ITE in Barcelona: the compulsory building inspection
If your building is 45 years old or more, the Inspecció Tècnica de l'Edifici is compulsory in Catalonia. It is the whole building that is inspected, and it is the owners' association that commissions it. We do it properly, tell you what comes out and what it costs to put right, and obtain the certificat d'aptitud. From €490 + VAT.
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Why you have ended up on this page
Hardly anybody arrives here out of curiosity. They arrive because one of five things has happened: the letter from the Agència de l'Habitatge has landed; the building has turned 45; a sale is stuck at the notary's for want of the certificat d'aptitud; a refurbishment grant is wanted and the ITE is the toll; or a piece of cornice has come down.
The ITE is a visual inspection of the whole building, carried out by a technician registered with his professional body on the official reporting platform. Once the report is filed, the Agència de l'Habitatge de Catalunya, the Catalan housing agency, issues the certificat d'aptitud. It is governed by Decret 67/2015, a Catalan regulation: it is not required by Barcelona city council, whatever half the trade's websites repeat. And it carries no fees. One point worth making early, because it is where foreign owners lose most time: the ITE is not yours to commission and it is not about your flat. It is commissioned by the comunidad de propietarios — the owners' association every flat owner belongs to by law — and paid out of common funds or by a derrama, a one-off levy shared between the owners. What you can do on your own is push for it to be voted at the next meeting.
We carry out the inspection, the report, the professional certification and the filing, and we hand over what almost nobody hands over: the table of dates that will have to be met afterwards. We are not a façade contractor using the ITE as a way in to a job: if the building is sound, we write that down and the engagement ends there.
The ITE is not an MOT for buildings: there is no pass or fail, there is a certificate that lasts ten, six or three years.
When your building's turn comes, by year of construction
This is the inspection programme in Annex 1 of Decret 67/2015. The age is taken from the year recorded at the Cadastre, the state property register used for tax, whose records are public and free to consult. Every cohort deadline has now passed: in 2026 the only live rule is the 45-year one, which catches buildings from 1981 and earlier. A note for the record: Annex 1 says «from 1971» and «1975», while the Generalitat's own guidance writes it as 1972 and 1976.
| Blocks of flats · up to 1950With no report filed, they have been exposed to penalties for years | Deadline passed |
|---|---|
| Blocks of flats · 1951 to 1960A good part of Barcelona's first ring of suburbs | 31/12/2015 |
| Blocks of flats · 1961 to 1971The decade of mass housing blocks, and of high-alumina cement | 31/12/2016 |
| Blocks of flats · from 1972In 2026 it is the turn of those built in 1981 | On turning 45 |
| Houses · before 1900Only if they stand less than 1.5 m from the public highway or from the neighbouring plots | 31/12/2016 |
| Houses · 1901 to 1930Outbuildings do not count when measuring that distance | 31/12/2017 |
| Houses · 1931 to 1950With a cèdula d'habitabilitat in force, it is deferred until the cèdula expires | 31/12/2018 |
| Houses · 1951 to 1960Same deferral where the cèdula is still in force | 31/12/2019 |
| Houses · 1961 to 1975The band currently receiving the most council requirements | 31/12/2020 |
| Houses · from 1976On turning 45, with the same exceptions | On turning 45 |
The real exceptions, and the clock that goes back to zero
Buildings containing any residential use are caught, even if they have other uses too: one with shops below and flats above, yes; one entirely in office use, no. And mind the vocabulary, because the price comes out of it: the count is by units — flats, studios, apartments and commercial premises — not by dwellings. Storerooms and parking spaces do not count. A building of 8 flats with 4 shops is 12 units.
There are two ways out, one deferral and one reset. Excluded are houses whose main building stands 1.5 m or more from the public highway, from areas of public use and from the neighbouring plots, and buildings with dereliction proceedings already opened. It is deferred where the cèdula d'habitabilitat is still in force. And the clock goes back to zero after a full refurbishment with a first-occupation licence.
