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Types of land.
Right to build.
How to promote the transformation of the previous-urbanised ("urbanizable") land?
Instruments of necessary planning and execution for the construction.
Transaction of the planning instruments.
Licenses.Acts requesting licences.
Transfer of the licenses.
Penal infraction.
Type of licenses.

Relevant work.
Smaller work.
Provisional licenses.
First occupation licence.
Activity licence.
Annoying Activities licence.
Fiscal processing of the work and activities licenses.

Types of Land.

Although we provide you hereunder with some basic ideas, please be aware of the consequences of the recent measures of real estate liberalisation.

The Real Decree 4/2000, of 23 of June, Urgent Measures for liberalisation of the Real Estate Sector, allows the owners of the non-urbanised land the possibility of promoting the urban development of its lands, with the condition of not being under the precise circumstances that determine or justify its protection (due to its agricultural, forest, cattle value or by its natural wealth).

The most relevant piece of news is the classification of the land after this norm and the regulated character of the "non-urbanised land".  This means that the classification of the land is no longer a discretionary competition of the Administration, but becomes a regulated decision.

Furthermore, the transformation of the non-urbanised land may be also promoted by the Public Administrations (competent o non-competent) for the approval of the corresponding development planning.  This it is an aspect that has provoked multiple critics by the fear of the competent planning authorities to excesses that may take place in the City councils.  With this new norm, " the non-urbanised" land owners (except for the specifically excluded by this norm), will be entitled to promote their transformation requesting from the Administration, the approval of the corresponding development planning, according with what establishes the city-planning legislation.  That is to say, that will be able to promote the urban development of their lands by means of the processing of a Partial Plan.

The right to promote the transformation of the non-urbanised land, by means of the filing before the City council of the corresponding development planning for its transaction and approval, will be able to be exerted from the moment at which the general planning delimits its scopes or the conditions for their development have been settled down or the development conditions have been defined by virtue of a project or a plan promoted by the private initiative.

The classification will have a regulated character (as it happens with the urban ground), and might be urbanised, although it did not appear within the plan, in the event of gathering all requirements of the Urban Land Act, that is to say, that do not exist excluding objective reasons.

Finally, the procedure will run quicker, which supposes that in any case, the instruments of the development city-planning (initiated by the Public Administrations being competent or not, or by the individuals) will be approved definitively within six months, or the maximum term provided by the competent autonomous legislation.

In conclusion, all type of ground may be urbanised, except for concrete circumstances in contrary.

The city-planning regime for each one of the three land types that the Law establishes is as follows:

a)  Urban land.

It has the urban land consideration:

1) the transformed land with, as minimum, road access, water supply, waters evacuation and provision of electrical energy or to be consolidated by the construction, in the form and with the characteristics that the transformed urban legislation establishes (already transformed from its natural state and can be built).  Apt to ask for the work license, because they already are "plots of land".
2) the lands that in execution of the planning have been urbanised in agreement with it (the definitive transformation depend on the execution of the planning;  it lacks the basic services and have to equip with them during the urbanisation or execution of the planning).

Before asking for the work license, the planning must be executed being adjusted to the projects of re-parcelling or compensation and to the project of urbanisation.  The urbanisation implies, among other obligations, the assumption of the costs of the pending execution, land cession and equal  distribution of benefits and liens and, if necessary, to build lands in the terms established by the planning.

May be built in urban land without being a plot?

Once approved the urbanisation, the work license can be obtained, even though not completed the urbanisation, but being conditioned to the previous or simultaneous accomplishment of necessary works of urbanisation, so that the property acquires the legal condition by means of the delivery of a guarantee that assures to the Administration, the fulfilment of the city-planning obligations that correspond to the property for which the work license is asked for.

The autonomic legislation differs between:

-     Consolidated, that does not require performances of integral execution.
- Not consolidated, that requires these performances.

Regarding the use, the activities allowed by the city-planning planning will be authorised solely, in agreement with the city-planning qualification of each property.

b) non-urbanised land.

