In a convoluted legislative session, the modification of the Land and Urban Rehabilitation Law will once again test the resilience of the investiture bloc and the seams of the coalition itself. Marked by a context of permanent electoral campaigning and extremely tight parliamentary majorities, the Council of Ministers is expected to approve a normative plan on Tuesday – including this text – that still does not have the necessary support to move forward in the Congress, nor the consensus of the two partners. Sources from Sumar have confirmed to EL PAÍS that they will present a formal observation within the Council regarding the content of the reform. Podemos, one of the Government’s allies, has already expressed its rejection of a measure that, they claim, “would only serve to give free rein to the culture of speculative development.”
Although Sumar is avoiding offering details at the moment, they express their disagreement with aspects of the text and claim to have been in bilateral conversations with the Ministry of Housing, to which they have expressed observations on the content of the law. Podemos’ warning was clear on Monday. “If the Government brings the same text again, in Podemos we will again oppose the PSOE reforming the land law to reduce guarantees for urban projects when we need the opposite,” stated María Teresa Pérez, co-spokesperson of the party. Despite the current criticism, their organization was part of the Council of Ministers that approved the modification of the law in December 2022. “We recommend the PSOE to stop following the same policies as the right, to stop protecting speculators and to work to expand rights and not water them down as is happening with housing,” she added.
The threat is not insignificant. Podemos – which only has four members of parliament and has been in the Mixed Group since last December – already rejected the decree on subsidy reform proposed by the Ministry of Labor, led by Yolanda Díaz, head of Sumar. Only their rejection already forces the Government to look to the right-wing bench to gather enough votes. The law is a demand from the real estate sector, which has been calling for a regulatory framework that provides greater legal security and avoids the nullification of urban plans due to merely formal deficiencies, which according to analysts happens frequently in Spain.
The reform aims to prevent this paralysis. To achieve this, it restricts in article 55 of the law the causes that can lead to the complete annulment of a project. It is limited to four causes, with the lack of an environmental assessment or a justification of the decisions taken being highlighted. It also includes changes to streamline bureaucracy and improve the processing of permits for rehabilitation works that must be promoted by the autonomous communities. Sergio Nasarre Aznar, a professor of Civil Law and Founder of the UNESCO Housing Chair URV, sees it positively that the nullity regime of urban plans is being made more flexible, as the current law has led to the “revival” of obsolete projects.
In line with this demand, the law modifies article 62 to prevent any individual from annulling an entire urban plan and reduces the scope of “public action” only to “the material or substantive aspects of the plan.” It also prevents plans from being challenged when the action is contrary to “good faith” or could constitute an abuse of right, meaning that it seeks to stop it for personal gain. Although this may imply fewer guarantees, analysts believe that the law leaves room for courts to analyze each case, so it should not lead to an increase in irregular or poorly designed plans. The Land Law has undergone several modifications since it was first approved in 1975, with the latest reform in 2015, after the speculative bubble generated in the real estate market.
