RURAL LAND LAWS

Information and questions about the Law in Spain and Andalucia.
mike507
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RURAL LAND LAWS

Postby mike507 » Tue Jun 01, 2010 12:36 pm

I am looking for some comprehensive advice on neighbours rights of first refusal on the sale of cottages next to my house, also land rights. I have a country Cortijo which is attached to neighbours who will soon be thinking of selling. I would like to buy at some stage. A few years ago one of the owners of one of the cottages tried to sell without my knowledge. I was told that I have certain rights as a neighbour in a rural situation.
I do not have residency in Spain, not yet anyhow, so I would like to know my rights i.e. if one was sold without my knowledge, given that I had 1st right of refusal, could I challenge this successfully.
If anyone knows of any literature on this I'd be most grateful.
Thanks,
Mike.

El Cid
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Location: La Herradura, Costa Tropical, Granada

Re: RURAL LAND LAWS

Postby El Cid » Tue Jun 01, 2010 1:00 pm

This was published in Sur in English sometime ago.

Spanish law establishes a special provision for rustic properties whose area does not exceed one hectare whereby the owners of neighbouring properties are granted preferential acquisition rights.
This means that any owner of property adjacent to that which you would like to purchase has preference over you provided that the same conditions apply in the relevant purchase-sale contract. However as stated above this preferential acquisition right refers to rustic plots whose surface area does not exceed one hectare and is not applicable under any circumstances to adjacent properties separated by streams, ditches, ravines, access roads or easements to which other properties are entitled.

Owners of neighbouring plots can exercise their preferential acquisition rights at the time of your signing a purchase-sale contract as this is a right to purchase which they have over you provided that the remaining clauses of the contract which you intend to enter into with the owner of the plot remain unchanged.

In all other cases, preferential rights can only be exercised in a period of nine days following the date of registration of the new ownership of the property purchased in the relevant Land Registry. After this date the owners of neighbouring farms cannot claim any preferential right over the property which you have bought.

However you should also bear in mind that if the purchase-sale operation is not registered, the nine-day period commences as from the date when the neighbours have knowledge of the sale.

Furthermore the relevant jurisprudence has foreseen the possibility of anomalies and claims made in bad faith by persons who, having known of the intended sale, have not claimed their preferential right and therefore to cover this eventuality it is stated that the nine-day period as from the date of registration is only applicable when there is no record of prior knowledge of the intended purchase-sale. It is nevertheless a requisite that must be proven without a doubt that the neighbour had knowledge of the intended sale before registration takes place and that he/she was also aware of all of the terms and circumstances in which said sale took place.

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Lavanda
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Re: RURAL LAND LAWS

Postby Lavanda » Thu Jun 03, 2010 2:46 pm

Just to add something, Sid, that might clarify the above. As far as I am aware there is an onus (legal?) on a seller to offer the parcela of less than one hectare to the smallest neighbour first. If that neighbour refuses, it is offered on the 'open market'. Offers and refusals should be in writing because, here is the typical Spanish bit, should a qualifying neighbour NOT be offered the parcela first s/he can demand to buy it at the DECLARED value. As we know, many deals are done with both declared value and black money. You can see why it is in the potential BUYERS interest to be sure that the parcela HAS been offered to the qualifying neighbour FIRST - and refused! Those of us who always deal in 100% declared values need fear nothing, of course!

mike507
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Re: RURAL LAND LAWS

Postby mike507 » Thu Jun 03, 2010 9:51 pm

Thank you for the information. As my property is 24 hectares and my 3 adoining neighbours are 2/1 and 4 hectares respectively, I guess this puts me out of the picture. It was not so much the land that bothered me but the adjoining buildings.
Hey ho, thanks to all anyway
Mike

Lavanda
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Re: RURAL LAND LAWS

Postby Lavanda » Fri Jun 04, 2010 8:36 am

... but your much smaller neighbours might not be interested ... in which case ... :D

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DavidSearl
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Location: Mijas

Re: RURAL LAND LAWS

Postby DavidSearl » Fri Jun 04, 2010 6:13 pm

FROM DAVID SEARL

FOR MIKE507 AND OTHER POSTERS

Mike, El Cid and all, really good posts. They should put you in the picture in a general way, Mike.

Now, Mike, if you are really interested in buying the other half of your attached cortijo, as I take it, you want to instruct a skilled lawyer who knows about rural properties to do some research. This is an area where a little general knowledge is a generally dangerous thing.

What makes you think you know the size of your neighbour's land? Have you seen the Property Registry? How many escrituras are there for each piece? Are the cottages registered separately on their own tiny plots? Is the land registered separately from the buildings, with two IBIs, one rural one urbano?

Does your municipality have a new PGOU? Oh, there are many specific detailed questions to ask if you are seriously interested. As one post points out, there is also some play in the system. You need good local knowledge here.

Good luck with it, David Searl
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