There will have the condition of non-urbanised land, to the effects of this Law, the lands in which concur some of the following circumstances:

l.ª That must be included in this type to be put under some special regime of incompatible protection with their transformation in agreement with the plans of territorial arrangement or the sector legislation, with regard to their landscaping, historical, archaeological, scientific, environmental or cultural values, of credited natural risks in the sector planning, or based on their subjection to limitations or easements for the protection of the public dominion.

2.ª That the general planning considers necessary to preserve by the values referred to in the previous point, by its agricultural, forest value, cattle or by its natural wealth, as well as those others that consider inadequate for an urban development.

In the non-urbanised land, the property right takes shape in the faculties to use, to enjoy and to have lands in agreement with its nature, to purposes of agricultural character, cattle, cinegetic, forest or other related to the rational use for natural resources.

For obtaining work licenses, in general, only the constructions destined to farming or linked operations to the execution, entertainment and service of public works are authorised.

It fits, however, the authorisation of specific activities of public interest except when the land is classified as non-urbanised being put under a special regime of incompatible protection with his transformation in agreement with the sector legislation or the plans of territorial arrangement.

c) pro-urbanised ("urbanizable") land.

The land that, to the effects of this Law, does not have the condition of urban or non-urbanised, will have the pro-urbanised ("urbanizable") land consideration, and could be object of transformation in the terms established in the city-planning legislation and the applicable planning.

Finally, in the pro-urbanised ("urbanizable")  land, the owners are entitled to urge the transaction and approval of the instruments of planning of development necessary to come to the transformation of this land in urban.  In counterpart, they will have to fulfil the obligations of cession, equal-distribution, urbanisation and construction within terms, in identical conditions to those for the urban land.

Classification of the land in municipalities without planning.

In the municipalities that lack general planning, the land that does not have the condition of urban in accordance with the criteria established in article 8 of Law 6/1998, will have the non-urbanised land consideration, to the effects of this Law.

Right to build.

The urban land owners have the right to complete the urbanisation of lands so that they acquire the condition of plots and to build these in the conditions that in each case establish the city-planning legislation and the planning.

It acquires the condition of plot when it is urbanised according to its planning, with paved access and indicated alignments and grazing.

a)  Urban land.

1,  Consolidated urban land with the condition for paving.
The owner may build previous request of license.
2,  Consolidated urban land that does not have the condition for paving.
The consolidated-land owners will have to complete to their expenses the necessary urbanisation , so that they will reach, if they did not have it, the condition of plot of land and to build them within term, if they were in the scopes settled down by the planning or in accordance with it.
3,  Urban land that lacks consolidated urbanisation.
The urban land owners that lack consolidated urbanisation will have to assume the following duties:

a) To supply obligatorily and gratuitously to the Administration all necessary land for the avenues, free spaces, green zones and public dowries of local character to the service of the scope of development in which their lands are included.
b) To supply obligatory and gratuitously the necessary land for the execution of the general systems that the general planning, in its case, includes in the corresponding scope, with the object of its management.
c) To supply obligatory  and gratuitously to the operating Administration the land corresponding to the 10 percent of the advantage of the corresponding scope;  this percentage, that has maximum character, could be reduced by the city-planning legislation.  Furthermore, this legislation will be able to reduce the participation of the operating Administration in the urbanisation liens that correspond to this land.
d) To proceed to an equitable distribution of the benefits and liens derived from the planning, prior to the beginning of the material execution of the same one.
e) To pay for and, in its case, to execute the urbanisation.
f) To build the plots within term that, in its case, establishes the planning.

b. pro-urbanised ("urbanizable") land.

The land-owners classified as pro-urbanised ("urbanizable") land are entitled to use, to enjoy and to have lands of their property according to their rustic nature.

Additionally, they will be entitled to promote its transformation requesting from the Administration the approval of the corresponding planning of development, in accordance with what establishes the city-planning legislation.

How to promote the transformation of the pro-urbanised ("urbanizable") land?

1,  The right to promote the transformation of the pro-urbanised ("urbanizable") land land, by means of the delivery before the City council of the corresponding planning of development for its transaction and approval, will be able to be exerted from the moment at which the general planning delimits its scopes or the conditions for their development were settled down.

