Informe de la ONU sobre la Ley de Costas española
Evaluación de la normativa sobre terrenos colindantes con el agua —a lo largo del mar, los ríos y los lagos— en la región de la CEPE
Nota del Grupo de Trabajo sobre Administración de Tierras y del Grupo Asesor sobre el Mercado Inmobiliario
3. Spain: The Maritime-Terrestrial Public Domain regime and the
“Administrative concession” Model
Spain has one of the most comprehensive legal regimes for the protection and management of its
coastal areas. The system is primarily governed by the 1988 Coastal Act (Ley de Costas),
subsequently amended, and is characterised by the deslinde procedure, through which the
boundaries of the Maritime-Terrestrial Public Domain (Dominio Público Marítimo-Terrestre,
DPMT) are formally determined.
Some of the main features of the Spanish regime are the following:
• Spain represents one of the strictest implementations of state control through the 1988
Shores Act (Ley de Costas), which is particularly distinctive because of the “Deslinde”
process. Some key rules are as follows:
• The DPMT (State Public Maritime-Terrestrial Domain): the public domain extends
beyond the sea itself and includes, among other areas, beaches, the foreshore and other
coastal areas defined by law. Its boundaries are determined by statutory criteria linked to
the physical characteristics of the coast, including the ordinary and extraordinary reach
of the sea.
• Protection Zone (Servidumbre de Protección): Beyond the public domain itself, the
Coastal Act establishes a protection zone, generally extending 100 metres inland from the
landward boundary of the DPMT, although the applicable rules may allow this distance
to be extended to 200 metres in certain circumstances. The regime imposes significant
restrictions on construction and on the use of land within this area (such as the necessary
authorization of the Coastal authorities for concrete actions).
• Pre-1988 Buildings: Properties lawfully constructed before 1988 are allowed under the
current regime, but they cannot be expanded. In these cases, owners hold only an
administrative concession, valid for up to 75 years, rather than full ownership rights.
• 2013 Reform: An amendment sought to regularize thousands of homes that had remained
in a situation of legal uncertainty. However, rulings by the Spanish Constitutional Court
and subsequent environmental decisions have reaffirmed that coastal protection is the
priority.
• When a new Deslinde (demarcation line) is approved, private ownership located within
the newly defined public domain is transformed into an administrative concession of
occupation and exploitation for a maximum period of 75 years (Art. 13 bis Coastal Act).
As a result, there is effectively no possibility of having permanent private ownership of
beach areas.
• The Deslinde determines the extent of the public domain according to physical
characteristics, particularly the reach of the waves. If a property is located seaward of this
line, ownership rights are transformed as explained above, and the former owner
becomes, in practice, a concession holder or “tenant” of the State.
To understand this model, it must be considered that the special property regime governing the
maritime-terrestrial zone in Spain rests on two fundamental pillars:
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1. Constitutional protection for both public domain assets and private property. The
protection regimes for these two types of property naturally differ: Beaches and the
maritime-terrestrial zone are public domain assets under Article 132 of the Spanish
Constitution. As such, they are inalienable, imprescriptible and immune from seizure. The
scope of private property rights is defined- pursuant to Article 33 of the same Constitution
- by its social function. Besides, no one may be deprived of their property except for
justified reasons of public utility or social interest, subject to appropriate compensation
and in accordance with the law. Consequently, there is no expropriation without
compensation in Spain.
2. The unique nature of the maritime-terrestrial public domain zone, the extent of
which varies according to natural changes (such as the reach of the tides).
Based on these two premises, the special protection regime for the maritime-terrestrial zone
established in the Spanish Coastal Law aims to reconcile the protection of two domains: the public
maritime-terrestrial domain and private property that may be affected by the former’s natural
variations. The new line of the public maritime-terrestrial domain is determined through the
Deslinde process, as previously described. When, as a result of a Deslinde, private property is
included within the maritime-terrestrial zone, the private domain becomes a concession, without
the obligation to pay a fee and transferable, both inter vivos and mortis causa.
Regarding this transformation of the right, it is worth highlighting:
1. It is not, therefore, a deprivation of rights through expropriation, but rather a transformation
of rights as a consequence of a naturally occurring change in a land boundary.
2. The purchasers of a property near the public maritime-terrestrial domain line are usually
aware of the risk they assume:
• because the Constitution establishes that the maritime-terrestrial zone and beaches are
public domain.
• because Land Registry indicates its proximity to the beach or public domain, which implies
the possibility of it becoming a concession in the event of a new boundary demarcation;
• the online consultation of the property's georeferenced location also helps measure the risk.
The Deslinde process, particularly in areas of the Costa Blanca and Costa del Sol, has generated
significant controversy and litigation. Many foreign and local homeowners have protested after
finding their properties incorporated into the public domain due to their proximity to the sea,
effectively resulting in the transformation of their rights over the land.
The main cause of this regime is the natural change of the waves’ reach. On the other hand, it is
to be highlighted that litigation in the past has not always been based on deslindes following
natural changes but also related to illegal licenses or inadequate performance of the procedures to
build in some areas. However, litigation and controversy in this matter are known because of their
exceptional character. In fact, the number of properties that might be affected by new Deslindes
is extremely low.
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