Land Classification

Country Side or In Town?

Choosing a property type that is suitable to you is one of the most important step as it will guide your preliminary research and highly influence the location and budget requirements. At this time, it is not so much a question of knowing what you really want or need but rather what will not be suitable and why. The following are general guidelines on higher level classification.

Understanding the Difference:

"Rústico", Urban and "Urbanization"

Rústico: In Spanish, the term “rústico” normally refers to an official classification of the land itself which is used to describe agricultural land. For this reason, a Finca Rústica or Rustic Property is commonly used to describe properties with quite a bit of land (in excess of 1.000 square metres). The house could be anything from a detached villa to something similar to a terrace house (attached on both side) depending on the size and shapes of the land. These properties are tend to be found on the countryside and accessed through small road mostly reserved for used by farm machinery.

Also worth considering is that a Rustic Property is not likely connected to the public sewage system and the water distribution system. Telephone land line service might be difficult to obtain, mail delivery and garbage collection might not be available. If not available to the property, these services are substituted by septic tanks for sewage, water delivery in large water deposit underground, generator in the case of electricity, post office box in the closest village, etc..

Additionally, when considering the purchase of a “finca” or rustic property, it is important to know that “planning permission” is often not available. Each area has a set of rules to be met before granting planning permission and these are normally related to the size of the land, area, exact classification (ie. protected, agricultural with water, without water, etc.), presence of a registered building on the property, and several other factors. The best approach on possible planning permission being granted on a Rustic Property is to consult with your lawyer.

Urban Property: By exclusion, any property that is not “Rústico” is “Urbano” which means urbanized, which also implies that most public utility services are also available: public sewage, water, electricity, telephone land line, mail delivery, garbage collection, etc. It also means that you are likely to be granted planning permission given that the building project presented meets the technical requirements for the area (ie. Minimum distance to boundaries of the property, maximum square metres build, maximum cubic metres build, maximum height, etc…). This is your typical property in the village or town and although some public utility services might not be readily available at the moment, they are likely to become available in the future (cable TV, telephone service, broadband, natural gas, etc. are a good example).

Urbanization is a term loosely used to describe a group of properties that was initially built by the same developer and where most properties share a similar architectural style. Such developments were conceived to share a set of common services, the maintenance and management of which becomes the responsibility of each owner within the development. This could include communal swimming pool, security services, television antenna, parking area, sports complex, private golf course, etc. and the cost associated is being distributed within the community on a yearly basis. However, not all “urbanizations” are subject to community fees, and not all “urbanization” share the same architectural style. For this reason, we prefer to use the term “urbanization” to describe the physical location of the property.