People who buy a plot in Spain to build on usually budget two figures: the land and the construction. Between them sits a third that almost nobody budgets properly, the permits, and a waiting period that decides how long you pay for two things at once, the place you live now and the loan on land you cannot yet use.
This guide works the numbers for a detached house with a construction budget of €180,000, using real rates from two Spanish town halls, and sets the timescales in the law beside the ones actually measured in particular municipalities. It is for planning; the exact amount comes from your municipality's tax bylaws for the year you apply.
First: does the plot allow the house?
You do not apply for a building licence to find out whether you can build. You apply once you know, and once you have a project. If the plan does not allow what you want, the architect's project and its stamping fees are wasted. The order is: planning sheet or certificate for the plot, then the architect, then the licence. The first step is covered in what you can build and planning certificate.
What it costs
1. Construction tax (ICIO): up to 4% of the budget
The town hall levies the tax on constructions, installations and works (Impuesto sobre Construcciones, Instalaciones y Obras, ICIO) on the real cost of the works, in practice taken from the project's material construction budget (presupuesto de ejecución material, PEM: building cost before the builder's overheads, profit and VAT). Article 102.3 of the consolidated Local Finance Act (RDL 2/2004) leaves the rate to each municipality, "without that rate exceeding four per cent". Two real rates:
| Municipality | Bylaw | Rate | ICIO on €180,000 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Soria | Tax bylaw no. 21, art. 5 | 3.90% | €7,020 |
| Motril (Granada) | Tax bylaw no. 4, art. 7 | 3.60% | €6,480 |
| Legal cap | Art. 102.3 Local Finance Act | 4.00% | €7,200 |
The tax falls due when works begin (art. 102.4). Under art. 103.1 the town hall first charges a provisional amount on the project budget, when the licence is granted or works start, and a final one at completion, after checking the actual cost. If the build overruns, so does the tax. Many bylaws offer reductions, for example for solar installations; claim them with the licence application, not afterwards.
The tax base is not always your budget. The construction tax is charged on the material execution cost, excluding VAT. Many towns, though, apply minimum costs per square metre by building type (módulos). Some ordinances take whichever is higher: the figure from the modules or the project budget. If your architect budgets a 150 m² house at €1,000/m² (€150,000) and the town's module is higher, you pay on the module. Ask for both figures before filing.
2. Licence fee
A separate fee (tasa) for processing the file, set by another bylaw. Some towns charge a percentage of the budget, others a flat amount by floor area. Madrid's is in tax bylaw 10/2023, amended by bylaw 1/2026 published in the Madrid regional gazette on 6 February 2026. The amount comes from that bylaw's tariff for your floor area and type of works. Ask your architect to work it out alongside the ICIO from the current year's bylaw.
3. Architect, site supervision and stamping
A house needs a technical project by an architect (Building Act, Ley 38/1999, art. 2.2): first the basic project (proyecto básico), submitted with the application, then the execution project (proyecto de ejecución). Fees are free-market. Since 2009, art. 14 of the Professional Associations Act (Ley 2/1974) bars professional associations from publishing even guideline fee scales, so any "official tariff" you are shown is not official. Get two or three fixed, itemised quotes covering basic project, execution project, site direction by the architect, site direction by the building engineer (aparejador) and health-and-safety coordination.
Stamping by the professional association (visado) is compulsory only for the building execution project (Royal Decree 1000/2010, art. 2.a). The basic project does not need it.
Hiring an architect from abroad. Foreign buyers often pair a designer they trust at home with a local Spanish architect who signs the project, deals with the town hall in Spanish (or Catalan, Valencian, Galician, Basque where relevant) and supervises the site.
4. What else the town hall asks for
Depending on the municipality and region: a deposit or guarantee for construction waste management, a guarantee for reinstating the pavement or road, a geotechnical study (required by Spain's Building Technical Code for the foundations), and, where the plot lacks full services, an undertaking to complete them while you build. Water, power and sewer connections are charged by the utilities and are not part of the licence; for rustic land see utility connections.
The example worked through
A 150 m² house with a €180,000 PEM in a town with ICIO at 3.90%:
- ICIO: 180,000 × 0.039 = €7,020
- Licence fee: whatever the town's tax bylaw sets
- Stamping of the execution project: set by the association
- Professional fees: free-market, by quote
The ICIO alone is 3.9% of the construction budget, and the fee comes on top. If a Spanish bank is financing the build, ask whether its loan covers them; they usually fall due before the first stage payment.
How long it takes
Silence does not give you a licence
The consolidated Land Act (RDL 7/2015), art. 11.4.b), requires an express decision, with silence counting as refusal, for new building works. If the town hall does not answer in time, the licence is treated as refused, not granted. In Madrid, art. 154 of the regional Land Act (Ley 9/2001), as worded since Law 11/2022, says the same. That lets you appeal. It does not let you start building.
Each region, and often the municipal bylaw, sets the deadline for a decision. In Madrid it is three months (art. 154 Ley 9/2001). In Asturias it is three months unless the municipal bylaw sets another period (art. 316 of the Asturian planning regulation). Elsewhere, look it up in the regional planning law and your town's licensing bylaw. Every request for missing documents stops the clock. Under art. 68.1 of the Administrative Procedure Act (Ley 39/2015) you get ten days to supply them, extendable by up to five, and if you do not, your application is treated as withdrawn and filed.
