Some of the best homes on Tenerife need work, and that is often why they are still for sale. We tell you what the work involves and what it costs before you make an offer. Then we run it while you are abroad.
Download the guide (PDF) ↓Three levels of work
Most houses fall into one of three groups. The level decides the licence, the time and the budget, so we start by agreeing which one yours is.
New kitchen and bathrooms, floors, paint, lighting and doors. The layout, the roof and the structure stay as they are.
Everything in a refresh, plus new wiring and plumbing, windows, insulation and damp-proofing, and some walls moved.
Back to the walls: roof, floors and beams, structure, installations and layout. Often an extension or a roof terrace.
Old houses on Tenerife
Older Canarian houses are beautifully built and badly maintained in roughly the same ways. These are the problems we look for first.
Rising damp in thick stone walls, leaks from flat roofs, and the humid north. Fresh paint hides it for a viewing, not for a winter.
Moisture readings and a thermal camera on every wall and ceiling, and a look at the roof, the gutters and the ground around the house.
Old tea-pine is hard to beat, but woodworm, termites and leaks attack the beam ends inside the walls, where nobody looks.
The ends of the beams are opened and tested where we can, and a specialist inspection is added when there are signs.
Extensions, roof rooms and closed-in terraces are common, and many were never licensed. They can block a mortgage or a sale later.
We compare the house with the land registry, the cadastre and the town hall records, and tell you what can be legalised and what it costs.
In historic centres such as La Orotava and La Laguna the façade, the roof and sometimes the layout are protected. Plans that ignore this don’t get a licence.
The protection level is checked before you buy, and the design starts from what the heritage rules allow.
Corrugated asbestos roofs, old cables without earth and lead pipes still turn up in houses from before the 1990s.
Visible materials are checked on the visit and tested when in doubt. Removal is priced into the works, with a licensed company.
Many older houses outside the centres drain into a cesspit or straight into the ground, which is no longer allowed.
We find out where the waste water goes, and price a connection or a treatment system before you commit.
The assessment
Three levels of assessment, depending on the house and on how far you want to go. Each one ends with a cost range you can use in the negotiation.
€350 + IGIC
€950 + IGIC
from €2.450 + IGIC
Every assessment is credited in full against our fee if we do the works within twelve months.
House + works
A house that needs work is only a bargain if the asking price and the works together still make sense. Put in the asking price and see the total.
Five steps, five gates
The same rules as a new build: each step ends with a written check before money moves to the next one.
The assessment at the level the house needs, before you make an offer.
GateA cost range and a list of risks, in writing.
Your offer is based on the house and the works together. Your lawyer adds conditions to the deposit contract.
GateA price that leaves room for the works, and conditions you can walk away on.
The plan, the full specification with measured quantities, and the permit or licence for the works.
GateA fixed price within your ceiling, and the permit granted.
Weekly reports with photos, monthly certificates, and checks before anything is covered up.
GateEvery payment certified. 5% held back for twelve months.
Snag list, certificates, updated registry and cadastre where the house changed, and utilities in your name.
GateThe house is legal and finished before the last payment.
Licence forecast
The building licence is the biggest variable in a project, and it depends almost entirely on the town hall. Pick the town to see what we expect there.
12–24 months
24–36+ months
Historic centre, and areas the new supplementary plan changes. Its approval could bring typical cases down to 9–15 months.
Typical case: an urban plot, a project that complies with the plan and a complete file, for a new house or a major renovation, counted from filing to grant. Every request for corrections (requerimiento) stops the clock: add 1–3 months if the town hall asks for changes.
Before filing, commissioning and drafting the project and getting the college’s visado usually take another 2–4 months. After the works, the first-occupation licence is a separate step.
These are our estimates, not official figures. Only La Laguna is based on measured cases; the others are built from known cases and adjusted for each town’s plan, staffing and protected land. We update them as new files come in.
| Town | Typical case | Hard case | How sure we are |
|---|---|---|---|
| La Laguna | 4–8 | 12–24 · Conjunto Histórico, plots that need a heritage study | High |
| Los Realejos | 6–12 | 12–18 · A brand-new plan: fewer grey areas, but first-year questions | Medium |
| Santa Úrsula | 9–18 | 18–24 · Small council: one architect can make it fast, or freeze it | Low |
| El Sauzal | 9–18 | 18–24 · Small council: one architect can make it fast, or freeze it | Low |
| Tegueste | 9–18 | 18–24 · Airport-easement zones | Low |
| Icod de los Vinos | 12–24 | 18–30 · Rural land that needs Cabildo reports | Low |
| San Juan de la Rambla | 12–24 | 18–30 · Protected and rural land | Low |
| Los Silos | 12–24 | 24–36 · Plots in or near the Teno rural park | Low |
| La Guancha | 12–24 | 18–30 · Protected and rural land | Low |
| Tacoronte | 12–24 | 18–30 · Airport-easement zones | Medium-low |
| Puerto de la Cruz | 12–24 | 18–30 · Heritage buildings and an old general plan | Medium-low |
| La Victoria | 12–24 | 18–30 · Small council: one architect can make it fast, or freeze it | Low |
| La Matanza | 12–24 | Coastal strip: effectively blocked until the Cabildo plan exists | Low |
| La Orotava | 12–24 | 24–36+ · Historic centre, and areas the new supplementary plan changes. Its approval could bring typical cases down to 9–15 months. | Medium-low |
| El Tanque | 12–30 | 24–36 · Protected and rural land | Low |
| Buenavista del Norte | 18–30 | 24–36+ · Teno rural park, with a binding report that has no deadline | Low |
| Garachico | 18–30 · outside the historic centre | 36–60 · inside the historic centre | Medium |
Before and after
Renovation is Casas Boutique’s speciality. Drag the line to compare.
Who’s at the table
The same set-up as a new build. We work with the builder, so the payments are certified by the technical architect, not by us.
The assessment, the offer strategy with your lawyer, the contracts, payment control, weekly reporting and the paperwork at the end. One contact, one fixed fee.
A Dutch design-and-build team based in La Orotava, working in Spain since 1998, with renovation as their speciality. They plan the works with you and carry them out. Visit their site
Leads the survey, directs the works and certifies every payment. For a full renovation an architect signs the project as well.
For the purchase, the conditions in the deposit contract and the works contract. We work alongside your lawyer; we don’t replace one.
Questions
Yes, that is the point. The walk-through is ready in 48 hours. For a survey or a full assessment we ask the seller’s agent for a second visit, which is normal for a house that needs work.
Yes. The report gives a cost range and the risks in writing. Sellers of houses that need work expect it, and a documented figure carries more weight than a feeling.
Almost always. Small works inside the house need a minor works permit or a notice to the town hall. Changes to the structure, the façade or the roof need a major works licence with an architect’s project. In a protected centre the heritage rules apply as well.
Some Spanish banks finance part of the works with the purchase, based on the valuation after renovation. It takes a full assessment and a priced project. Expect to fund a larger share yourself than with a finished house.
During a refresh, sometimes. During a refurbishment or a full renovation, no: there is no water, power or kitchen for weeks at a time, and the work goes faster in an empty house.
One fixed fee, agreed in writing before the works start: about 5% of the works, with a minimum of €6.000, plus IGIC. The assessment you paid for is credited against it.
Start here
A link to the listing is enough. We reply within one working day with a date for the visit and the exact price for that house.
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