Legal Considerations When Buying Rural Properties in Spain

For non-nationals, buying or selling real estate in Spain always requires special precautions, the first of which is to seek independent legal advice.

If we add to this the fact that there is land use legislation in Spain—enforced by local governments, which are responsible for ensuring compliance with the law—it is clear that this advice must be more specialized, especially when we are talking about rural properties.

In previous articles, we have already discussed the various legal classifications of land in urban planning, and now we will focus on a brief overview of what constitutes rural land.

Therefore, once a land use designation has been established, any use of the land or any construction not provided for in the relevant regulations constitutes a violation of those regulations and will be considered a breach of urban planning laws, with consequences ranging from the demolition of the structure to the imposition of coercive and punitive fines.

Who defines the rustic character of a property?

Article 12 of Law 8/2007, the Land Law, rather than establishing the various «land classes,” refers instead to what it defines as «basic land situations.».

Thus, all land falls into one of two categories: rural land or developed land. Specifically, land is classified as rural land when:

a) In any case, land preserved by land-use and urban planning regulations from being transformed through development. This land must include, at a minimum, land excluded from such development by legislation governing the protection or regulation of public property, nature conservation, or cultural heritage; land that must be subject to such protection under land-use and urban planning regulations due to the values it possesses, including ecological, agricultural, livestock, forestry, and landscape values, as well as those subject to natural or technological risks—including flooding or other serious accidents—and any others provided for by land-use or urban planning legislation.
b) Land for which land-use and urban planning instruments provide for or permit its reclassification as developed land, until the corresponding development project is completed.
c) Any other party that does not meet the requirements set forth in the following section may file an appeal.

In short, rural land is land that is not functionally integrated into the urban fabric. However, some autonomous communities, such as the Community of Valencia, do provide definitions, establishing that land classified as non-developable is land that, according to urban or territorial planning, must be designated for uses consistent with the rural nature of the land.

What Uses Are Permitted on Rural Properties?

Rural land is excluded from conversion through urban development, which prevents it from being used for urban construction; its use is limited solely to the exploitation of natural resources. Rural land may be used for the following purposes: agriculture, livestock, forestry, hunting, and any other use consistent with the rational use of natural resources.

What Can Be Built on Rural Land?

Any construction that is not specific to and suitable for any of the authorized uses is prohibited. What precisely distinguishes this type of land from others is, on the one hand, that rural land lacks any urban infrastructure or services, such as water, electricity, sewerage, and so on; on the other hand, this land is not zoned for construction, so any structure to be built must be appropriate for its intended use.

Since a building permit must be obtained from the city council of the municipality where the land is located in order to build, it is clear that any building application for that land that does not comply with the requirements will be rejected outright, hence the widespread under-the-table dealings that have taken place in Spain for many years, where authorities have turned a blind eye to countless illegal constructions on rural land.

Finally, we must add—because otherwise this article would be incomplete, and because we would not be providing accurate information—that in some cases it is indeed permitted to construct detached buildings intended for family housing in areas where there is no possibility of a population center forming.

The relevant permits must be applied for, and the City Council will verify whether the requirements are met; allowing the use of a family home in a rural area is an exceptional or infrequent situation.

What Happens if It Is Built or Used for Unauthorized Purposes?

The inevitable consequence is that this will be considered a serious urban planning violation, which will trigger the corresponding proceedings to restore compliance with urban planning regulations—a process that will not only result in a fine but also require the demolition of the illegal structure, hence the term “restoration of compliance with urban planning regulations.”.

If the City Council acts within the deadline, it can be said that the consequences are very severe for the offending property owner. Another scenario, as we will see later, is if the work has already been completed and the aforementioned deadline has passed; in that case, as we will see later, the consequences will be different.

Can an Illegal Structure Be Legalized?

As we will see later, construction work carried out without a municipal permit cannot be legalized; however, it is a different matter that such work may be declared as existing in the Property Registry under certain circumstances, and only for declaratory and informational purposes—but never as establishing any legal rights.

The next problem you will encounter is the legal prohibition against building new structures or modifying existing ones.

What Precautions Should a Buyer Take When Considering the Purchase of Rural Land?

The first thing a buyer should do is determine the zoning status of the property they wish to purchase. They can request the land’s zoning certificate from City Hall, although they could also obtain it from the land registry by requesting a record and certification for the property in question.

Using this information, you should compare it with the property you wish to purchase and verify that all existing structures on the property either have the appropriate permits or are registered in the Property Registry as existing; however, as we will see later, this does not necessarily mean that those structures registered at a later date are legal.

The Land Registry records the actual condition of the property as it has always been, or as it has evolved through various phases with the appropriate permits; however, it may also include structures that are at least a certain age, even if they do not have a permit.

In these cases, when the buyer goes to the Registry, they can verify whether or not the construction work has been reported; if it has, they must require the owner to register it, as we will see later.

An important point to note regarding unregistered structures is that if they remain unlicensed for a period of 5 years, the City Council may initiate proceedings to restore compliance with urban planning regulations; once their illegality has been verified, this will result in their demolition, in addition to the applicable financial penalties.

If a buyer discovers that there are illegal structures within that period, they should take this circumstance into account and refrain from purchasing the property, because they will be affected by the city government’s action and will suffer the consequences of the demolition of the illegal structures.

But while this is important, it is even more important for the buyer to know that, having purchased rural land, they cannot build anything other than what is legally permitted for that land’s designated use; and since we are talking about illegal construction on rural land, this means not only that such structures cannot be legalized, but also that the buyer cannot build or carry out any type of additional or new construction, as it would be illegal—since they could not apply for a permit, which would be denied—and if they do so, they would risk detection by the city government and the resulting proceedings to restore compliance with urban planning regulations.