Buying Rural land and building 'temporary' dwellings for tourism?

[simple]

Hello there,

My daughter and her partner have a plan to buy an area of land out in the sticks.  They are thinking in the general area south and inland of Barcelona, behind Tarragona

They want to site 3 eco-friendly temporary dwellings (they are thinking of re-purposing lorry containers, so no foundations and 100% removable) which will be solar/wind powered and have composting loos etc and have stabling for horses to run environmentally low-impact riding holidays.

They have a fairly tight budget and I’m worried that they might not get the planning needed for the dwellings and will end up being seriously out of pocket.

They are incredibly hard-working, enthusiastic and entrepreneurial and hope to set up a new life in Spain.  I’m a bit pessimistic about the chances of it succeeding, but would love to be proved wrong.

Any advice on how they should best proceed  to optimise their chances of success?

Thanks in anticipation.

PS: please move if I’ve posted in the wrong forum – wasn’t sure where was best!

 

[Ros]

I’m no expert but I have some land with a ruin on it in Andalucia and mentioned to a Spanish estate agent last week how I had once thought it would be a good plan to put cabins on there for tourism – and these could be made to be moveable – she said that this kind of thing was no longer allowed. There are also other considerations – for example if you buy a piece of land near a road, track or river, there can be stipulations regarding the distance of any dwelling from these – and these might include temporary dwellings. They should thoroughly check out all of this kind of thing before buying as the laws are very complicated and I believe can vary between regions. They also would need to look into the new regulations regarding holiday lets which are so onerous as to thwart many plan such as your daughter’s. They may be entrepreneurial but that is not enough in Spain.

[simple]

Dear Ros,

 

Thank you for your insights.

 

How might she find out what the new regulations are?  Is there specific term to look for?  Or maybe a website?

[Anonymous]

We have supplied several of our UK manufactured timber lodge kits to Spain and permissions do vary from place to place. Technically you do need permission to site any dwelling, but we have had several cases where clients have been told that they can go ahead as long as they are not permanent. Other areas have insisted that as services and sewage are connected, they are permanent homes, even though mobility can be proved – so it’s a typical Spanish area lottery again. Ideally take a plan and specification of the cabin and the proposed support system and perhaps the local planners may decide it is OK to proceed. Avoid complicating the issue by introducing unfamiliar components such as containers – they just won’t understand the concept. Remember, Spain is still in the 50’s where construction is concerned and Eurocodes are in the main ignored, as Modern Methods of Construction have yet to reach this land where concrete is king.

[Author]

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