There is also a route in the other direction: even where the building is not yet 45, if the administration finds defects it can require the inspection by a reasoned notice. The owners pay, and the official guidance puts it without anaesthetic: lack of means is no excuse.
Grades of defect, deadlines and consequences
This table decides everything that comes afterwards. The certificate is not a pass or a fail: it is a rating with an expiry date, and the shorter the date, the more the building has to do. With a warning almost nobody gives: the Decret sets no general repair deadlines; it only requires an indicative period for serious and very serious defects, and in exchange it imposes periodic verification. And a detail that escapes everybody: validity runs from the issue of the report, not from the certificate. Issuing in December and filing in April eats four months of it.
| No defects, or minor onesPreventive or corrective maintenance. The owners already evidence their duty of conservation, and the works are not an obligation arising from the ITE | Apte · 10 years |
|---|---|
| ImportantNo imminent risk, but a gradual loss of performance that cannot be left to routine maintenance. Verification every 2 years and a programme within 1 year | Apte provisional · 6 years |
| SeriousImminent risk affecting particular elements. Immediate precautionary measures first, then the works. Verification every 12 months and a programme within 6 months | Apte cautelarment · 3 years |
| Very seriousImminent and general risk. Immediate intervention, which may extend to evacuation or a dereliction order. Same regime as serious defects | Apte cautelarment · 3 years |
| Serious or very serious with no precautionary works doneThe only case in which the administration refuses the certificate. And it is not put right with a final works certificate — a fresh ITE report is required | Refusal |
| Apte provisional or cautelarmentThe small print that changes litigation: with either of these two certificates the duty of conservation is not evidenced until the works are carried out (art. 12.3) | Conservation not evidenced |
How it works
Preliminary check
Age at the Cadastre, whether an ITE has already been filed and when the current certificate expires. We do not charge for this.
Inspection
The whole building — structure, façades, party walls, light wells, roof and common installations. It is visual, and access to private units is needed.
Report on the official platform
With each defect graded, the maintenance plan and accessibility. Where there are serious defects, the owners and the Ajuntament are notified immediately.
Visat and filing
The visat, the professional body's stamp with a suitability check, which gives a firm date of issue, and the application for the certificate within the 4 months.
Certificate and the dates that follow
The administration decides within 3 months, with positive silence — no answer means granted. We hand over the certificate and the calendar of what comes next.
The ITE has come out unfavourable. What now?
First, a clarification that saves a fright: «unfavourable» is not a legal category. The official software flags that status as soon as there is a single important, serious or very serious defect; what decides the consequences is the grade given to each one. And the certificate has to be applied for anyway: it is only refused where there are serious or very serious defects with the precautionary measures still not carried out.
Second, which works are compulsory: those that remedy important, serious or very serious defects, because until they are carried out the duty of conservation is not evidenced. Minor defects and the accessibility and sustainability recommendations are not binding, whoever may try to sell them as a legal requirement.
Third, the calendar nobody explains at the owners' meeting: a programa de rehabilitació, a refurbishment programme, has to be approved within 1 year, or within 6 months where there are serious or very serious defects, with a dedicated reserve fund voted through. It is not a works budget: it is priorities, indicative costs and phases. That is where we do the uncomfortable part — deciding what is urgent and what can be grouped into a single refurbishment scheme, so that the scaffolding does not go up twice.
Unfavourable does not mean the certificate is refused: it means the clock has started.
What it costs to put right what the ITE uncovers
This is the biggest gap in the trade: there are whole pages about the cost of the works that follow an ITE which do not publish a single figure. We publish the ones that can be verified, and also what does not exist: there is no reliable public table by type of defect in Barcelona. These are orders of magnitude for the market as at August 2026, not a quotation.
