How to Know if I Can Build on My Land?

What types of land exist in Spain?

The first thing to discover is the type of land that the land is. This is included in the Cadastral Registry and should also be stated in the original deeds of the property. As in many plots in rural areas there are not even deeds, the Registry will give you the solution.

We will now explain the different types of land that exist in Spain and whether or not they can be built on.

Urban land

It is all the land in Spain that is urbanized with some construction on it. Or in the case of a plot that is within the limits of developable land and therefore is buildable land on which you can build. In general, if it is now a plot, at some point it has had a building that has been dismantled.

Urban land should not be associated with city land. Urban land is all that built or buildable land, whether in a large city or in the smallest town in Spain.

On this type of land we can build our future house without problems if we wish.

In turn, there are two types of urban land:

• Consolidated urban land. These are those lands considered plots within cities or towns. They are already urbanized and to build we will only need the technical projects and the corresponding municipal licenses.
• Non-consolidated urban land. Although it can be built, urbanization processes must still be carried out for this.

Rustic land

It is the most common in rural areas and also the most frequent in Spain. Rustic land is all types of land in rural areas except urban centers. In general, they have an established use for agriculture or livestock activities.

On these lands you cannot build except in certain situations and only some types of buildings. In general, only certain buildings or facilities that have to do with agricultural activity or in certain types of rural tourism accommodation, for example, can be built.

In turn we can find:

• Ordinary protection rustic land. These are those whose urbanization is not planned except for some use of agricultural exploitation.
• Special protection rustic land. They have some type of special protection for coasts, waters, forests, natural spaces. Here it will be even more difficult to proceed to build anything, generally it will be impossible for us.

You may also be interested in: What is a rustic farm for?

Developable land

It is the type of land in which it is planned to build. Although it is not urban at present, it may be in the future. But keep in mind that this does not mean that you can build on this type of land without further ado. First you must request that this land be converted into urban.

Once this change is made legally, it will become buildable urban land. That is, it will become land on which you can build what you need. Of course, before that, an urbanization plan for said farm will be needed that complies with current legislation.

As long as the urbanization is not requested, the land is still considered equivalent to a rustic land on which it cannot be built.

Rural core land

This type of land does not exist in all autonomous communities. It is an intermediate modality between urban land and rustic land. You can build, but under certain conditions that are reflected in the Land Law of the corresponding autonomous community.

In general, you can build, but you will need some type of specific license.

There are different types of rural core land:

• Traditional rural core land.
• Common rural core land.