Yesterday, the Central Government approved the draft law that modifies the Land and Urban Rehabilitation law with the aim of speeding up urban planning and “giving legal certainty” to the sector. The rule is identical to the one approved in December 2022, which did not start the parliamentary stage due to the electoral advance. Now, the changes in the state urban planning regulations are moving forward with the impetus of the Ministry of Housing and the support of builders and housing developers, but with the opposition of Sumar.
The main measure of the initiative that will reach the Congress of Deputies is that urban plans are not paralyzed by small mistakes or defects that can be corrected. For this reason, the text proposes to modify the regime of nullities and voidability of territorial planning so that these “formal defects” can be “repaired retroactively” by the acting administration.
As the ministry led by Isabel Rodríguez explained yesterday, this change aims to give “stability, certainty and legal security” to urban planning, which is “an essential tool for the development of towns and cities”. The minister spokesperson, Pilar Alegría, also emphasized that it is a “petition from the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces and numerous councils”.
The area of ??the coalition Government of Sumar did not share the general lines of the modification of the Soil law. He expressed discrepancies at the General Commission of Secretaries of State and Undersecretaries on Thursday, and yesterday at the Council of Ministers he presented “observations” that he will replicate during the parliamentary procedure in the form of amendments. According to Sumar, the PSOE proposal “does not respond adequately to the purpose declared by the rule to strengthen legal security in the sector”.
First of all, for the space led by Yolanda Díaz, the regulation proposed by Habitatge for the nullities and voidability of projects could give rise to “irregularities”. “It is very questionable and the current regime should remain unchanged”, he added. In addition, the blurring of public action, if the changes go ahead, could lead to a lack of protection of the general interest to the detriment of the individual, defended Sumar, who recalled the numerous cases of urban corruption.
The reactivation of the Land Law has the widespread support of the real estate sector. Miguel Oñate, Merlin’s development director, emphasized yesterday that “putting an end to the cascading urban invalidity, characteristic of the 1956 law, is an imperative need for Spain in the 21st century”.
Juan Antonio Gómez-Pintado, president of the employers’ association, said that “if we want to deal with the lack of housing supply, we need to develop and manage land more effectively and with more legal certainty”. Eduard Mendiluce, CEO of Aliseda and Anticipa, remarked that other measures are missing, such as “the implementation of the developer’s responsible statement to speed up the development of real estate projects”.
The Soil law will be debated in Congress during this period of sessions. Oñate, from Merlin, pointed out that “this rule may be the only one that the PSOE and the PP will agree on in the entire legislature”.