Question:
Dear lawyer,
I inherited long time ago a property in a rustic area, from my parents in Denia, Marina Alta, Alicante. The property is very old but is in good condition. Now I want to sell and I have been told that as it is on rural land and it has less than 10,000 square meters plot, it is illegal and I cannot sell it. Is this right?.
Dear reader, thank you for your mail.
It must be said first of all, that it is very common for properties in in non able to be urban (rustic) areas, to do not comply with the regulations, as they must in principle have a minimum plot of 10,000m2, it must not be more than a maximum number of homes in the area, etc.
When they not meet these requirements, but the property – building has been built for long time, it is possible that is the deadline for the Town Hall review the situation is over, so they can not start a procedure to ask for the legalization of property and / or ask for a penalty for the works done without license, etc. If this is the case, it is understood that the property is outside the law ( fuera de ordenación), i.e., it does not comply with the laws and planning, but the Town Hall can no longer sanction or ask for the legalization, demolition, etc. These properties outside the law have a number of important limitations, i.e. the works that can be performed on them are minimum, their value in the event of a compulsory sale is affected, etc.
In your case, you indicated that your property is very old, you should know that the Valencian Law, known as LOTUP (Law 5/2014 of 25 July, of the Generalitat, of Planning, Urbanism and Landscape of Valencia), in its Second Final Provision, named “status of some isolated buildings without license”, states that:
Isolated buildings on non able to be urban land ( rustic), built before the entry into force of Law 19/1975, of 2nd of May, amending the Law on Land Regime and Planning, and not having municipal urban license for this kind of area, shall be treated with the same regime as the buildings with license, as far as they were finished on that date, they still keep the use and the typological characteristics they had at the time when the said Law got into force, and as far as they are not in a legal situation of ruin.
Therefore, it is possible that if your property maintains the use, and it is not in ruin, and was built before 1975, be assimilated to those properties with license, which is a kind of legalization of it by law.
If you want to buy or sell a property in Spain. Contact us and we’ll help.
The information provided in this article is not intended to be legal advice, but merely conveys general information related to legal issues.
Carlos Baos (Lawyer)
Spanish solicitor -barrister.
Alicante, Denia, Costa Blanca Marina Alta
White & Baos 2016 – All rights reserved
