Questions concerning the development of land

If you want to build and buy a building plot yourself, you are of course interested in clarifying before purchase whether and what may be built on the plot.

In the municipal administrations there is a department for urban development, “Urbanismo”, which is almost always very helpful. There you can ask for the “normas urbanisticas”, the building norms, which specify the exact details of the buildability of the plots of land located in the municipal area, stating the location of the plot.

After making an appointment, the municipal architect will provide information in case of any uncertainties, and above all, whether any changes to the development are planned in the near future. By the way, information in the land register such as “building plot” or similar do not offer any security. These are completely non-binding and do not prevent the local authorities, for example, from declaring such “building plots” as green spaces. Irrespective of this, you should also seek advice from an architect and a lawyer in this connection.

Unfortunately, the responsible local authority does not provide binding information on the admissibility of the building project in the case of a planned purchase of land. At some point in time (every municipality in Ibiza has its own pace) you will receive a reply from the municipality in the form of a certificate from the local authority, the so-called “certificado de calificación urbanistica”; however, you cannot be sure that your subsequent building application will actually be approved. A preliminary inquiry is only informative, but the concrete building project must be approved later.

If the information provided by the municipality is incorrect or if this exceeds its approval competence, the municipality is always obliged to decide the later application for building permission solely in accordance with the actual legal situation, otherwise it would have to approve illegal building projects. Therefore, if one wishes to buy a building plot, it is often an advantage if a valid building permit already exists. If there is no building permit yet, it may be advisable to contractually secure an option on the property, so that the building permit is applied for before the purchase.

If a building permit already exists for the property, you should check whether it is still valid, since building permits are limited in time. If the permit has expired, there may be the possibility of an extension.

A few more words about the taxes that apply when buying a building plot: Here you have to look at the specific case, as in some cases land transfer tax and in other cases VAT has to be paid. This depends on whether a building permit has already been granted and who the seller (private or commercial) is.