In older apartments, the electrics, supply pipes, waste and heating are what most often need renewing, and they must be dealt with before finishes. Warning signs include an old fuse board without residual-current protection, missing earth, weak or discoloured water, slow drains and recurring damp. Electrical work must be carried out and certified by authorised installers — on our jobs, authorised partner installers. Renewing services when walls are already open costs far less than later.
Why do services matter more than finishes?
Finishes can be changed one room at a time. Services run through the whole flat, buried in walls and floors, and connect to the building’s shared installations. Renewing them means opening the surfaces they hide behind. That is why the sequence of any renovation puts services first: if they are renewed after the new tiles and paint, those finishes are broken and redone.
It also means that the condition of the services, more than the size of the flat, decides how much work a renovation involves.
What are the signs of an outdated electrical installation?
- A fuse board with screw-in fuses or few breakers and no residual-current device.
- Sockets without earth contacts, or earth missing on some circuits.
- One circuit serving several rooms, with frequent trips when appliances run together.
- Warm sockets, scorch marks, flickering lights.
- Surface trunking and extension leads compensating for too few points.
Spanish electrical installations are governed by the low-voltage regulation (REBT, Royal Decree 842/2002). According to the Junta de Andalucía’s guidance, when an existing installation is modified or extended, the current regulation applies to the modified part. Any electrical work must be done by an authorised installer; on our jobs that is an authorised partner installer. For the certificate, see our electrical certificate guide.
How do you tell whether water pipes are failing?
The most common supply pipes in older flats are galvanised steel. Over time they corrode inside, narrowing the bore. The signs are:
- weak flow, especially when two taps run together;
- brown or rusty water at first draw after a period of non-use;
- visible rust or repairs at joints under sinks;
- leaks that recur in different places.
Copper pipes generally last better, but joints made between different metals in past repairs can be weak points. Where pipes are suspect and walls are being opened anyway, renewal is usually the sensible choice. Our plumbing page explains how we do it.
What problems hide in the waste pipes?
Waste problems are less visible than supply problems, but they cause the most damage to neighbours. Typical issues in older flats are pipes laid with too little fall, so water lingers and blockages form; connections to the stack made with improvised fittings; and a bath or shower whose seal has failed, sending water into the slab and the ceiling below.
Slow drains, gurgling, smells and stains on the ceiling of the flat below are the warning signs. If a bathroom or kitchen was moved in the past, ask how the waste was rerouted.
What about heating and hot water?
Many coastal flats have an electric water heater and little or no fixed heating. Others have a gas boiler that may not have been serviced in years. Signs worth noting are an old water heater with rust at the base, a boiler without service records, and electric heaters plugged into circuits not designed for them.
Gas appliances and heat sources must be installed and maintained by authorised installers; on our renovations, those are partner installers. If you want radiators or underfloor heating, the decision belongs before the floors are laid; see our heating page.
How do damp and ventilation fit in?
Damp in flats has three common causes: condensation, from poor ventilation and cold surfaces; leaks, from pipes, the flat above or the roof; and, on lower floors, moisture coming from the ground or the structure. Each needs a different fix. Condensation is helped by extraction in bathrooms and kitchens and by heating. Leaks need their source traced and repaired. Structural or ground moisture needs a building professional’s diagnosis.
Painting over damp, or covering it with plasterboard, only hides it.
When should services be renewed rather than repaired?
As a rule of thumb, renewal makes sense when the installation shows several warning signs, when you are renovating the kitchen and bathroom, or when the layout changes. Repair makes sense when the installation is basically sound and the fault is local. In both cases, decide before choosing finishes.
We assess the plumbing and waste during the visit, and the partner installer assesses the electrics where needed. The quote then shows renewal and repair as separate options where both are reasonable. For a broader view of older flats, read our page on older apartment renovation.
Where does your flat end and the building begin?
This question matters for every service. In a typical Spanish apartment block, the electricity meter sits in a shared meter room or cupboard, and the cable from there to your fuse board — the individual supply line — runs through common areas. Water usually enters through a meter or valve on the landing or in a shared space, and from that point inwards the pipework is generally yours. Waste from your fittings is yours up to the connection with the vertical stack, which serves the whole building and is normally a shared element.
The exact boundary can vary with the building and its statutes, so it is worth asking the administrator when there is doubt. In practice it means two things for a renovation. First, anything beyond your boundary — the stack, the rising main, the meter room — is not changed without the community’s agreement. Second, if a problem originates on the shared side, such as a cracked stack or a leaking riser, the community is usually responsible for repairing it, and your renovation should not simply cover it up.
Official sources
- Real Decreto 842/2002, REBT (BOE, consolidated text)
- Junta de Andalucía – Preguntas frecuentes PUES/TECI (instalaciones eléctricas)
- CNMC – El boletín eléctrico: qué es y para qué sirve
Bauman Raymond Attila · Reforma Pisos Málaga · Avenida Antonio Belón 3, Marbella. Last reviewed: 05/11/2026.
