Investment approach
What a family office checks in a development project: 20 questions
There is no public family office checklist. Twenty questions on a development project in Barcelona, drawn from the LOE, the Llei d'urbanisme and open sources.
There is no public family office checklist for development projects, and the internal criteria of such structures are not disclosed. A family office is a structure that manages the capital of one or several families. Below are 20 questions that follow from the rules (LOE, Llei d'urbanisme, Registradores) and from how open sources describe the behaviour of this capital. It is a list for a conversation with the developer and with an abogado, not a retelling of anyone's internal rules.
What do open sources say about how family offices behave?
Open data is thin and all of it comes from one consultancy. Idealista, 16.09.2024 reports on a Cat Real Estate study: over a half-year the consultancy closed family office deals in retail units and offices in central Barcelona worth more than 20 M€, at an average yield of 5,5%, and 90% of the deals were done without external financing. The consultancy attributed the move away from residential rental to regulation. This is a sample of one company's deals, not a market statistic.
If that sample is representative, two practical points follow. This capital often arrives without borrowing, so questions about the operator's own money matter as much as questions about credit. The choice fell on conservative assets (as the consultancy describes it), so the price of a development project's risk will have to be demonstrated.
Which questions on land and permits come first?
- Who is the owner according to the nota simple (registry extract) and what cargas (charges and encumbrances) sit on the property? The Registradores call the nota simple "puramente informativa"; title is checked through a certificación, see the check of cargas.
- Which licence is needed, and for what type of work? In Catalonia, works in general require a licencia urbanística (planning permit) (art. 187 of the Llei d'urbanisme).
- What volume does the plan allow? See edificabilidad and the PGM.
- Is there a mandatory share of protected housing or urbanisation obligations? See the 30% quota.
- Does the property carry a pre-emption right for the city or the Generalitat? See tanteo y retracto.
Which questions on money and deal structure?
- How much of its own money does the operator put in, and on what terms alongside mine? See operator capital in the project.
- In whose name is the property held: the project SL, the operator, the participants? See who owns the property.
- Which costs are deducted before profit is distributed? See what project costs include.
- Which fees does the operator receive regardless of the result?
- Is there a loan, secured on what, and what happens on delay?
Which questions on construction and guarantees?
- Who is the contractor and what type of contract: turnkey or by stages?
- What is the budget, what is the reserve and how are payments controlled? See payment schedule and budget control.
- Is there ten-year latent defects insurance? The LOE, in art. 19.1.c and the second additional provision, requires it for residential buildings, except a single owner-occupied detached house.
- If flats are sold before completion: how are buyers' advance payments protected? The first additional provision of the LOE requires a seguro de caución or aval (surety insurance or bank guarantee) and a separate account.
- What are the licence and construction deadlines, and what happens on delay? See the risk of permit delays.
Which questions on exit, taxes and reporting?
- Which transactions was the sale price based on? See the gap between asking and closing price.
- What if the sale price is below plan? See exit plan A, B, C.
- What taxes does the project SL bear and which do I bear as a participant? This is a question for the asesor fiscal (tax adviser), see taxes in the SL structure.
- What reporting do I receive and how often? See investor reporting.
- How can I exit early or stop the project? See investor exit from the project.
Which document confirms each answer?
| Block | What to request |
|---|---|
| Land and permits | Certificación registral, licence, plan, cargas certificate |
| Money and structure | SL articles, participation agreement, calculation of costs before distribution |
| Construction and guarantees | Contractor's contract, budget, ten-year warranty policy |
| Exit and reporting | Sales plan, list of transactions behind the price, sample report |
Worked example, not a forecast. A 5 M€ project, the operator contributes 20%, that is 1 M€. Revenue comes in 500 000 € below plan. With a proportional split of the loss, the operator bears 100 000 € and the investors 400 000 €. The actual allocation is set by the contract: that is why question 6 cannot be skipped.
Who is this list not for?
Anyone expecting an assessment of a specific project: the list asks questions and contains no answers. Anyone wanting a universal family office checklist: it is not public, and each structure has its own criteria. And anyone who needs a legal conclusion: answers to questions 1–5, 7 and 18 are read by the abogado or asesor fiscal from the documents. How the DNPI offer is set up can be read on the approach page.
Questions and answers
What does a family office check first?
There is no open data on internal criteria. It is logical to start with title, licence and ownership structure, because everything else depends on them. Then come the operator's own money, the construction budget and the exit scenario.
Why does a family office care about the developer's own capital share?
In its press release of 22.06.2026 on the Sant Joan Despí Fase II project, Fellow Funders stated a developer contribution of 1,08 M€ out of 5,4 M€ (20%), and the platform presents this as alignment of interests. This is the platform's own report, not a verification.
Is ten-year defects insurance mandatory?
For residential buildings yes, under the LOE, except a single owner-occupied detached house. For buildings of other use, it may be made mandatory by royal decree. What your project needs is decided by the abogado.
Is a nota simple enough to check a property?
No. The Registradores call it informational. A certificación signed by the registrar has legal force and is requested before the transaction.
Why is there no question about return in the list?
The return figure follows from the answers to questions 6–10 and 16, and open data has no market average. The difference between project return and investor return is covered in the article on project return and investor return.
