A number of readers will perhaps be aware that there are new planning rules here in Andalucia. As a Spanish lawyer with some 30 years of experience, I will attempt to explain them in this article. As always this isn’t legal advice, and you should always take legal advice from a properly qualified lawyer here in Spain.
I will start with a short review of what the position re planning was before LISTA. Prior to Lista there were a number of laws regulating planning here in Andalucia. LISTA came into force in December 2021. LISTA is an acronym of ´Ley de impluso para Sostenibilidad del territorio de Andalucia´ which means the law for sustainability of the land of Anadalusia. LISTA brings together a number of laws that regulated all the planning laws in Andalusia.
LISTA is a set of principles that have to be developed, which is going to be a long complex, and probably controversial procedure, for a number of reasons, one of them is going to be because people will see this law as a solution to building on rustic land. The law must be developed within 6 months of it being passed, so before the end of June 2022.
The most important points of LISTA are to put all the planning rules into the same law, to classify land as rustic (rustico) or urban (urbano), within rustic land it is anticipated the option of having new builds, however, these proposed new buildings have to be needed to by the local for example village or town. The building has to be justified by the public interest and the principle of sustainability, which will be defined in the new law which as I have stated has to be enacted before the end of June 2022. The land for the proposed buildings has to be on the edge or proximity of the existing hamlet, village, or town. The construction can be for residential, tourism, agriculture or commercial.
Another point of the new LISTA law is that it tries to simplify the process of the future planning of the towns or villages, however, the law doesn’t say how this can be done.
Regarding illegal houses, LISTA states that if they have been built on any kind of land, there will be a process to legalise them which will simplify the existing law.
If you are looking to buy a plot of rustic land to build a home here in Andalucia be sure that this plot is suitable to have a building licence granted by the town hall. Under LISTA the authorities have the final say.
If you are thinking of buying some land to build a home you should always take advice from ourselves before you sign or pay anything to the Spanish estate agent of the private seller. I will write another article once the rules for developing this law have been enacted.
If you have a legal issue in Spain anything from an NIE number, via a visa to a property purchase here in Spain get in touch with Just Law Solicitors, we have 30 years of experience and we cover the whole of Spain.
Marisa Moreno Castillo, Senior Lawyer and Consul for Denmark
Since 1992 www.justlawsolicitors.com
Email [email protected]
Malaga – Fuengirola – Marbella
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