POT Plan

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campo babe
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POT Plan

Postby campo babe » Tue Sep 13, 2005 5:58 pm

I have heard that the POT Plan for Axarquia has been rejected by the local town halls.

Has anyone any information about this.

I was hoping to get my house legalised under the new plan for our area, as promised by the local town hall.

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Postby El Cid » Tue Sep 13, 2005 9:45 pm

The town halls have rejected it because they don't like it!

What is happening is that the Junta has now passed laws which give them complete control over the planning process in Andalucia and it is the Junta that will decide what is going to happen, not the town halls.

Basically they are fed up with tinpot mayors of small communities ignoring the planning rules and giving building licences to anyone who wants one.

Some illegally built houses may get legalised if they happen to fit in with the new plans, others will stay illegal forever and in some areas they are even being demolished.

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Postby jpinks » Tue Sep 13, 2005 10:02 pm

But - as far as I know - you still apply to the Ayuntemiento for your permission, so how do you know if the permission you get (assuming you do) is also agreed by the Junta?
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Postby El Cid » Wed Sep 14, 2005 7:37 am

The short answer is that you don't!

If permission is given based on a current urban plan (PGOU) that has been approved by the Junta then there should be no problem assuming that the town planners do not decide to bend the rules.

However there are now thousands of houses in Marbella that have been declared illegal by the Junta because the PGOU that was in force at the time had never been approved by the Junta.

Requests for licences for buildings outside the urban area on rustic land have to go to the Junta for approval anyway.

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Postby jpinks » Wed Sep 14, 2005 8:01 am

So the up and down of it appears to be that you can not trust a building licence unless you check it with the Junta. That adds a whole new layer of beaurocracy to what has already become a nightmare of a process.
Campo / rustica permission requests are (I believe) still dealt with by the village Aynutemiento here. Well, they say they deal with them, but who knows in these confused days when you just don't know which advice to follow? The local mayors will not relinquish their powers easily.
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campo babe
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POT plan

Postby campo babe » Wed Sep 14, 2005 9:41 am

Thanks El Cid for the info.

"Some will stay illegal forever".

Isn't it true that after 4 years you can apply to the town hall for the property to be recognised, because its been there for that period of time?

We were hoping to get this mess sorted out sooner rather than later.

The "tin pot mayor" of our local peublo promised building licences to all sorts of people back in 2001 and 2002 and then reneged on this. Consequently there are about a dozen or so houses that I know of that are illegal and with most of them this was unknown until recently to the unsuspecting foreigners who bought them.

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Postby El Cid » Wed Sep 14, 2005 9:53 am

I think it rather depends on whether you are applying for a licence for a new build or are concerned about the legality of the licence that was granted on an existing house that you might have bought or be thinking about buying.

With a new build the architect and lawyer should be well aware of the status of the current PGOU and its detailed requirements. If the PGOU is approved and you stick to these rules then you should have no problems - that's why you have a PGOU.

It is pretty easy to get away with building something that is outside the rules - the architect submits plans for the licence but actually builds something different - a bigger house than the permitted size for that plot for instance. He signs off all the paperwork, no one comes to measure up what has actually been built and hey presto - you have an illegal house that no one knows about.

The problem arises when you sell the house - again no one checks it out for the buyer and he is now the second owner of an illegal house. Now the Junta decide to investigate all the recent building licences and someone gets out their tape measure and now the trouble starts.

The owners of all these illegal houses in Marbella bought them in good faith and a lot of them were resold.

Yes, it is a potential nightmare but if you are aware of the potential for disaster when buying/building a house then you should be able to get some sensible checks made before you commit yourself.

And no, the mayors are not going to give in easily, especially if they are not in the same political party as the Junta in Sevilla!

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Postby jpinks » Wed Sep 14, 2005 11:17 am

My experience is mostly with fincas out in the open campo, and there it is usually possibe to "legalise" a building by diplomatic and friendly negotiation, unless it is a ridiculous situation or the house is twice the size it's meant to be.
Although there is a mess of politics to negotiate when getting permissions nowadays, if you have the tenacity and finances to hang in there while they throw forms and regulations at you (or your architect), you will come out with a legal building - one of the few :)
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Re: POT plan

Postby Beachcomber » Wed Sep 14, 2005 1:19 pm

campo babe wrote:Isn't it true that after 4 years you can apply to the town hall for the property to be recognised, because its been there for that period of time?
This can sometimes be achieved by means of a certificate of antiquity but the procedure has been tightened up considerably over the past year or so.

The Junta have been taking an unhealthy interest in the issue of such certificates and notaries are now obliged to communicate to them instances which involve the use of certificates of antiquity to legalise a building.

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Postby Faire d'Income » Fri Sep 16, 2005 11:28 am

I am in the process of applying for a reformation licence for our pool but was told by the Ayunatamiento that all pools in our area are illegal and given that it doesn't appear on the escrtura, then this may be the case.

I have been advised that it is possible to have the pool retrospectively added to the escritura as it is over 5 years old and then apply for a reformation licence.

Does this sound right?


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