards. Royal Decree-Law 8/2011 sets the general national threshold at 50 years, unless the autonomous community sets a different deadline. The review is periodic: both the ITE and the IEE must be renewed every 10 years where applicable.

What the IEE is and how it differs

The Informe de Evaluacion de Edificios (IEE, Building Evaluation Report) is the modern evolution of the ITE. The IEE's entry into force in 2013 did not invalidate the ITE; it expanded on it: while the ITE only assessed the building's state of repair, the IEE also covers universal accessibility and energy efficiency.

Act 8/2013 of 26 June on Urban Rehabilitation, Regeneration and Renewal introduced the IEE as mandatory for collective residential buildings over 50 years old. The IEE is generally valid for 10 years, and in many autonomous communities it has already replaced the ITE as the main reference document.

The problem: the rules vary depending on where you are

Whether the ITE/IEE is mandatory, the deadlines and the procedure are not the same across Spain. The State sets the general framework - 50 years as the national threshold for the IEE - but municipalities may pass their own implementing ordinances, and autonomous communities set their own specific rules. This means that in one municipality the inspection may be required at 30 years, in another at 40, in another at 50, and the deadlines for undergoing the review also vary.

What Hogarfax does and does not do

At Hogarfax we apply baseline territorial rules to estimate whether a building is likely to be subject to mandatory inspection: the building's age according to the Cadastre, the general threshold of 30 years for the ITE in the more demanding regions and 50 years for the IEE at national level, and the 10-year renewal cycle.

We should be clear: this is indicative. We do not consult each municipality's ITE/IEE register in real time, nor do we have direct access to every building's inspection history. What we do is give you a warning signal based on the building's age and the general rules, so that you know which question to ask before buying.

That question is simple and direct: 'Could you please provide the building's latest ITE or IEE?'. If the building is more than 30-50 years old according to your municipality and nobody offers it to you spontaneously, that is more than enough reason to ask for it. A seller who does not have it or will not provide it owes you an explanation.