EXPLAINED: How Andalucia’s new land law reform could allow construction of homes on rural land across southern Spain

ANDALUCIA is pressing ahead with reforms to land laws that will allow construction of new homes on rural land.

The new bill – which reforms the Ley de Ordenacion Urbanistica de Andalucia – will grant permits to build detached homes on any land deemed ‘suelo rustico’.

Previously the LOUA only permitted agriculture and livestock farmers to build homes on rural land.

Andalucia councillor for development, infrastructure and land planning Marifran Carazo said the reforms would open up ‘new opportunities’ that ‘speed up’ the development of Andalucia’s municipalities.

Any new constructions can only be used as a second home, and so long as projects do not create ‘new urban nuclei’ within the municipality.

Countryside homes may only be built on plots of land equivalent in size to more than three football fields, according to Diario Sur.

They can be up to two storeys high, but only under certain conditions.

Carazo said the LOUA has not seen any substantial reform for ’20 years’ and that new plans are fruit of 147 meetings with town halls and 83 reunions with technicians.

While the plans sound like a step towards permitting new rural countryside homes in Andalucia, the reforms are also to clean up decades of rule-dodging.

Thousands of homes on ‘suelo rustico’ have been built in Andalucia as second homes, regardless of having no planning permission or official approval.

This leads to constructions planned without architects, without paper trails, without licences, with illegal wells, insufficient roads for emergency services, without adequate drainage and without stimulating the economy in a meaningful way.

Typically many town halls have turned a ‘blind eye’ to these issues – however following scandals such as when 4-year-old Julen fell into an illegal well in Andalucia in early 2019, such irregularities have come under public scrutiny.

Carazo said a window is open until March 3 for any complaints or problems with the reforms, and planned for the measures to come law inside ‘six months’.

READ MORE:

• Expat campaigners claim ‘small victory’ as Andalucia approves new planning laws
• Thousands more illegal wells like one little Julen died in scattered across Malaga, experts warn