2,  In another case, the Autonomous Communities, through the city-planning legislation, will regulate the transaction, determinations and content of the necessary documentation to provide that transformation.  Furthermore, this legislation will regulate the effects derived from consultation to the competence Administrations on the criteria and forecasts of the city-planning arrangement, from the sector plans and projects, and from the works that will have to make at their expenses for connection with the outer general systems to the performance in accordance with Article 18 of Law 6/98.  This legislation will fix, also, the terms of answer to the referred consultation.

What duties imply the pro-urbanised ("urbanizable") land transformation for their owners?

The transformation of the classified land as pro-urbanised ("urbanizable") land will request their owners the following duties:

1,  To supply obligatorily and gratuitously to the Administration all necessary land for the avenues, free spaces, green zones and public dowries of local character to the service of the scope of development in which their lands are including.
2,  To supply obligatorily and gratuitously the necessary land for the execution of the general systems that the general planning, in its case, includes or assigns to the corresponding scope.
3,  To pay for and, in its case, to execute infrastructures of connection with the outer general systems to the performance and, in its case, necessary works for the extension or reinforcement of these systems required by the dimension and density of same and the intensities of use that this one generates, in accordance with the requirements and conditions that the general planning establishes.
4,  To supply obligatorily and gratuitously to the operating Administration the land corresponding to 10 percent of the advantage of the sector or corresponding scope;  this percentage, that has maximum character, could be reduced by the city-planning legislation.  Furthermore, this legislation will be able to reduce the participation of the operating Administration in the urbanisation liens that correspond to this land.
5,  To proceed to the equitable distribution from the benefits and liens resulting from the planning, prior to the beginning of the material execution of the same one.
6,  To pay for or to execute the urbanisation of the sector or corresponding scope.
7,  To build the lots in the term that, in its case, establishes the planning.

c) non-urbanised land.

1,  The owners of the classified land as non-urbanised will be entitled to use, to enjoy and to have its property in accordance with the nature of lands, having to destine it to agricultural, forest, cattle aims cinegetic or other tie ones to the rational use of the natural resources, and within the limits that, in its case, establish the laws or the planning.

Exceptionally, through the procedure advanced in the city-planning legislation, performances of public interest will be able to be authorised  previous justification that do not concur the circumstances anticipated in section 1 of article 9 of present Act 6/1998.

2,  In the non-urbanised land are forbidden the city-planning parcelling, not being accepted divisions, segregation or divisions of any type against the agrarian, forest legislation or another of similar nature.

Instruments of planning and execution necessary for construction.

Being an autonomic competence, each Autonomous Community can regulate it in a different way.  According to the each land type, it will be necessary to take into consideration the following planing instruments, with the purpose of its construction:

In urban land:  General plan or Subsidiary Norms of Planning, and in its case, Special Plan of the Inner Reformation, that establishes the detailed arrangement of the territory.

In sector pro-urbanised ("urbanizable") land:  Partial plan, that orders in detail the delimited sector or sectors.

In non-sector pro-urbanised ("urbanizable") land:  Boundary of planning sectors or/and partial plan.

In non-urbanised land:  It does not require any instrument of development although a special plan of protection can be written up, or for the rearrangement of the rural construction, or intending the execution of the general infrastructure of communications.

Once definitively approved the instrument of precise planning, or jointly, the corresponding instruments of execution, the project of re-parcel or compensation and the project of urbanisation may be transacted, with the purpose of obtaining the work license.

In the co-operation system, the Administration writes up the re-parcel project, settling they rights of the people included in the sector, based on the contributed land surface, as well as the distribution of the benefits and liens derived from the planning

In the compensation system, on the other hand, those affected owners that impel the procedure, as long as they reach a 60 percent of the total surface of the sector, writing up the project of compensation and the project of urbanisation, having to support the cost of re-parcelling in proportion to the land surface contributed to the Compensation Body.

In both assumptions, lands located outside the scope of the in question sector may be included within the equal-distribution project of benefits and liens, affected by general systems.
 

