If you have bought your property to build on or to develop it in some other ways, you can do as much as the local planning allows, and this depends on the categorization of the land: Urban, consolidated or not, “urbanizable” or not “urbanizable”.

The main rule is that the buyer can only build on the purchased land if this land is classified as “Suelo Urbano consolidado” ( urban consolidated plot). It can also be built on in “Suelo no Urbanizable” if this is classified as “Nucleo Rural”

In ” Nucleo rural” some activities can be excluded other than residence and on the other hand, sometimes in “Suelo no urbanizable” the land can be built on for activities other than purely residential ones, such as farming, hotels, local rural industries, etc.

In either case, Urbano consolidado or Núcleo Rural ( or other Suelo no urbanizable in cases where some activity is allowed on it) the owner can ask directly to obtain planning permission, but while an urban consolidated plot will be completely urbanised and will have access to all the services, the Nucleo Rural plot will not, so the prospective builder have to bear in mind the relationship with other plots to obtain an electricity and water supply, right of access, sewage, etc and, also to control that there is enough distance to roads, railways, protected trees, etc.

In all other cases ( “Urbanizable” and “Urbano no cosolidado”) the owner can not ask directly for planning permission but needs to:

.-Join all other owners in the area to develop the land.

.-Obtain approval for some more detailed planning (“plan parcial” ” estudio de detalle”)

.-Guarantee the complete urbanization at the owners expense.

.-Transfer to the local planning authority, usually the council, the equivalent, in land, of 15% of the “edificabilidad media” applicable in the area ( 10% in Asturias).
If this portion of land is not big enough for a house to be built on, you will have to buy it back from the local authority.

All of these are tasks to be carried out by professional developers, unless all the owners in the area agree to do it between themselves with adequate advice.

In the purchase deed, the following must be stated:

.- If it is not permitted to build on the land that is being sold.

.- If private use is not permitted.

.-If any illegal buildings exist.

.- If it is designated for any kind of socially protected residences.

If no statement is made the purchaser has the right to rescind the purchase within four years of the date of purchase.