A building with 83 homes for the elderly at the former Quirón clinic

Housing Glossary

You will find information here on all topics relating to housing in Barcelona

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Accrued interest

The interest applied as a penalisation when the debtor does not comply with repayment obligations. The amount must be established in the contract.

Active supermortgage

This allows the client to choose their loan's benchmark index (MIBOR at three months, six months or a year) so that payment can benefit from lower interest rates sooner.

Adaptable instalment

Characteristic of UCI superloans that allow the borrower to not pay one instalment a year for the first three years if there are problems due to holidays, extraordinary expenses, etc.

Advanced cancellation fee

A commission arising from the financial risk involved in the advanced cancellation of an operation. The applied commission compensates the financial institution for its financial losses.

AEDE

Direct state aid for paying the deposit on a property.

Affordable housing

Group of social housing or dwellings from social renovation projects that are sold or rented at below-market prices.

Affordable rent

The cost of renting these dwellings is below market prices after being included in operations concerning the rented flat pool, social renovation or social housing promotions.

Amortisation

Payment made to repay a loan.

Amortisation period

The duration of the loan. The contract establishes the date of the first and last payments. The longer the period, the lower the payments are, but the higher the interest. You therefore pay more in the end. The monthly instalment should not exceed 35% of your net income.

API

Estate agent. A qualified professional who acts as an intermediary between the two interested parties to facilitate the signing of a real estate contract, which can be a rental agreement, a sales agreement or another similar contract. They usually charge a percentage of the sales price as compensation or commission.

Applicant

A citizen who makes a registration application to the Barcelona Social Housing Applicants Registry, and who represents the other members of the dwelling unit included in the application.

APR

Annual Equivalent Rate. Effective annual cost of the mortgage in terms of interest, commissions and the repayment period. To compare loans, it is not enough to just look at the lowest APR, you also have to compare the conditions, the repayment period and the distribution of instalment payments.

Arbitri municipal de plusvàlua

Former denomination of the capital gains tax on landed property.

Assessment

The value of a dwelling certified by a specialised assessment company, in accordance with the mortgage market law. This certificate not only indicates the real value of the property, it also serves as a reference for obtaining the necessary financing.

Authorisation

Document in which the owner authorises the tenant to carry out building work in the dwelling's interior.

Elderly people. The block is being built on a site in Av. Mare de Déu de Montserrat, in the district of Gràcia.

Work is under way on a building with 83 homes for the elderly, to be built on the site of the former Quirón clinic in Av. Mare de Déu de Montserrat, in the district of Gràcia. The building will have floor space of over 11,000 square metres and include communal spaces such as a centre for the elderly, a community centre, a young people’s centre and an auditorium.

The building is a pioneering block as it combines housing for the elderly with another section with accommodation for highly dependent senior citizens and seeks to cover ongoing support and adapted housing needs as a pilot project, an alternative to current homes for the elderly and conceived for new generations of senior citizens.

The design process involved local residents’ organisations, with a participatory process to decide what type of spaces they needed, as there is a real shortfall in community facilities in the neighbourhood of La Salut.

With an anticipated investment of 13.1 million euros, the architectural solution uses the ground floor for the different spaces for local people and the two access points for housing. The design also takes into account energy efficiency, as the homes and accommodation have exterior façades giving onto the street and interior façades giving onto an inner quadrangle to ensure cross-ventilation.