A management company that markets 88 protected homes under a cooperative regime in the Madrid town of El Escorial (17,000 inhabitants) requires buyers of the ground floor and penthouses of the development to pay a “terrace fee” of up to 38,500 euros, according to the documentation to which elDiario.es has had access. This amount, which is not stated in the deed, is billed as supposed improvements to the home. In reality, it is nothing more than a way to avoid the maximum legal price at which these homes can be sold due to their protected nature.
The Community of Madrid considers this practice “a fraud with respect to the qualification”, while the manager defends that it is the cooperative members who have agreed for the sake of “equity” that homes that have larger terraces pay an “additional contribution ” and denies any wrongdoing.
“They told me that if they didn’t charge that amount they wouldn’t get their bills,” says David R., who approached the offices of the Aurora manager in El Escorial a few weeks ago to request information about the project. In the documentation provided by the salesperson, and which this newspaper has been able to examine, three amounts appear: 328,429.38 euros as the provisional cost of the home and annexes, 29,700 euros of the aforementioned “terrace fee” —both with VAT— and 10,000 euros contribution to the cooperative. In total, 368,129.38 euros for a 120 square meter home in this town in the northwest of the Community of Madrid, 50 minutes from the capital. For other homes, this “additional contribution” for the terrace amounts to 38,500 euros.
The key is that this urbanization is promoted in a regime of Limited Price Protected Housing (VPPL)a typology designed to facilitate access to housing for the middle classes. The legislation allows family units that earn between 78,750 and 90,000 euros per year to opt for this type of protected housing, based on a range that takes as a reference the Multiple Effects Public Income Indicator (IPREM) and the number of members of the family. the family unit. The other requirements are to be of legal age and that no member of the family owns another apartment. Homes cannot exceed 150 square meters.
Furthermore, the regulations of the Community of Madrid establishes that in a “zone B” city, such as El Escorial, the price of housing cannot exceed 2,430 euros per square meter. In the case of the property that David R. aspired to, with 120.85 square meters of useful area, its maximum cost should be 293,665.5 euros without VAT. However, the price at which the manager offers the home reaches 325,572.16 euros without VAT. That is, it exceeds the limit established by law by more than 30,000 euros.
To that amount we must add the taxes and the 10,000 euros contribution to the cooperative to reach the total investment of 368,129.38 euros. In fact, it so happens that the provisional cost of the home and annexes – without the “terrace fee” – is 298,572.16 euros. That is, it exceeds the legal limit by just 5,000 euros, which shows that the “terrace fee” is just a way to circumvent the regulated price that establishes the amount per square meter prescribed in the official modules.
Consulted by elDiario.es, an authorized spokesperson for the Housing Department of the Community of Madrid considers that the case reported “would be a fraud with respect to the qualification.” And remember that the law on the sanctioning regime regarding protected housing in the Community of Madrid classifies as a serious infraction, punishable by between 1,501 and 6,000 euros in fines, “demanding, for any reason (…) any amount not permitted by the applicable regulations, including the amounts that could arise from the expansion of equipment or the replacement or improvement of qualities.”
From Aurora they defend that they act in this project “solely” as manager of the cooperative and that it is the cooperative members who approve an action plan that guarantees the “technical, legal and economic viability” of the promotion by stipulating the costs of allocating the homes and the payment methods “according to the maximum module price”. They also affirm that it is the cooperative members who have agreed “out of a principle of equity” that homes that have larger terraces “pay an additional contribution to the cooperative”, taxed with their “corresponding taxation.”
In this sense, the manager ensures that the cooperative “complies with all municipal urban planning regulations and the standards established by the Community of Madrid for VPPL” and that the agreements adopted comply with the statutes and regulations of the cooperative within the framework of the autonomous law on cooperatives.
“They invited me to leave”
“The moment I started asking uncomfortable questions they told me this was what it was. They invited me to leave, telling me that perhaps those apartments were not for us and that we should look for more accessible ones,” says David, who was evicted from his home during the crisis and who saw in this promotion the opportunity to once again access a property he owns. .
Javier de Osma, director of the Housing and Land Registry of the Confederation of Housing Cooperatives of Spainlinks this type of “malpractice” with the high purchase value of the land on which the homes are built. In his opinion, this makes it “very difficult” to award homes at the strict module value, without more contributions than those necessary to pay for the home at the value stipulated by law. “The Administrations look the other way. And the problem lies with the cooperative member, with the promoter, with the client…”, maintains this expert.
The Community of Madrid last February raised the price of subsidized housing after several decades. For example, the maximum sales price per square meter of useful area in zone B – where El Escorial is located – went from 1,970.8 to 2,430 euros. An increase of 23.3%. However, De Osma affirms that the “problem” is that this increase has not led to a limitation in the price of land, which has increased in many cases.
This expert considers that this type of subterfuge “is not something exceptional.” “I don’t know if I would dare say that it is illegal, but it is certainly not ethical at all,” he emphasizes. In any case, it gives greater importance to other practices that it considers more harmful, such as demanding large contributions to the cooperative’s social capital as a way to circumvent the limits of protected housing. elDiario.es revealed a few months ago that a manager of protected chalets in Las Rozas demanded 200,000 euros for this concept from each cooperative member above the legal price.
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