Reforming Spanish Legislation as to Land Usage & Assessment

Abstract

The paper begins by stating that Constitutional Court Sentence n.° 161/97 of 20 March defines the scope of the Autonomical Regional Governments' competencies as to City And Territorial Planning and thus allows State the very narrowest residual margin when it comes to establishing those conditions that would guarantee any equity in the exercise of property rights. The Reform of Land Bill is seen to establish the conditions for this through a classification of land -as the sentence clearly states-, thus answering to cases real or otherwise by means with legal fictions.The three possible classifications it admits are stated here to be existing built upon land, rural land not open to building and ground either for building or rural that might be open to a change in its use. The city and territorial planning situation thus created by those conditions here guaranteeing equity are to be filled out by Autonomous Regional Government legislation with the rider that this might in no way alter nor interfere with the above definitions. For the author, any assessment of land tends to be in terms of real value and the regulating here of indemnity as within that of the general area of the Administration's answerability, to aim at the creation of that which would favour legal security.