Madrid New Municipal Ordinance new flexible regimen for licences and responsible statements

The Town Hall of Madrid has finally approved the Municipal Ordinance 6/2022 on Urban Planning Licences and Responsible Statements ("OLDR"), with the main purpose of simplifying administrative milestones and speeding up the processing of the necessary permits for urban planning activities in Madrid. In this way, the OLDR adapts Madrid's municipal regulations to the reduction of requirements brought about, at regional level, by Law 1/2020, of 8 October, which modified Law 9/2001.

The most important novelty introduced by the OLDR is that the responsible statement becomes the most common form of permit processing. A prior licence will only be required for those urban planning activities in which there are reasons of general interest and which are listed in Annex 1, among others: (i) works that require a technical works project in accordance with the State Act on Building (Ley de Ordenación de la Edificación) (with the exception of those included in Law 2/2012 of 12 June, on the Revitalisation of Commercial Activity in Madrid); (ii) works in protected buildings with the highest level of protection or (iii) acts of parcelling, segregation or division of land not included in a re-allotment project.

In addition, there are other new features introduced by the OLDR which, given their relevance, are summarised below:

i) It introduces the basic licence regime which allows for more agility in the procedure for new construction, replacement or total restructuring. In this way, only the main essential building requirements (identified in Annex VIII) will be verified prior to the start of the works, allowing the rest of the issues/requirements to be checked in a subsequent control. The new regime provides that applications for basic licences will be resolved within a maximum of one month.

ii) It regulates the different means of obtaining urban development information, including the urban development viability report. Through this report, interested parties can confirm the viability of specific works before applying for the corresponding permit (or lack thereof), and even obtain the mandatory sectorial reports.

iii) It reduces the cases in which a mandatory fire protection report is required (listed in Annex VI) or the favourably report from the Heritage Commission of the Town Hall of Madrid is needed (better known as CPPHAN) (third additional provision of the OLDR).

iv) Works on properties resulting from prescribed urban planning infringements may only be carried out after obtaining the relevant works licence (in these cases a responsible statement will not be sufficient). Only if an administrative resolution has already declared the infringement time elapsed, and said situation has been recorded in the Land Registry, a responsible statement could be submitted for the execution of the works.

v) It extends the scope of action of the Urban Planning Collaboration Entities ("ECUs") to include residential use (until now limited to municipal competence), except for works that affect the public domain. The ECUs will issue the corresponding conformity certificate, but the licence will be granted by the Town Hall. Without prejudice to the validity of these certificates, the municipal technical services may issue technical and legal reports in disagreement, which will prevail over those issued by the ECUs.

vi) It excludes from obtaining any urban planning permit certain minor works in residential use (conservation works in common areas, replacement of interior finishes, renovation of own installations, etc.), as well as changes of activity, within the same class of use in existing premises that have obtained the relevant permit. In the latter cases, the new activity must be compatible from an urban planning point of view and must have the same or less environmental, safety, health and accessibility conditions. Changes of activity within the scope of application of the legislation on public shows or recreational activities are excluded.

vii) It further develops the regime of responsible statements:

• It extends the works and actions subject to responsible statement, including the responsible statement for first occupation and operating (Annex II.A of the OLDR).
• The responsible statements submitted to the Town Hall, together with the urban development viability report or certificate of urban development suitability issued by the ECU, will be binding on the administration.
• It establishes the deadlines for the execution of the works (in the event that they are not expressed in the statement itself) and simplifies subsequent verification. Thus, although the responsible statement is submitted directly to the Town Hall, individuals may request an ECU to carry out the verification visit.
• It incorporates the obligation to communicate the completion of the works as a necessary requirement for the exercise of the verification control. Without such communication, the responsible statement will be declared non-effective.
• It specifies the consequences of the declaration of non-effectiveness. Among others, the reiteration of non-effective responsible statements can derive in the impossibility of submitting a new responsible statement within a maximum period of one year (with the same object).
• It contemplates the different options for filing responsible statements regarding recreational activities (both for the implementation of the activity and for its operating), although it maintains the subsequent verification to be carried by the municipal technicians.

viii) It regulates licences for temporary activities (intended for the so-called pop up activities). These licences will be processed by the Town Hall itself (they are excluded from the competences of the ECUs).

ix) It incorporates specific rules for the procedure to re-establish urban planning legality with the creation of the Municipal Urban Planning Inspection Plans and the possible intervention of the ECUs.

x) Finally, the new OLDR derogates the existing municipal ordinances for the execution of any works or implementation of activities in the municipality of Madrid: the Ordinance for the Processing of Urban Development Licences (Ordenanza de Tramitación de Licencias Urbanísticas 2004) and a large part of the Ordinance for the Opening of Economic Activities (Ordenanza para la Apertura de Actividades Económicas 2014).

The new Ordinance will apply exclusively to the municipal area of Madrid and will enter into force on 17 June 2022. However, ECUs can already apply for an extension of their administrative authorisation to operate in the entire scope of the new OLDR (including residential use).

Likewise, as usual, the first transitory provision allows interested parties to withdraw from the ongoing procedures initiated prior to the entry into force of the OLDR and apply for the new regime. This withdrawal is particularly favourable in those works that no longer require any urban planning permit or when the intervention regime has been significantly reduced.