The Canary Islands Government Council approved this Monday the decree law to speed up the processing of urban licenses and the promotion of housing construction, a "urgent" rule with which the regional Executive intends to "solve the serious problem of administrative delays in the granting of licenses, and with which it is intended to give a decisive boost to the promotion of housing in the islands".
The new regulations have been jointly prepared by the Ministry of Territorial Policy, Territorial Cohesion and Water and the Ministry of Public Works, Housing and Mobility, and worked on by both departments together with the sectors involved in this matter during the last months, with the aim of "obtaining a consensus document in which real policies are included, of direct application, to provide solutions to this problem!
Allows private companies to make technical reports
This decree "introduces public-private collaboration mechanisms for the issuance of the mandatory technical reports that are part of the urban license granting procedure." From now on, these reports may be prepared not only by municipal technical services, but also by professional associations, personalized own means or accredited urban collaboration entities.
These may be commissioned by the city council or provided by the developer in the license application, in which case they will assume the cost of the same, which may not exceed the value of the urban tax of the project. Although it will not be binding, the report will have immediate legal effect, will replace the municipal report in the favorable points, does not require ratification by municipal technicians, and in case of disagreement or lack of coverage, the Administration may complete the file.
The objective is to provide municipalities with greater resources to be able to act with agility, without undermining their powers or the legal certainty of the procedure. In practice, any developer will be able to obtain a building permit in less than six months, a period much shorter than the two years on average that it takes at present. The regional Executive defends that this "rule represents a decisive step to speed up public management, reactivate the economy and respond effectively to the challenge of the housing emergency that the islands are going through".
In addition, the Government plans to encourage the application of this new decree-law with specific support measures for municipalities with demographic challenges, which will be launched in the coming weeks with the entry into operation of the Virtual Office of the Demographic Challenge.
The decree law also "complements" the measures adopted in February 2024, with the approval of Decree-Law 1/2024 of urgent measures in housing matters, now incorporating new tools for "the development of incentivized affordable housing, the reuse of tertiary land for residential use and the early execution of protected housing on land not yet fully urbanized, among others." Likewise, the procedure for declaring areas of stressed residential market is regulated for the first time, which will allow the application of the measures provided for in the state law on the right to housing (Law 12/2023).
In the case of the figure of incentivized affordable housing, whose development will make the Canary Islands the first Autonomous Community to apply it, the developers who participate in this program "will receive urban and fiscal benefits", provided they meet certain conditions, with the ultimate goal of benefiting, especially, middle-class people who cannot access other aid.
The rule, which comes into force after its publication in the Official Gazette of the Canary Islands, responds to the urgent need to ensure that urban planning procedures are resolved within reasonable timeframes, avoiding delays that affect both the rights of citizens and economic activity. By reducing bureaucracy and promoting the construction of affordable housing, steps are being taken towards a future where more citizens can access decent housing.
