If you are looking to buy a flat in Barcelona or its metropolitan area built between the 1950s and the late 1970s, there is one word that is bound to make you shudder: aluminosis. This concept is the ultimate "bogeyman" of the Catalan real estate sector—a ghost that sparks panic in buyers who fear financial ruin from a defective property, and in heirs who inherit a family flat and don't know whether they've received a treasure or a financial trap. Fear is free, but building engineering relies...

There is nothing that heats up a homeowners' association (HOA) meeting quite like the appearance of a damp patch. When a property owner sees the paint peeling off their wall or mold invading the corners, their first reaction is usually to blame the community. The community's response, almost always, is to look the other way or blame the resident for "not ventilating enough." This triggers a war of technical reports, contractor quotes, and neighborly tensions that can drag on for months....

Receiving an Building Technical Inspection (ITE) report with an "Unfavorable" result or marked with "Serious Deficiencies" has become the new nightmare for homeowner communities. Overnight, an official document states that your property has safety issues, and panic over skyrocketing community assessments (known locally as derramas) takes over the building. The first thing you should know is that a "failed" ITE does not mean the building is going to collapse tomorrow. It means it is time to...