Will land law change?

Q.- I have seen reports that Andalucia has a new land law that offers a possibility to legalise all those houses built on land classified as non-building land. Has the new law actually been approved? What are the terms?

A.- Yes, the new land law has been voted by the Andalucian Parliament. However it faces a number of steps before it goes into full effect. Let’s take it by parts. The law is named LISTA, Ley de Impulso y Sostenibilad del Territorio de Andalucía. But the law itself requires the further enactment of a Reglamento, a set of regulations that specify in detail just how the terms of the law are to be carried out.

This can take months. The new law will speed up town planning requirements, change land classification and even allow for the building of new properties in formerly prohibited areas. It will not, however, allow full legalisation of those properties which now hold the strange classification of AFO, Asimilada Fuera de Ordenaciòn, which prevents them from being demolished and will allow new works to be carried out on them.

The law is a step forward but it remains a long way from full legalisation of these properties.

Send your questions for David Searl through lawyers Ubeda-Retana and Associates in Fuengirola at Ask@lawtaxspain.com, or call 952 667 090