Ourense approves the ordinance that requires the evaluation of buildings over thirty years old

The Ourense City Council has definitively approved the Municipal Ordinance regulating the building assessment report, which requires owners of properties over thirty years old to certify their state of conservation, accessibility, and energy efficiency. The regulation, processed under file no. 2026011405, was published in the Official Gazette of the Province of Ourense on September 1, 2026, and will enter into force the day following its full publication.

The initial approval took place via an Agreement of the Plenary on May 8, 2026, and the file was submitted for public information and hearing of interested parties through announcements published on the municipal electronic headquarters notice board on May 15 and in BOP no. 91, on May 18, 2026. After the deadline passed without any claims or suggestions being filed, the ordinance was considered definitively approved in accordance with Article 49 of Law 7/1985, of April 2, regulating the bases of local regime.

A regulation adapted to the new legal framework

The new ordinance replaces the previous municipal regulation on the duty of conservation, the technical inspection of buildings, and the declaration of ruin, approved on June 8, 2012, and published in BOP no. 147, on June 28, 2012. The change responds to the evolution of state and regional regulations, particularly Law 1/2019, of April 22, on urban rehabilitation, regeneration, and renewal of Galicia, and Decree 61/2021, of April 8, which regulates the building assessment report (IAE) and creates the Galician Registry of Building Assessment Reports (REGIAE), attached to the Galician Institute of Housing and Land.

Which buildings are required and within what deadlines

The obligation to present the first IAE falls on all buildings over thirty years old, as well as those whose owners intend to apply for public grants for conservation, accessibility, or energy efficiency works. The additional provision establishes a calendar of maximum deadlines:

• Collective residential buildings prior to December 31, 1980: until December 31, 2027.
• Collective residential buildings completed between 1981 and 1996: until December 31, 2028.
• Buildings and constructions of other uses prior to 1996: until December 31, 2029.
• Buildings declared BIC (Asset of Cultural Interest) or cataloged, without a valid ITE: before December 31, 2026.

The report must be renewed periodically every ten years. The City Council may request the IAE in advance when technical services detect deficiencies, and will publish an annual list of the required properties.

Sanctioning regime and deferments

Failure to comply with the obligation to submit the report within the deadline will activate the sanctioning regime provided for in the Galician Land Law and its regulations, and the City Council may order the subsidiary execution of the IAE at the expense of the obligated parties through public procurement. Municipal rehabilitation grants will not be granted to buildings that did not submit the report on time.

To facilitate compliance, the ordinance provides that the City Council may grant, by means of a reasoned resolution and following a request proving documented financial insufficiency, a postponement or installment plan for the submission deadline for a maximum period of two years. Interested parties may file a contentious-administrative appeal before the Contentious-Administrative Chamber of the High Court of Justice of Galicia within two months of publication.

The regulation affects the entire building stock of the Ourense capital and seeks to provide the City Council with a preventive control mechanism for the state of buildings, favoring the early detection of deficiencies, the improvement of accessibility, and energy saving, with special attention to owners with economic difficulties and smaller homeowners’ associations.

Source: Official Gazette of the Province of Ourense, no. 1 of September 2026, section IV. Local Entities (official reference: file no. 2026011405).