Transaction of the planning instruments.

The Autonomous Communities are competent. However, for an informative overview, the following procedure of approval's effects may be mentioned:

Approval procedure.

a) Initiative

All proceeding may begin at request of the interested individuals or officially by the operating city-planning Administration.

b)   Initial Approval

Ordinarily, the local Administration produces the initial approval of the planning instruments, which are put under public information by means of the insertion of the corresponding announcements in official newspapers and, in their case, specially in plans of particular initiative, by means of the personal notification during the initial approval to all affected owners and other holders of real rights filed with the Real Estate Registry.

c) Public Information

The term of public information normally oscillates between fifteen days and a month.  In parallel way, the project initially approved is put under report of the administrative agencies of matters that may be affected by the new planning (wagon, railroads, ports, coasts, hydraulic administration, etc.).

d) Provisional approval.

Surpassed the public information and the proceeding of hearing to administrative agencies of matters that may be affected by the new planning, it is produced the provisional approval of the planning instrument.

e)  Definitive approval

After the provisional approval, the file is sent to the competent body for the definitive approval, that will be autonomous or local Administration, based on the municipality population.  This competence corresponds generally to the provincial authorities, Councils of Urbanism, Territory or Territorial Policy (according to the denomination adopted by each Autonomous Community), in the event of great populations, otherwise, it will correspond to the City Council.
 

Licenses.  Acts requesting license.

All construction act will require the compulsory municipal license.  The general assumptions are:

1,  The constructions and all type of new plant buildings.
2,  The works of extension of buildings and facilities of all existing phases.
3,  The works of modification or reform that affect the structure of the buildings and facilities of all existing classes.
4,  The works of modification of the outer aspect of the buildings and facilities of all existing classes.
5,  The works that modify the inner disposition of the buildings, whatever his use is.
6,  The works of provisional character.
7,  The works of public services installation.
8,  The city-planning parcelling.
9,  The earthworks, such as clearings, explanation, embanked excavation, unless such acts are detailed and programmed like works to execute in a project of urbanisation or approved or authorised construction.
10. The first use or occupation of the buildings.
11. The use of the over-construction on the constructions and facilities of all existing classes.
12. The demolition of the constructions, excepts in declared cases of imminent ruin.
13. Work license will be required for the accomplishment of any building, required construction or installation, although located public dominion land or public service.  However, the previous obtaining of municipal License will not be demanded when the works to make come imposed by the own city council by means of an execution order, since in this assumption they are not made by will of the interested one.
 

Transfer of licenses.

The licenses relative to the conditions of a work, installation or service will be transmissible, but the old and new constructor or entrepreneur will have to report it in writing  to the City Council, without which both will be subject to all liabilities that correspond to the holder.
 

Penal infraction.

The work execution without license may be constituent of breach.  In all these assumptions, the judges and courts may order (with justification), the demolition of the work executed to the expenses of the person that made it, without exclusion to the indemnities due to third of good faith.

Type of licenses.

Relevant work.

Those works that affect to the structure or basic elements of a building (facade, tile roof, structure, etc.).

Documents to be provided:

The following documentation must be provided to the Urban department of the City
Council:

2 projects checked by the architects Bar.
2 instances checked by the Technical architects and architects bars.
1 Statistic questionnaire.
1 Summary of the budget signed by the architect responsible for the project (In some city councils it is not essential).
Photocopy of deed of sale for the building.
Last receipt of the local real estate tax.
The tax duties vary depending on the construction place and its use, between the 2,5% to the 3.20%.

Small work.

They are constructions that lack technical complexity, little constructive and economic organisation, consisting normally of small works of simple repair, decoration, ornamentation or closing, property fencing, terraces reforms or the installation of luminous announcements.

Documents to be provided:

The following documentation must be provided to the Urban department of the City
Council:
To provide descriptive form of the work to do stating that it is not relevant
Last receipt of the local real estate tax.

Provisional licenses.

The provisional licenses constitute a new type of licenses, and its regulation corresponds to the competence of the Autonomous Communities.