| Façade refurbishmentThe item that comes up in almost every unfavourable ITE in Barcelona | €60–90/m² |
|---|---|
| ScaffoldingIt is paid for twice, erection and monthly hire. Which is why it pays to group façade and roof together | €8–19/m² + €2–5/m² a month |
| External wall insulation (SATE)A typical case in a small building. It is what unlocks the upper grant bands | €6,500–9,500 |
| What pushes the price up hereOccupation of the public highway, safety, testing, the project and working at height. Which is why two quotes per m² are not comparable | Building by building |
| Indicative derrama per flatAn arithmetical example, not a quotation: 600 m² of façade at €60–90/m² in a building of 12 units | €3,000–4,500 per flat |
| The ITE fee itselfThe cheapest part of the whole file, and the only one that avoids the penalty | From €490 |
The €9,000 letter, and what lies behind it
If a letter has arrived from the Agència de l'Habitatge warning of a €9,000 penalty, two things. The reassuring one comes from the official guidance: it is a warning, not a notice of penalty, and nothing has to be paid. The other is less so: it means the deadline has already passed. And the letters go out in batches, so whoever has not had one cannot sit back either.
The amounts, with their article. Not holding the report when it is required is a serious infringement (art. 124.1.g of Llei 18/2007), carrying €9,001 to €90,000. Art. 118.4 allows it to be penalised, with reasons given, in the band for minor infringements — €3,000 to €9,000 — which is where the figure in the letter comes from. Art. 118.7 provides for up to 80 % to be waived if the defects are repaired, and art. 6 of the Decret adds possible coercive fines. Serious infringements become time-barred after 3 years. One step up, breaching the duty of conservation with risk to persons, or a municipal enforcement order, is very serious: €90,001 to €900,000.
What we will not tell you is whether penalties are imposed often or rarely: there are no public statistics on proceedings opened. What is on the record is that signing an inaccurate report in order to obtain a favourable certificate is a very serious infringement by the technician. Which is why no cheap quote buys an accommodating report.
No ITE, no grant
In Barcelona the ITE is not only an obligation: it is the key to the money. The ajuts, the grants of the Consorci de l'Habitatge, require the report to be in hand before applying, and the Llibre de l'Edifici programme requires it to be approved or accepted for processing. If the building is going into works, it pays to plan the ITE, the Llibre de l'Edifici — the building's log book — and the refurbishment project as a single calendar.
| Condition of entryThe ITE report and the certificate, or proof that the application has been filed. Without that it is not accepted | ITE before applying |
|---|---|
| Grant of 40 %Where the works cut non-renewable primary energy by at least 30 % | max. €6,300/dwelling |
| Grant of 65 %A cut of 45 % or more. The band a well-designed envelope reaches | max. €11,600/dwelling |
| Grant of 80 %A cut of 60 % or more. It calls for façade, roof and windows | max. €18,800/dwelling |
| Municipal top-upsAcoustically stressed areas, asbestos (max. €1,000/dwelling or €12,000/building) and up to 100 % on evidenced vulnerability | +€500/dwelling |
| Position as at August 2026The part nobody writes down: the budget for the ajuts is exhausted and applications go on a reserve list, with execution extended to 31/12/2027. The Llibre de l'Edifici deadline expired on 30/06/2026 | Check the current call |
What an ITE does not see — and why that matters to us
The law is categorical and it is worth reading before engaging anyone: the inspection is visual and «is in no case intended to detect hidden defects» (art. 7.1). An ITE does not uncover aluminosis, or concealed damp, or the state of a joist end behind a suspended ceiling. What a technician who knows how to look does do is spot the indication — and where visual inspection is not enough, the owners are obliged to commission openings or testing.
That is where our difference lies. In a building from the fifties to the seventies with a joisted floor structure, a crack in the top-floor ceiling or expansive rust under the infill blocks is not «an important defect»: it is the signal that high-alumina cement has to be ruled out. Most ITE technicians say goodbye at exactly that point. We do the core sample, the laboratory test and the monitoring plan in the same practice.
And if somebody is liable for what is behind it, that is no longer an ITE: it is an expert report, which we also sign. And if you are buying, what you need before the deposit contract is a pre-purchase survey that looks at your flat.
ITE and aluminosis: one practice, no flannel.
