Opening licenses - Offices

LICENCES

May 3

Written By Francisco Javier Muñoz Fuentes

If you are thinking of starting a business by opening your own office or professional office, surely there are many aspects that you should take into account and you do not know where to start. In this post we will try to resolve all the doubts you may have about the legal aspects, so that you fully understand how to process the opening / activity license for your office or professional office.

TYPES OF OFFICES

They are framed within the office activity: all those activities whose function is to provide administrative, technical, financial, information or other services, either to companies or individuals. Also included within this type of activity are offices that offer sales services, such as bank branches, travel agencies, as well as professional domestic offices.

When explaining the procedures to be carried out to obtain the opening license, we will differentiate between all those activities that are carried out in an office proper (generally a commercial premises in which such use is allowed) from the activities that are carried out from home (such as: lawyers, accountants, architects, freelancers ...) which we will call domestic offices.

PROCESS

For both types of offices it is a harmless activity (understood as one that does not modify the health, environmental or security conditions for the population), so the processing of this type of licenses is usually quick, as they are not necessary certain procedures such as environmental qualification.

Obtaining the license will be processed through a responsible declaration, which is nothing more than a document signed by the applicant (accompanied by as many documents as requested) in which it is declared, under the responsibility of the signer, that all the requirements are met. for (in this case) the start of an activity. This responsible declaration must be accompanied by an activity project signed by an architect (it will not be necessary in the case of professional offices).

If you want to know more about the procedure and what documentation you have to present, we recommend that you read our post: Opening licenses: everything you need to know.

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REQUIREMENTS

Licences for Offices

Location of the activity: The first requirement that must be taken into account will be the urban regulations. Municipal planning establishes a series of permitted uses and specific rules depending on the location of the property, so the first step before buying or renting a place to open our office, will be to verify that this use is allowed by urban regulations.

Sanitary provision: The number of toilets that must exist depends on the useful area of the office. At a minimum, in offices of less than two hundred square meters, there must be at least one toilet for men and one for women.

For offices with more than fifty workers, there must be at least one toilet adapted for people with reduced mobility, which must be for mixed use.

Accessibility regulations:

The most relevant aspects of these regulations that must be taken into account are:

There must be at least one accessible access to the premises.
The floor of both the access ramp and the entire premises must be non-slip.
The openings and doors must be more than 80cm wide.
The corridors must be at least 1.00m wide, and there must be turning areas (with a free diameter of 1.50m) at certain points such as the lobby, in corridors of more than 10m in length, in front of the elevator ( in your case) and so on.

Fire protection regulations: The requirements regarding fire protection facilities may vary depending on the useful surface of the premises, but, in general we can say that there must be at least one extinguisher located every 15 meters, emergency lighting and exit signs.

Licenses for Household Offices

Due to the boom in teleworking in recent times, it is increasingly common to find different types of workers working in an office located in their own home. This type of office is very common in medical consultations, architecture studios, law firms, agencies ... What are the requirements for it?

Incompatible activities:

In the first place, we have to mention that not all the activities that are included within the concept of office (commented at the beginning of the post) can be developed in domestic offices. Commercial activities and offices with sales services must be carried out in an office, adjusting to the requirements mentioned in that section.

Housing requirements:

In the event that the professional activity is carried out by the user from their own home, there are a series of requirements:

The useful surface that is going to be used as an office, cannot exceed a third of the useful surface of the home, and must constitute a differentiated space of the home.
The useful area not intended for professional activity, must comply with the program and minimum area of housing, established according to the regulations of the municipality.
The office area must have natural light and ventilation.

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