Legalisation and regularisation, the path to order in Town Planning in Mijas. Decree 2/2012 opens the possibility to opt for the Conformity system for irregular buildings (RAFO) for thousands of properties, which will enable owners to obtain legal guarantees. Mijas is a municipality that has developed as a result of the town planning carried out in the last four decades, a situation that is presently expected to be corrected for the peace of mind of thousands of owners. Decree 2/2012 of the Regional Government in Andalusia, in force since the 28th of February 2012, opens the possibility of regularising some 8000 properties in Mijas, properties that are situated both on land that can be built upon and other plots that cannot,. This in turn will have consequent benefits that such as the necessary supplies and insurances. The Councillor for Town Planning at the Mijas Town Hall, Manuel Navarro, highlighted what they are doing, “adjusting reality to legality”, as Mijas has “lacked a compromise with regard to the vigilance of Town Planning, both in the countryside and in the town”. RAFO is the measure that many owners were waiting for to be able to ensure that their properties had all the legal guarantees, as well as the mechanism by means with which Mijas can finally put order in the town planning situation for once and for all. In fact, “the Governing Board (of the Mijas Town Hall) and the informative comission have modified the minimum regulations for habitability on land that cannot be built upon, extending the rule to the whole of the municipality, in order to also be able to regularise the properties that are on non urban land”, added Navarro, when referring to a situation that is not exclusive to the rural areas and which affects in the same measure, according to estimations of the informative commission, other buildings that are presently situated in the urban areas. “Some would say that we are making it easy for those who did not proceed correctly, but we must keep in mind the responsibility of the administration which did not control processes at that time”, stated the councillor for Town Planning. The process One of the main points concerning the process to obtain the RAFO, (meaning in other words, to regularise properties) is the chance to request a consultation. With a unique payment of 80 Euros, owners can find out what situation their property is in and whether it adapts to the present regulations (and the process to legalise the property could be directly initiated) or if it does not adapt (which would also allow the property to be legalised through the RAFO). In this regard, those properties that do not adapt to the General Plan for Urban Development nor to the Law for Town Planning in Andalusia considered for legalisation but have seen that the legal period that the Town Hall had to resolve the previous situation has passed (four years for homes prior to February 2008 and six years from that date), could benefit from this new plan to regularise properties. However, when we speak of the period of four years that has gone by for the Town Hall to demand the fulfilment of the lay, we must keep in mind that “there are situations that do not come within the prescribed period as they are in the public domain, in specially protected areas, forming illegal plots or having disciplinary files open” stated the Head of the Section for Urban Licences in the Mijas Town Hall María Dolores Ortega, who added, “cases that should be legalised”. This is why it is so important to request an individual appointment with Town Planning in Mijas and in this way be able to confirm the possibility of requesting the application of the RAFO. “Once the RAFO has been obtained, the owner of the property will have to pay five percent tax, in the same way as if he or she had, had to request a building licence to construct a house”, added Ortega, and the payment “can be made in installments” in order that the economic situation of the property owner is not an impediment with regard to being able to regularise their situation for once and for all.
Posted on: Wed, 06 Nov 2013 10:18:00 +0000
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