What to check before signing and before starting
Before you sign the contract, the contractor should be able to answer three questions: which procedure your renovation needs, who files it and pays for it, and whether the consent of the comunidad de propietarios or the building's protection status comes into play. Before work starts, you should have a copy of the documents filed and, if the procedure requires a council decision, the decision itself.
The rest of this checklist unpacks those two points. How to work out the category of works is covered in our article on minor versus major works, and the procedures themselves in the Barcelona permits guide. Here you only get the questions to put to your contractor, in a convenient order.
At the first meeting
Which procedure do you think my renovation needs: immediate notification, deferred notification or a major-works licence? Why that one? A good answer refers to specific works: "you are moving the bathroom onto a different riser", "this wall could be load-bearing, it needs checking".
Have you seen the building's original drawings, or do you plan to open inspection holes? How will the renovation affect the cédula de habitabilidad if the floor area or number of rooms changes? A contractor who has not thought about the administrative side at the first meeting probably will not think about it later either, and the issue will surface once work is under way.
Who signs and who pays
If the procedure requires technical documentation or a design, ask who signs it, what their qualification is (architect, arquitecto técnico or engineer, depending on the works) and whether they are authorised to sign that particular type of work. The technician's name, or at least their role, should appear in the contract.
Then the money. Are the technician's fees, processing and municipal charges included in the quote or billed separately? Who pays the construction tax? Amounts depend on the municipality and scope and are confirmed with the council or a gestor, but the answer to "who pays" belongs in the contract, not in a verbal agreement.
The comunidad and building protection
Is the consent of the comunidad de propietarios needed? Usually yes, if the work touches shared elements: the façade, risers, shafts, the roof, the courtyard, outdoor air-conditioning units. Who requests it and how long will it take? In Barcelona an owners' meeting is not always called quickly, and that can push back the start date. Even when consent is not required, the building administrator should be told the works dates, especially the noisy ones.
Is the building protected or listed? In central Barcelona, particularly the Eixample and Ciutat Vella, many are, and protection can extend to specific interior elements, not just the façade. What is protected and what that means is confirmed with the council before the design.
Before work starts
Has the procedure been filed, and do I have a copy with the registration number? If the procedure requires a council decision, has it been issued? Is a separate permit needed for a skip, rubble bags or scaffolding on the street? Occupying the pavement is processed separately, and without it a fine can arrive before strip-out is finished.
Keep the documents yourself, not only with the contractor. You will need them when selling the flat, for the habitability certificate, and if the council or the neighbours raise a question years later. Starting work that needs a council answer before you have one is a risk you avoid simply by asking before the start.
Answers that should set off alarms
"You don't need a permit, everyone does it this way." "We'll sort it out when we finish." "That's your job, we just build." "With a permit it's slower and dearer, let's skip it." Each of these means the risk stays with you as the owner: work done without the required procedure can lead to a stop order, a fine and an obligation to put everything back. The consequences are covered in our article on renovating without a permit.
A normal answer sounds different: which procedure, why, who files it, how long it usually takes and what is confirmed with the council. BCN YARD goes through these points with every client before work begins and states the expected procedure in the initial proposal. We handle the filing in Spanish and explain it to the client in Russian if that is easier.