The collapse of an occupied house in Vilanova de Bellpuig on Wednesday morning, where two men were trapped, and the collapse of a roof in Alfarràs, highlight the fragility of the housing stock in Lleida. In the city of Lleida and major municipalities, approximately half of the buildings are over 45 years old, a figure that is even higher in many small towns.
This age demands constant maintenance and rehabilitation actions to ensure safety. However, most owners, both individual and community, do not allocate sufficient resources to this task, often due to lack of budget availability or general neglect.
Only approximately 7% of the properties that were obliged to undergo the Technical Building Inspection (ITE) have actually been inspected.
This negligence is reflected in regulatory compliance. From 2014 until mid-last year, only just over 5,000 properties in Ponent had requested the Technical Building Inspection (ITE), despite the law imposing it on all buildings over 45 years old.
The situation is exacerbated by administrative inefficiency. The city of Lleida, for example, lost nearly ten million euros in Next Generation funds intended for the rehabilitation of old social housing blocks. This loss is due to a lack of applications, as administrations failed to provide mechanisms to compensate for the inability of property communities to manage the complex procedures.
