BY EU STUDIO
Updated Tuesday, June 28, 2022-11:04
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Home is the center.
Existentially, it constitutes our refuge;
financially, very often (and more so in Spain), our main investment.
It will have to be taken care of.
Environmental emergencies leave us no alternative either: public administrations have gone from good intentions to facts, forcing owners to adapt their homes to make them less polluting.
In addition, the huge electricity bills stimulate any increase in energy efficiency.
All very logical... But, with the one that is falling, the word "spill" causes an even greater panic than usual in the neighboring communities.
However, a very specific circumstance shows us that the moment is now:
Grants, however, involve cumbersome bureaucracy and do not cover all expenses.
The need for a third party to facilitate things is imposed.
Financial entities have seen an interesting business niche there.
Carmen Urraca García, director of European Funds at Banco Sabadell, illustrates the journey with data: "More than half of the residential buildings in Spain, 5.5 million, are prior to 1980, the year of the first regulations on their thermal conditions. And more than 81% get the worst energy ratings."
To overcome such a scenario, she explains, "the National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan has set itself the goal of energetically rehabilitating 1.2 million during the 2021-2031 period, that is, 300,000 homes per year."
We find ourselves, she concludes, before "
To see to what extent, we delve into the possibilities of royal decrees 853/2021 and 19/2021, which specify the measures of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR).
For our purposes, one of its lines of action is of interest: the rehabilitation program for economic and social recovery in residential environments, which allows the autonomous communities to spend 2,970 million euros of European Next Generation funds in aid.
An opportunity weighed down, however, by the dark side of bureaucracy and its difficult connection with the concrete reality of wheelbarrows, bricks, carpentry... It is on this side that the new figure of the rehabilitation agent has emerged on the market, who coordinates the management of the entire process in a way that fits with the requirements of the administration so that it "rewards"
Banco Sabadell has signed up to this trend.
It makes perfect sense considering its "high share of communities of owners as clients" and the "agreements with practically 95% of the professional associations of property managers", according to Urraca.
For this reason, if one of these communities of owners embarks on the adventure of rehabilitation, the bank "accompanies it throughout the process from start to finish, so that it is agile and simple", To do this, it also has the help of one of these rehabilitation agents, the company Agentia R+, the result of an association between the real estate company Tinsa and the consulting company Acerta.
David Paramio, general director of Agentia R+, explains that his role begins with the analysis of potential beneficiaries of the subsidies: "We analyze which of the communities of owners who are clients of Banco Sabadell have the greatest chance of obtaining them. It does not make sense, obviously, in a new building, but in one that is not very energy efficient because, for example, it is from a time when there was no insulation or façade coverings, it was built without the technical code, its carpentry is not the most appropriate..." Agentia R+ contacts them and proposes a first free feasibility report to those who are interested: "There we already deepened the analysis of the specific building with its owners. In addition to the general requirements to obtain the aid,we detect details such as whether there is a spill, whether the fees that the rehabilitation would entail would be affordable..." Going down to detail, the typical questions have to do with "the actual heating and hot water system or the characteristics of the boiler, but We also analyze the facades, the openings, the thermal capacity of the building..." With all this information, a budget is drawn up of "the approximate costs of the rehabilitation and the part that would be subsidized by European funds"..." With all this information, a budget of "the approximate costs of the rehabilitation and the part that would be subsidized by European funds" is drawn up..." With all this information, a budget of "the approximate costs of the rehabilitation and the part that would be subsidized by European funds" is drawn up.
If the community is launched, Banco Sabadell offers a loan to get down to work and Agentia R+ begins to generate the necessary documents to request aid from European funds, such as the book of the existing building, the action project, the application for a building permit... "All this is transferred to the autonomous community -the instance to which the EU entrusts the management of the funds-, so that it reserves a subsidy for our project", continues Paramio.
With the approval of the public administration, the construction phase begins;
Once the construction company has been chosen, after a contest carried out by Agentia R+ "to find the most suitable for that specific rehabilitation", the work itself begins, which the rehabilitation agent closely monitors to ensure that "
The size of the aid depends on the non-renewable primary energy savings achieved with the reform.
Paramio illustrates it with a real example: "In a building in Aluche with 40 homes, we changed the insulation of the façade and the roof, the exterior carpentry and the boiler, in a work that cost almost 1,100,000 euros. In principle , each neighbor had to pay almost 28,000 euros, but since we achieved a 71% saving in non-renewable primary energy, we agreed to the maximum amount of aid, with which it remained at 9,000 euros But, in addition, RD 19/2021 establishes tax deductions of up to 60% of what is paid in a work of this type for up to the following four years, which represents a deduction of up to 3,000 euros per year".
The rehabilitation agent also accompanies the costs in this last bite: "
Although the real financial relief comes, little by little, with the enjoyment of the new building.
To begin with, the electricity bill is going to be very different: "It depends on the climate and the type of action, but each owner can save up to 65% on the bill," explains Paramio.
"In addition, the building's heritage value increases. Depending on the area and what the market can absorb, the price of housing could increase between 12% and 25%."
But not everything is saving: "The neighbor is going to live in a rehabilitated building, with greater comfort. He will have to put up with less noise, for example, thanks to the new carpentry and the insulation on the façade, which also improves waterproofing."
Although the final argument may be that ... there is no choice.
With the environmental urgency that Europe has decided to take by the horns, rehabilitation is no longer a whim.
Spain, as a member of the EU, has to meet certain requirements, and we already know the preferred path of the State to redirect the behavior of the citizen towards its objectives.
The most veteran drivers will remember the time when there was no ITV for cars.
What could be the equivalent in housing?
The Government does not have to be very imaginative either (although to collect it usually is).
It would be enough, for example, to raise the IBI for those who have a home with a poor energy efficiency rating.
Or put greater obstacles to its sale or rental.
Or... Better not give ideas.
The underlying question is clear:
Made by UE Studio
This text has been developed by UE Studio, a creative branded content and content marketing firm from Unidad Editorial, for BANCO SABADELL.
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