What clients ask us most
How much does an ITE cost in Barcelona?
From €490 + VAT up to 6 units, and in bands above that; the scale is in the fee table. The price is not regulated, so every technician sets his own — what almost nobody publishes is what it includes. Ours includes the visit, the report on the official platform, professional certification with a suitability check, and obtaining the certificate. The procedure itself carries no fees. VAT is IVA, the Spanish sales tax, currently 21 %, and professional fees here are always quoted without it.
How do I know whether my building is caught?
By the year of construction at the Cadastre, the public property register. If it is 1981 or earlier, it is already caught. If no year is recorded, the final works certificate or the first-occupation licence will do. The full timetable is on this page, and if you send us the address we will check it at no cost, including whether an ITE has already been filed.
A letter has come from the Generalitat mentioning €9,000. Do we have to pay it?
No. The official guidance says so: the letter is a warning, not a penalty. But it does mean the deadline has passed and that there is real exposure to proceedings. The figure comes from art. 118.4 of Llei 18/2007, which allows a serious infringement to be penalised within the band for minor ones, €3,000 to €9,000. What to do on receiving it is commission the ITE, not reply to the letter.
Our ITE has come out unfavourable. What does that mean?
That there is at least one important, serious or very serious defect. «Unfavourable» is a label used by the official software, not a legal category, and it does not amount to a fail. The application still has to be made: it is only refused where there are serious or very serious defects with the precautionary measures not carried out. What changes is the validity — 6 or 3 years instead of 10 — and the verifications.
Are we obliged to carry out the works the report lists?
Those that remedy important, serious or very serious defects, yes: with a provisional or precautionary certificate the owners do not evidence the duty of conservation until they are carried out. Minor defects and the accessibility and sustainability recommendations are not an obligation arising from the ITE. It is a distinction worth money at the owners' meeting.
We had the ITE done months ago and never filed it. Is it still good?
Only if 4 months have not passed since it was issued. After that it lapses, the Agència rules the application inadmissible and the whole ITE has to be done again, and paid for again. It is the most expensive mistake in the process. If you have an unfiled report, send it to us and we will check the date.
One owner will not let us into his flat. Does that get us off?
No. The obligation belongs to the association as a whole, and owners and occupiers must give access. The rules set no minimum percentage of units to be inspected: the technician decides whether what he has seen is enough and must record the reason for each unit not inspected. Refusing does not excuse anyone, and it can make the result worse.
Is the ITE needed in order to sell a flat?
If the building is caught by it, a copy of the report and of the certificat d'aptitud has to be handed over. That has been required since 1 January 2016. If the certificate was obtained by silence or cannot be obtained yet, the report is handed over with proof of the date of filing. The managing agent is obliged to supply you with that copy, and the cost cannot be passed on to the buyer.
I am buying and the ITE is unfavourable. What can I do?
Three things, and none of them is signing blind. Ask for the report and read the grade given to the defects, which is what separates €2,000 from a levy of €4,000 a flat. Know that the law allows the seller to be expressly released before the notary: that is not an irregularity, it is a price negotiating tool. And if the signing cannot wait, the filed report with proof of date is a clean way through.
Does the ITE detect aluminosis or hidden defects?
No, and the rule says so in terms: it is visual and «is in no case intended to detect hidden defects» (art. 7.1). What a good technician does do is spot the indication and warn that a diagnosis is needed — which the owners are obliged to commission. In buildings from the fifties to the seventies that indication usually points to high-alumina cement, and that part we do ourselves.
And once the ITE is done, is that it?
Hardly ever. Depending on the result there remain the Llibre de l'Edifici, the refurbishment programme with its reserve fund, the verification reports every 2 years or every 12 months, and renewal before the certificate expires. And take note: without the verifications, the certificate loses its validity. With every ITE we hand over the table with all of those dates.
Has your building passed 45?
Send us the address and the number of units and we will give you a fixed price today — and tell you free of charge whether it is caught and whether an ITE has already been filed.