First Occupation Licences

The first two First Occupation Licences have been issued (beginning Jan 2008), to houses at either end of "Zone 1", the Avenida La Pilica. It therefore follows that any other house in that area that meets the requirements should be eligible to obtain a licence.

In the past, new houses have obtained connection to the electricity supply using a letter from the mayor to Sevillana, in lieu of a First Occupation licence. Sevillana will no longer accept anything other than the proper licence, and at the same time many banks are insisting on a First Occupation licence in order to grant a mortgage. As a result, it is something of a priority that Cabrera properties should be eligible for the licences.

Under the normal procedure for urbanisations, the urbanisation infrastructure must be complete before the Town Hall can issue a Licencia de Primera Ocupacion for any house. Clearly that is not practical in the case of Cabrera and therefore it is proposed that the village be divided into zones. Each zone will be eligible for licences once the urbanisation infrastructure is in place.

The first area to fully meet the urbanisation requirements is the ranch road. It has tarmac, street lighting, water, mains drainage. pavements and even some pedestrian crossings. Therefore it is hoped that the houses along and around the ranch road will be able to obtain their First Occupation Licences very soon (written early Dec 2007).

Some people may consider that pavements and pedestrian crossings are completely unnecessary and another unwarranted encroachment of suburbia onto the mountain. Certainly the few pedestrians that we have seen on the ranch road continue to walk down the middle of the road as they have always done. However, the paving has been done in an "Cabrera"-coloured imprinted concrete, so they are about as inoffensive as can reasonably be hoped for.