Ibiza will eliminate the cédulas and licenses of the reforms

“The regulation of administrative simplification is one of the axes of the economic recovery plan prepared by the Consell”, as presented by the minister of Management of the Territori, Infraestructures Viàries, Ordenació Turística i Lluita contra l’intrusisme, Mariano Juan, the text in the that all the town councils of the island and the College of Architects have participated.
A regulation that wants to revolutionize the administrative management of works in Ibiza by reducing deadlines and procedures. The text has three important blocks: certificates of occupancy, concession of work licenses and procedures prior to works in heritage elements. Its most notable changes will be the elimination of the first occupation occupancy certificates and major work licenses that do not involve a modification of urban parameters (expansion of volume, height or land occupation) and do not affect protected land or cataloged assets .
“This is a change that we owe to the citizens as an administration. In addition, we believe that it is necessary at a time when we need to reactivate economic activity, something to which we can contribute through the rehabilitation and reform of buildings “, explains Juan.
It also seeks to solve a historical problem of the Ibizan administration, the delay in the approval of construction licenses of more than 20 months in several municipalities, when the Balearic Urban Planning Law itself establishes the express resolution within a maximum period of three months.

The initial text will be discussed this month with technicians from all city councils and representatives from the colleges of surveyors and architects to start the approval procedure.

Certificates of habitability
The entry into force of the regulation will mean the elimination of the management of the first occupancy cards in the Consell and the simplification of the processing of the renewal and absence cards.
First occupancy certificates are those that the Consell must grant to new works or major reforms before being able to move into a home.
The regulation will consolidate in a single procedure before the corresponding city council: the certificate of completion of the work, the municipal license of first occupation and the certificate of habitability of first occupation.

In this way a double processing of the same procedure is eliminated, since the municipal license of first occupation already certifies the habitability of the construction.
The Minister of Territori explains that these cards represent 80% of those processed in the Consell. Their processing had a term of 11 months at the beginning of the legislature, “today they are resolved in 3 months, which is still unacceptable, but it was a great advance. In one year 1,500 certificates of occupancy have been processed “, he assures.

The minister wanted to remember that the president of the Consell already requested at the time in the Parliament that this class of cards be eliminated due to the duplication of procedures that they imply. “This is a procedure that has been eliminated in almost all the autonomous communities of Spain, we are not inventing anything. Faced with the refusal of the Government, we make this reform through regulations, which do not allow us to eliminate the habitability certificates, but to simplify their processing so that they disappear de facto.
With respect to the other two classes of certificates, the renewal and the lack, they are maintained, since they are considered necessary to verify that no irregularities have been carried out, but their processing is simplified.

The main change will be the modification of one of the procedures, a municipal certificate that places a lot of burden on the municipalities and is necessary for the Consell to deliver the deficiency certificates. “It takes months and they are so complex that sometimes the Consell is forced to return them,” explains Juan. The regulation simplifies the processing so that the municipal certificate is reduced to a verification that there is no open urban discipline file.

Licensing
Regarding building licenses, the number of cases in which work can be started by submitting a responsible declaration to the Town Hall is expanded. Something that Law 2/2020 already does temporarily for those works on urban land that do not modify urban parameters.

Through the regulations, a list of works is drawn up that from now on will not need to receive a license to start and the responsible statement of the competent technician and the relevant project that certifies that the regulations are met will suffice. Basically, this regime is contemplated for those works that do not alter urban parameters, that is, that do not involve an increase in height, volume or occupation, that are not in protected environments or in cataloged assets, both on urban and rustic land .

“Do not confuse prior communication with doing whatever you want,” emphasizes the minister, given that he indicates that the municipalities must inspect these works during their execution and must validate them when they are finished.
“We are talking about small works that required some modification or change in the structure but that do not alter urban parameters. These works are in the technicians’ drawers for months for analysis and authorization. All these works, which involve a lot of management time, if their processing is eliminated, the technicians themselves will be allowed to dedicate themselves to processing those works that really require a detailed analysis, such as extensions or new buildings, in addition to being able to focus on the inspection ”, assesses the minister.

In this last aspect, he criticizes that current regulations mean that municipal technicians are locked in their offices and do not spend time to inspect. «Public administrations in Spain, and specifically in the Balearic Islands, lived in the 19th century. We believe that if the file is perfect the work is perfect and nobody sees the works. Everything is detailed and indexed but nobody sees the work. The works must be seen the day after they are presented and the council must focus on ensuring that the work complies with the project. This is done by going to the construction sites and seeing reality, not looking at the plans ».
He points out, on the other hand, that this modification will mean a great advance in the processing times of urban planning licenses, which currently take more than 20 months in some municipalities of the island, when the Urban Planning Law itself establishes that they must be resolved in a within three months. A problem that affects both the administration itself and the citizens, who in some cases decide to start work before receiving the relevant license due to the excessive current wait.

Listed properties
Thirdly, as a result of the requests of the mayors of Sant Joan and Vila, it is analyzing how the processing of the execution of works in listed buildings can be simplified.
Specifically, the way to simplify and streamline the procedures prior to starting the works is being studied.
“These are the aspects prior to the work, study of heritage elements that take 9 or 10 months until they are validated. It cannot be that a person who lives in a country house or a historic building and wants to fix the ceiling beams, has to wait 11 months before even being able to request the building license, which will still take years to receive », explains the minister.
That is why we are working to establish a method of processing these archaeological checks, generally tastings to know in detail the structure and verify that the works cannot affect heritage elements hidden from view, to reduce their deadlines by complying with the relevant control.