The Administration may grant provisional work and activity licenses as long as concur the following requirements:

1,  Absence of express prohibition in the city-planning or sector legislation or  planning.
2,  Commitment, on the part of the petitioner of the provisional License, to stop the activity and renouncing to any indemnity in case of demolition.
3,  Certainty of the authorisation and the conditions here-above exposed, accepted by the owner (according to the Real Estate Registry).

Procedure

1,  Request by the interested party.  The interested party must ask for the work license before the city council of the municipal area where it is tried to make the work.
2,  Report of the municipal technical services.  The request and the attached documentation will be informed by the municipal technical services.  If deficiencies in the instance or the filed documentation were observed, it will be granted a ten or fifteen days term for corrections, warning of the consequences in the event of not being corrected.
3,  Resolution of the file.  Once received the filed documentation and the report issued by the municipal technical services, the competent body will grant the work license or will deny it if the proposed works transgress the city-planning norm or damage the existing construction.

License of first occupation.

It is requested at the moment of ending the works and stated that they agree with the work license.  To this request a certificate issued by the competent technician will be attached stating that it settles the conclusion of works and its conformity with the granted license.  The municipal technical services will turn visit of inspection with the purpose of verifying this circumstances and being favourable, the major will grant the first occupation licence.  This license allows the material occupation of the building, by means of the hiring of  services (light, water, telephone, etc.).

License of activity.

It is verified the submission to the in force city-planning, technical and security norms.

License of annoying Activities.

It includes the following activities:

Annoying.

The activities annoy by the noises or vibrations that produce or by the smoke, gases, scents, fog, dusts in suspension or substances that they eliminate.

Unhealthy.

Those that give rise to loosening or product evacuation that can be direct or indirectly detrimental for the human health.

Injurious.  Those that, by the same causes, can cause damages to the fishing wealth, forest, cattle or agricultural.

Dangerous.  Those that they intend to make, to manipulate, to sell or to store products susceptible to originate serious risks by explosions, combustion, radiation or others of analogous importance for the people or goods.

Exceptions.

The liberal professions (lawyer, architect, etc.) do not request municipal license.
The accomplishment of constructions, works and facilities, as well as the opening of establishments, are subject to certain tributes regulated by the Local Properties Act, that we are going to examine hereunder.
 

Tax on Constructions, facilities and Works.

The City Councils can establish in their tax decrees  the Tax on Constructions, Facilities and Works, whose tax basis is constituted by the accomplishment within the municipal term, of any construction, installation or buildings for which it is requested obtaining of the corresponding city-planning work license.

The tax base results from the mere accomplishment of the works, independently from being the licence obtained or not.

The forced ones to the payment of the tribute are the physical people or legal owners of the buildings on which the works, facilities or constructions are made, whenever they are owners of the work.  In the other cases, they are put under the tribute those that have the condition of owner of the work.  Furthermore, those that ask for the license or make the corresponding works will be subsidiary liable for the tax payer.

The tax base is the real and effective cost of the work, which, according to what determined by jurisprudence, solely includes the cost of the construction and the facilities, having to exclude from calculation the technicians fees, the general expenses and the taxes.

The type of burden that is applied to it oscillates between the 2 and 4 percent of this cost depending on the municipality population.
 

Tax duties for work license.

For obtaining a work license, it is necessary to satisfy the corresponding tax duty by city-planning services that the fiscal decrees of each municipality may establish.

The tax duties, according with the definition that on the matter appears in the General Tax Law, are tributes whose taxable fact comes determined by the benefit from services or the taking of steps in regime of public right that affects or benefits to the passive subjects, when two circumstances concur:

- That they are of request or obligatory reception by the administered ones.
- That they cannot be rendered or be made by the private sector inasmuch as they imply intervention in the performance of the individuals or any other manifestation of the authority exercise or because, in relation to these services its reserve in favour of the public sector according to the norm is established.

The quantification of the rate by these services, depends on the criteria that the own municipality adopts.  In any case, the Local Taxes Act must be considered.

Other tax duties:

Tax duty by opening or installation.
Tax duty by license of being operative.
Tax duty by change of licensee's  holder..