What the Spanish Coastal Law means for a first-line purchase, explained by lawyers who check it plot by plot.
Talk to us about a first-line propertyA house with the sea in front of it is the purchase most buyers dream of, and it is also the one where Spanish law is most particular. The Ley de Costas governs the whole coastline, and it decides three things that matter to you as a buyer: where public land ends and private land begins, what may be built or rebuilt near the shore, and what the public may do on the strip of land closest to the water. None of this is visible from the terrace. It is in the deslinde plans, the Land Registry and the file at the Coastal Authority, and it must be checked property by property before you sign anything.
The State fixes the boundary of the maritime-terrestrial public domain by an administrative procedure called the deslinde. Everything on the seaward side of that line, beach, foreshore, cliffs reached by the sea, belongs to the public and cannot be privately owned. Where a deslinde was approved after a house was built, part of the plot, or in some cases the house itself, may have fallen inside the public domain. The owner then does not own that land; at most they hold a temporary concession to use it. This is why the first question on any first-line purchase is where the deslinde runs in relation to the plot, and the answer comes from the official plan, not from the fence.
Inland from the shore runs a protection zone, normally 100 metres wide, reduced to 20 metres in some areas that were already urban when the law came into force in 1988. Within this zone new residential building is not permitted. Houses that already existed may be kept and maintained, and the law allows works of repair, improvement, consolidation and modernisation, but not works that increase their volume, height or footprint. In practice this is where most surprises appear on villas on the front line: a pool deck, a covered terrace or a guest annexe added over the years inside the protection zone may have no possible licence, and it cannot be regularised by the passage of time in the way that some inland irregularities can.
Along the inland edge of the shore there is a strip of at least six metres, which may be widened to twenty, that must be left permanently free for public passage. Walls, gates, planting and structures inside that strip are not private, whatever the plot plan shows. On some coves the passage is obvious; on others it crosses what looks like a private garden. A related servitude guarantees public access to the sea at intervals along the coast.
For 500 metres inland the municipal planning must respect additional rules on density and on keeping parking and building away from the shore. This rarely affects an existing house, but it affects what can be done with a plot, and it is one of the reasons why two plots of the same size and price on the same road can have very different building rights.
In Teulada-Moraira: El Portet, Cap d’Or, l’Ampolla, Pla del Mar and Fanadix (see our guide to luxury villa purchases in Moraira). In Jávea: Portitxol, Cala Blanca, Cap Prim, la Granadella and the sea front of the Arenal (see our Jávea property lawyers). In Dénia: les Rotes and les Marines. In Benissa: Cala Fustera and Baladrar. In Benitachell: the Moraig cove and the sea side of Cumbre del Sol. Each of these has its own deslinde and its own history of planning, and the position of a house a few metres one way or the other changes what you are buying.
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We obtain the deslinde plan for the stretch of coast and place the plot on it. We ask the Coastal Authority for a certificate stating whether the property is affected and how. We compare what is registered at the Land Registry, what appears at the Cadastre and what is actually built, and we identify any construction inside the protection zone or the right of way. We obtain the certificate of no planning infringement from the town hall, and, given the amounts involved on the front line, we recommend an inspection by an architect. We work with Sergio Tomás Arquitectos in Jávea, an independent practice with long experience in this type of report. All of this is done before the private contract, so that the price you agree reflects what you are actually buying, or the problem is solved by the seller before completion. How we run a purchase from start to finish is explained on our Moraira property lawyers page.
With a power of attorney we complete every step on your behalf, from the first check to signature at the notary, remotely and safely.
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Disclaimer. The information on this page is general in nature and does not constitute legal advice. Every property and every purchase is different; please contact us so we can review your specific case.
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