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In short, the answer is a resounding ‘no’. However, due to the media hype surrounding ‘land grab’ (Ley Reguladora de Actividad Urbanistica – LRAU) and the high profile given to a few unpleasant cases, a degree of fear has been put into the would-be Spanish property purchaser – on whichever Costa that may be.

Paul Rossiter, Managing Director of Carrington Estates, a real estate agency specializing in land for self-build, is only too aware of this publicity-induced fear. Having recently exhibited at the Grand Designs Live exhibition at London’s Excel Centre, he spent considerable time fielding ‘land grab’ related questions.

Paul comments, “Many visitors to the exhibition were attracted to our stand as we offer affordable plots on Spain’s most fashionable and desirable Costa, but we received a consistent flurry of queries as to whether the land offered was safe from ‘land grab’ - basically defined as the right of local developers to compulsorily purchase rural land from the existing owners in order to convert it into urban land on the basis of installing mains water, sewerage and new roads. A good deal of clients were not fully aware of the constraints of the LRAU and believed it applied to the Costas in general. Only through our grasp of the facts were we able to reassure many an unsettled mind and confirm that LRAU does not apply to any of Carrington Estates’ projects on the Costa del Sol.”

So what are the facts? The LRAU was passed in 1994 to speed up urban development in the Valencian region. The Valencian region covers the provinces of Alicante, Valencia and Castellón and is controlled by a regional government. The reasoning behind the law was that urban development would benefit the community in general and prevent land-bank speculators from holding onto rural land thus hindering progress. Rural land close to the beach, the land in shortest supply, was and is exploited the most by the LRAU. In certain isolated cases where rural land was forcibly purchased from the owner at below market value, a bill would subsequently arrive to cover a percentage of the cost of the infrastructure improvement.

Until the law was changed in 2005 to an ‘objection period’ of 20 days to three months, the affected rural homeowners had just 15 days to object to the development. It’s feasible that an expatriate holiday homeowner wouldn’t even empty their postbox in those 15 days, let alone formulate a cohesive objection. Consequences in the most extreme cases meant a bulldozed home upon return to sunny Spain.

When it comes to the Valencian region, the LRAU has a certain shelf life. International pressure has been applied to Spain to amend the law and already selected cases are making their way through to European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). The European Commission has also recognized the fact that LRAU contravenes European law on individual property rights.

Back to the Costa del Sol. In short the LRAU only applies to the Valencian region, the Costa del Sol is not affected. In turn, the law only applies to rural land which has not yet been urbanized. Buy in an urbanized area of Valencia and you are secure from future development and therefore ‘land grab’. And finally and perhaps most importantly, LRAU has only affected a minority in Valencia. In the scheme of things, the overwhelming majority of property owners in Spain have never experienced any significant problems in their many years of owning property on the Iberian Peninsula.

Rossiter concludes, “As is often the way of the world, a minority situation is tarnishing the reputation of many. The LRAU does not apply in any way to the Costa del Sol, and subsequently ‘land grab’ is just not feasible here. However, it is our responsibility as a reputable agent to put our potential clients’ minds at rest and offer them every kind of factual reassurance that their land here is safe.”