Renovation permit in Spain: the Valencian rules explained

Which renovation permit in Spain your works need under Valencian rules: licence or declaración responsable, the ICIO tax, timings, protected and coastal homes.

Last checked 17 October 2026

What you will learn

When works need a licence and when a declaration is enough
How the ICIO construction tax is calculated
The extra limits for protected and seafront houses

Which renovation permit in Spain you need depends on what the works touch, and the rules are regional. In the Comunitat Valenciana, new buildings, earthworks and works of heritage importance on protected buildings need a licence. Most reforms of an existing house are carried out with a declaración responsable, a signed statement filed with the town hall that allows work to start straight away. Both are set out in the Valencian planning law, the TRLOTUP, and each town applies them through its own forms and fees.

Licence or declaration: how the works are divided

A licence (licencia urbanística) is required for new buildings and new installations, for earthworks and the division of plots, for prefabricated houses, for provisional works, and for works on protected or catalogued buildings that have heritage significance. With a licence, nothing starts until the town hall has decided.

A declaración responsable covers most of the rest. Without any certificate it covers reforms that affect the interior or exterior of a building, or its structure without replacing the main structural elements; simple reforms with no structural change; non structural walls and the fencing of a plot; and the first occupation of a finished house.

A second group also goes by declaración responsable, but only with a certificate from an accredited private verification body (an ECUV) or a professional college. It includes reforms that affect the structure of a building, demolition, a change of use, works below ground and the opening or paving of paths. Our guide to permits explains how these verification bodies work.

The declaration is not a formality. It must be filed with proof of identity of the owner and the other parties to the works, a written and drawn description of the works and their location, a project signed by a qualified architect or engineer where the works require one, with a short report confirming they comply, any environmental documents, and the planned start date and plan for rubble and use of the street. Once it is filed complete, the works may begin at once, and the declaration has the same effect as a licence.

The town hall keeps the right to inspect. If any essential information in the declaration turns out to be false or missing, the works must stop, and the town can order the property returned to its previous state, on top of any fine.

What each town asks for

The categories are regional; the paperwork is local. Teulada-Moraira, Benissa, Calp, Xàbia and Benitachell each publish their own forms and fee ordinances. Ask the town's planning department (urbanismo) which route your works take before the architect draws them, because the answer decides how much documentation the project needs.

An extension that adds floor area is checked against the plan in the same way as new building: buildability, height and setbacks from the boundaries. If the house already uses all the floor area its zone allows, there is nothing left to add, however much space the plot seems to have. That is worth knowing before you buy a house to extend.

The ICIO tax and the Catastro

Works that need a licence or a declaration pay the municipal construction tax, ICIO, under the local finance law. It is charged on the material cost of the works: VAT, the town's fees, professional fees and the builder's profit are not part of the base. Each town sets its own rate, which may not exceed 4%. A provisional amount is charged on the budget when the licence is granted or the declaration filed, and once the works are finished the town can adjust it to the real cost. A municipal fee for processing the file is usually charged as well.

When the works are done, an extension or a renovation changes the description of the property, and the cadastral law requires it to be declared or communicated to the Catastro. Simple maintenance and decorative works are excluded. A higher cadastral value means a higher IBI, the annual property tax.

How long a renovation permit in Spain takes

By law, a town hall must decide a licence for new building, or for a structural reform equal in scale to new building, within two months. For works on a catalogued building it has three months, and for other licences two months. If the file has gaps, the town asks once for everything missing and gives up to a month to supply it. In practice, on this coast, licences often take longer than the legal deadlines, so plan the timeline with a margin.

A licence is granted with deadlines to start and to finish the works. The town can extend them once, for no longer than the original period, provided the licence still matches the planning rules at that time. If a licence lapses, the works cannot continue until a new one is granted under the rules then in force.

At the end, the first occupation of a house is filed by declaración responsable. Water, electricity and telecoms companies may only connect works or a house that has the permits for its use, so the paperwork and the utility contracts move together. It is also worth asking the town hall whether it limits building works during the summer season before you fix the start date.

Protected buildings, the coast and unlicensed works

Works with heritage significance on a building in the town's catalogue need a licence, and the town hall has three months to decide it. If the house sits in a protected old town or is listed itself, the catalogue sheet decides what may change, from windows and roofs to colours and materials.

Near the sea, two layers apply. The Valencian coastal law, Ley 3/2025, requires prior authorisation from the Generalitat for works and uses in the coastal protection zone. And under the Ley de Costas, houses built before 1988 that do not fit the current coastal rules may be repaired, improved, consolidated and modernised, but without any increase in volume, height or floor area. Those works must also improve the energy rating by two letters or reach a B. If the house is demolished in whole or in part, what replaces it must comply fully with the law. Our guide to buying near the sea explains how to check where a property stands.

If the house you are buying already has works done without a licence, the Valencian law gives the town hall fifteen years from the end of those works to order them undone on urban land. On rustic land, and on land the plan reserves for green zones, roads or public uses, there is no such limit. Even when the fifteen years have passed, the works are not legalised, and no reform or extension of the unlicensed part may be carried out while it remains out of line with the plan.

A renovation runs on two timelines, the works and the permits, and the second usually sets the pace. The practical step: before you buy a house to renovate, have an architect confirm which renovation permit in Spain the plan requires and what the plan allows, then ask the town's planning department to confirm the route, and put the permit time into the budget and the schedule. Our guide to what a renovation really costs covers the budget. These are the properties to renovate on the market now, and we can look at any of them with you before you decide.

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Across the coast

Written by Nicolas Strebel.