IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS FOR THE LEGALIZATION OF PROPERTIES APPROVED IN MIJAS

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Several new measures have been approved at the plenary session which was held last Thursday morning at the Mijas Town Hall.

These measures have to do with the regularization process for buildings on land designated as ‘not for building’. The Mijas Town Council approved the ‘Town Planning Regulations for houses to be considered as Habitable’, which is a step forward in the regularization of houses built illegally in the municipality.

According to these regulations, for a house to be considered as habitable it must be over 24 square metres and comply with security regulations, such as the security of the structure and fire prevention measures. The house must have a living room, which can also be the bedroom, a kitchen area and a bathroom. Municipal bylaws do not allow basements to be used as homes.

All rooms must have natural light and ventilation, except bathrooms, although they must have some kind of mechanic ventilation system. The minimum height for rooms is 2.5 metres and 2.2 for corridors. Houses must have a water supplies system, with a minimum volume of 10 litres per minute. If the water comes from a private well, the owners will have to prove that the water is suitable for drinking.

In order to be considered as habitable, a property must be connected to a sewage system, with cesspools no longer allowed, as the risk of polluting underground water is very high.

Manuel Navarro, highlights that not all illegal houses will be legalized, and those which are finally legalized owners will not be able to extend them or change their use.

The Town Council has also approved a document which is the first step towards the legalization of illegal housing in the municipality. The document is entitled ‘Advances in the identification of urban settlements on plots of land designated as not for building’ and describes two different types of illegal properties: ‘urban settlements’, with more than 10 buildings per hectare of land and ‘rural habitat’, with 5 to 10 buildings per hectare.

The rest of the properties will be classif ied as ‘isolated properties’ and could be legalized if they were built more than four years ago and the land is not protected. The document, which has been prepared by a private company hired by the Town Council, is now on public view. It includes a total of 4.177 properties built illegally in the municipality.

Manuel Navarro, Councillor for Town Planning, reports that now is the time to claim if a property has not been included in this document, which now must also be approved by the Junta de Andalucía, Regional Government.
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