Last news

Draft rules for land act

18-11-2010
The proposed draft for the land act is already in the hands of some professional associations. Much time has passed since the approval of the controversial state land law, the Ministry of Housing (is now integrated within secretary of development) did their homework and prepared a much expected draft regulation plan.

At CYCLO we will address in depth the study of this text through a news series produced by Cristobal Ruiz, our expert on urban issues, and will be published regularly on our website during the next few weeks.

Please keep in mind, in this first information outline, data derived from our Constitution and rulings from the Constitutional Court, and state powers were formed in the Land Act (RD 2 / 2008 of 20 June, revised text), which is basically a legal assessment on the law of VALUATIONS AND LEGAL REGIME. That is to say, the law limits to explain how the land value will be assessed and under what situations. The remaining urban area is regulated by the Autonomous Communities. Land types, urban planning, land management, land planning, urban discipline, etc, are regulated by the corresponding Autonomous Laws in this matter. Andalucia did so through their late law of Urban Planning of Andalucia (LOUA) which came into effect the 1st of January 2003 and as of today still has a pending developmental regulatory policy.

The Draft of which this in-depth study is today initiated is of great interest since it gives way to two matters of great importance: VALUES AND REGISTRATION OF THE PROPERTY.

As for the valuations, the Land Act establishes the only existence of only two types of land for valuation purposes: urban land and rural land. Meaning that this Act does not use the three traditional categories recognized by the land laws, namely: Urban, developable and not developable. This means, without going too much into depth, that for the purposes of assessment, or what is derived from it, for expropriation purposes, the law does not recognize the real estate, for example, floor plans drawn up with potential to be urbanized, as one of the categories and it is placed under the category of rural land. This change is fundamental to the economy of many people affected by expropriation: roads, airports, trains, etc, will arouse much interest and there will be much to say in respect about this regulation which is of great concern.

On the other hand, the law gives the property registers greater involvement in urban affairs and many of events and urban situations will have to be registered in the appropriate registries in order to protect the interests of third parties. Until then, it seemed that the planning department and property registry system were going in separate directions; we have come across unacceptable situations in which information obtained from the registry did not show the development situation of the plot and, more importantly, the urban responsibility that the developmental growth would impose upon them. The Regulation will explain in considerable detail how much greater the involvement of the Property Registry Department in Urban Development will be.

At CYCLO Lawyers and Advisers we know the enormous job we face and how arduous the matter to be discussed is, but we are sure that many of our customers and many of those affected by these issues, can find on our website the necessary information to at least know on what ground they stand on in case they find themselves to be affected by expropriations, Partial Plans, Compensation Boards, etc.

As always, we remain at your disposal for any questions you may have regarding this matter.

Cristóbal Ruiz Marín
Qualified Planning Consultant & Tax Advisor

Return