Has the building passed its ITE? How to check before you buy, in Barcelona, Madrid and the rest of Spain

If you're looking at flats in the Eixample, Gràcia or Sants, most buildings you see are old enough to need an ITE. Some Spain-wide guides tell you the age is 50 years. In Catalonia it's 45, and in Madrid city the first inspection comes at 30.

What the ITE checks

The Inspección Técnica de Edificios (in Catalan, Inspecció Tècnica dels Edificis) looks at the building, not your flat. A technician inspects the structure, façade, roof, and shared installations such as downpipes and drains, and reports the deficiencies they find. Who has to do it, and when, is set by each region and town.

Catalonia: before the building turns 45

In Catalonia the ITE is regulated by Decret 67/2015. It covers residential buildings, both multi-family and single-family. Detached houses standing at least 1,5 m from the street and their neighbours are excluded (decree text).

Every residential building in scope must pass the ITE before it turns 45. Older buildings were given deadlines by decade when the system started, and all of those have passed.

Built	Where it should be now
Before 1981	Should already have a certificate, possibly on its second or third renewal
1981	Turns 45 in 2026, so it's due now
1982 or later	Due before its 45th anniversary

Find the build year in the Catastro. See the year-built guide.

The inspector grades each deficiency, and the grade sets how long the certificate lasts:

What the inspector found	Certificate valid for
No deficiencies, or minor ones	10 years
Important deficiencies	6 years
Serious or very serious, with urgent safety measures already carried out	3 years
Serious or very serious, without those measures	No certificate

Sources: decree text, Col·legi d'Arquitectes.

A building on a 3-year certificate has serious problems that someone shored up instead of fixing. That usually means works are coming, and with them a derrama (a one-off charge to every owner).

Madrid: from 30 years, every ten

The Comunidad de Madrid's land law requires owners of buildings over 30 years old to have them inspected every ten years (Ley 9/2001, art. 169). Madrid city applies it like this: the first ITE must be filed in the year after the building turns 30, counted from the end of its construction or full refurbishment, and the next ones every ten years after that, by 31 December of the year they fall due (Ayuntamiento de Madrid).

Apartment buildings over 50 years old also need an IEE (Informe de Evaluación del Edificio). It adds accessibility and energy efficiency to the condition check, and it's due within five years of the building turning 50. A complete IEE can replace the ITE, and it's valid until 31 December of the tenth year after it was filed (Decreto 103/2016; Ayuntamiento de Madrid).

The rest of Spain

Other regions and towns set their own ages and deadlines, and some towns have their own ordinance (ordenanza) on building inspection. Ask the town hall's planning department, or the property manager, which rule applies to the building and when its next inspection is due.

How to check before you buy

In Madrid city you can do it yourself. The council's website lets you look up a building's ITE or IEE result, favourable or unfavourable, by file number or address, and publishes a list of buildings that still have to file theirs (Sede electrónica).

In Catalonia there's no public search by address. The Agència de l'Habitatge keeps a register of inspections, but it's shared with local councils, not the public. You have two routes:

1. Ask the seller or the agent for three documents:
   • the ITE report (informe)
   • the certificate of aptitude (certificat d'aptitud)
   • the building's logbook (llibre de l'edifici), if there is one
2. Ask the property manager (administrador de finques). They normally hold the originals and know what works are planned.

You're entitled to them. Decret 67/2015 (art. 15) says the seller must hand the buyer copies of the ITE report and certificate if the building is required to have them. You can only waive this if the seller explains to the notary why they aren't available (Notaria Bosch, Cambra de la Propietat).

Anywhere else, ask the seller and the property manager for the last inspection report and the minutes that approved any works it called for.

How to read the report

• Look at the result before the photos. In Catalonia that's the grade: minor, important, serious or very serious. In Madrid it's favourable or unfavourable.
• Match each deficiency to a fix. Has it been done, approved at a community meeting, or neither? The community minutes (actas) will tell you.
• In old buildings, the usual trouble is the façade (loose elements, cracked balconies), the roof and the drainage.
• Note when the next inspection is due. If it falls soon after you buy, the inspection and its consequences are yours.

What if the building has no ITE?

In Catalonia the owners can be fined, and the building can't get public rehabilitation grants until it has one (Gavà Habitatge). In the Comunidad de Madrid the town hall can order the inspection, or have it done itself at the owners' expense (Ley 9/2001, art. 169). For a buyer, a missing ITE is a risk and something to negotiate on. The inspection will happen eventually, and whoever owns the flats then will pay for whatever it finds.