Government moves to ease controversial Coastal Law

ENGLISH EDITION WITH THE INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE RAFAEL MÉNDEZ, Madrid

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2009

Restrictions on sale and purchase of beach homes to be lifted

The (Spanish) government has begun a covert reform of the Coastal Law that will make it easier to buy and sell homes located on beachfront areas and public shore land.
By amending an obscure navigation law without a congressional vote, the government is
effectively toning down the 1988 Coastal Law, whose goal was to reduce the real estate excesses
on Spanish coasts by making it illegal to build too close to the shoreline and by taking back
properties considered to be on public domain near the sea.
This law was one of the star projects of the previous environment minister, Cristina Narbona,
although it proved difficult to implement because of the labor- intensive task of establishing
where public land ends and private land begins along mSpain’s extensive shoreline.
Under the Coastal Law, the owners of properties that were built on public land before
1988 would be allowed to remain there for up to 60 years, but were barred from selling them. The move drew thousands of protests and formal complaints from British and German authorities, many of whose nationals had bought properties now at risk of expropriation.
But by amending this unrelated navigation law, the government is effectively allowing these
homes to be bought and sold. Because this navigation law was originally drafted by the Justice
Ministry, not the Environment Ministry, any amendments to it can bypass Congress altogether.
A spokesperson at the Environment Ministry said that the alteration “does not change the
spirit of the law in any way,” but Javier Sanz, a professor of administrative law and an expert
on shoreline issues, called it “a radical change.” Meanwhile, an association of homeowners who
were affected by the Coastal Law, Plataforma de Afectados, said its members were very happy
about the amendment.