What has actually been measured
| Municipality | Average time | Source and year |
|---|---|---|
| Tarragona | 1 year 2 months (2019) → 4 months 10 days (2024) | Diari de Tarragona, municipal figures |
| Santa Eulària des Riu (Ibiza) | about 6 months | Municipal statements, Periódico de Ibiza, 24 Feb 2025 |
| Sant Antoni de Portmany (Ibiza) | about 3 months | Same article |
| Spain, new-build average (developers) | about 12 months | ASPRIMA/EY study, 2020 |
These figures are not like for like: Ibiza's come from the town halls themselves, ASPRIMA's from developers in 2020. They support one practical point: in some municipalities the real wait is well over twice the legal deadline and in others close to it, and the legal deadline only starts once the file is complete. Ask the planning department how long a single house is taking this year; many will tell you.
What a granted licence looks like: Torrevieja, February 2026
Town council minutes show the end of the process. In February 2026 the local government board of Torrevieja (Alicante) granted, unanimously with eight members present, the licence to build a detached house at calle Salvador Dalí 24, file 7442/2025, with the plot's cadastral reference in the decision. The file number tells you something useful: the application dates from 2025 and the licence from 2026. Another licence from the same council in January carries a condition that appears in almost all of them: put up a site sign as required by art. 46.3 of the town plan. Decisions also set the start and completion deadlines and, where relevant, deposits.
To see how long your town takes, read the last few months of local government board minutes (actas de la Junta de Gobierno Local) on its transparency portal. Comparing the file year with the decision date gives a truer picture than any national average, and many towns on the Costa Blanca and Costa del Sol publish them. Machine translation is enough to find the lines that say licencia de obra mayor and vivienda unifamiliar. Count how many months separate the file year from the decision in five or six recent cases, and plan your purchase, rental and builder's start date around that figure.
What shortens it
- A complete file from day one. Most delays are requests for missing documents. Go through the bylaw's document list with the architect before submitting.
- A pre-application query. Some town halls take technical queries before the application; an issue with building lines or height settled there saves a round of corrections.
- Third-party reports in good time. If the plot borders a main road, a watercourse or a protected monument, the licence waits for another authority's report. Ask for it in parallel where the rules allow.
- A Spanish address for notifications. Town halls notify electronically or by post. If you are abroad and miss a request for documents, the deadline still runs and the file can be closed. Give your architect or a representative authority to receive notifications.
Once granted: deadlines to start and to finish
A licence lapses (caduca) if you do not start or finish in time. The licence itself sets the periods; if it says nothing, regional law does:
- Madrid: one year to start and three to finish if the licence sets no dates (art. 158 Ley 9/2001).
- Andalusia: at most one year to start from notification (art. 307 of the LISTA Regulation, Decree 550/2022, as cited in 2025 municipal minutes).
Lapse is not automatic. The town hall has to declare it in a procedure in which you are heard, as Spain's Ombudsman (Defensor del Pueblo) has reminded councils, and an extension is usually available if you ask before the deadline. If you will start late, request the extension in writing in good time. A lapsed licence means applying again, under whatever plan is in force then, and paying ICIO again. The first payment is not lost if works never started: Spain's Supreme Court has held that with no construction and a lapsed licence the tax never arose, so the provisional payment must be refunded (judgment of 11 November 2020, appeal 4421/2019). The time limit for claiming starts when the town hall formally declares the licence lapsed or you expressly give it up (judgment of 4 November 2020, appeal 1869/2018).
When the house is finished
Completion brings the architect's final certificate, the first-occupation licence or the declaration that replaces it in some regions, and the deed declaring the finished building for the Land Registry. Without the first, many towns will not allow permanent utility contracts. See occupancy licence.
Before you pay for the plot, check its classification and the mapped constraints (roads, watercourses, protection) that could hold up the licence. A TerrenoCheck report shows them for your plot, with source and date, for €29. Pin the plot on the map → · See a sample report
If the licence is refused or more is asked for
- Request to correct the file (requerimiento). The most common outcome. It has a deadline; miss it and the file is closed and you start again. If you live abroad, make sure notices reach your architect or a representative, not only your Spanish electronic mailbox that you never open.
- Unfavourable technical report. You are usually heard before the decision. That is the moment to change the design (height, setbacks, coverage) rather than argue.
- Refusal. You can appeal administratively and then in court. If the refusal is based on the plan, an appeal rarely changes the plan; a new design does change the answer.
- Change of rules while you wait. If the town approves a new plan or ordinance while your file is open, ask your architect which version applies to your application and whether the design still fits. A licence that lapses later is decided again under the rules in force then.
- Silence. For a new house it does not give you a licence. After the deadline, write asking for a decision and, if none comes, consider with a lawyer an appeal against the presumed refusal.
- You bought the plot counting on the licence. That is why you ask the town for a planning report (cédula or informe urbanístico) before paying the deposit, and make the purchase conditional on it.