Planas del Rey: from the EUCC to the legal proceedings

With the May 2023 municipal elections approaching, this article looks back at the main stages in the administrative and legal history of Planas del Rey.

For several decades, the maintenance of the development, the provision of public services, the carrying out of works and their funding have been the subject of ongoing disagreement between property owners and Pratdip Town Council.

From the Property Owners’ Club to the creation of the EUCC

From the late 1960s onwards, part of the management and maintenance of Planas del Rey is handled by the Property Owners’ Club.

Property owners pay fees intended to cover the Club’s operating costs and the maintenance of the development.

Later, they continue to pay the property taxes due to the municipality while also paying specific fees for the management of Planas del Rey. These fees are initially collected by the Property Owners’ Club and, from 1988 onwards, by the EUCC.

AVPR–SOS Planas describes this situation as a double contribution: on the one hand, property owners pay the usual municipal taxes; on the other, they directly fund part of the maintenance of the development.

This wording reflects the position taken by the association. It does not mean that a court has recognised the existence of unlawful double taxation in the strict fiscal sense.

The creation of a conservation entity

In 1988, an Urban Development Conservation Entity, generally referred to by the acronym EUCC, takes over responsibility for the conservation and maintenance of the development.

The certificate approved by Pratdip Town Council on 12 April 1988 also provides that, within two years, the EUCC is to organise the formal transfer to the municipality of the infrastructure and communal land of Planas del Rey.

This document shows that the EUCC was conceived as a temporary structure, intended to help manage the development pending the transfer of its communal facilities to the municipality.

However, it is important to distinguish between:

the carrying out or completion of the development works;
the conservation and maintenance of the existing infrastructure;
the transfer and formal acceptance of that infrastructure by the municipality;
the allocation of the cost of the works between property owners, other landowners and the public authorities.

These different issues depend on the planning documents, land ownership, transfers already made, works already carried out and the applicable administrative or judicial decisions.

A conservation obligation limited in time

On 13 July 1990, Catalan Legislative Decree 1/1990 comes into force.

In its judgment of 21 July 2016, the High Court of Justice of Catalonia finds that, following the entry into force of this legislation, the obligation imposed on property owners to conserve and maintain the development could not be extended beyond five years.

As that period had long since expired, the Court orders the dissolution of the Planas del Rey EUCC.

The ruling does not mean that all the necessary works have been completed or that the municipality has formally accepted all of the infrastructure. It brings to an end the obligation on property owners to maintain the EUCC beyond the period recognised by the Court.

The fees paid by property owners

According to figures provided at the time by AVPR–SOS Planas, property owners are estimated to have paid approximately €230,000 per year in fees to the EUCC between 2006 and 2016.

The association also estimates that Planas del Rey property owners pay a similar amount each year in property tax (IBI).

These figures illustrate the financial burden borne by property owners, who contribute both to municipal tax revenues and directly to the cost of maintaining the development.

They should nevertheless be presented as estimates put forward by the association, rather than as amounts established by a court ruling.

A dissolution that does not resolve every issue

The dissolution of the EUCC has not, by itself, clarified every aspect of the administrative and planning status of Planas del Rey.

Following the 2016 ruling, several questions remain unresolved:

which land and facilities have actually been transferred to the municipality;
which infrastructure has been formally accepted;
which works still need to be carried out;
who is responsible for providing the various public services;
how the costs should be shared.

AVPR–SOS Planas considers that the disappearance of the EUCC should lead the municipality to take on greater responsibility for the management of the development.

This position cannot, however, be presented as an automatic consequence of the dissolution of the entity alone.

Town Council required to make the dissolution effective

Following the 2016 judgment, enforcement proceedings are initiated to ensure that the dissolution of the EUCC is effectively carried out.

In a ruling issued in December 2017, the enforcement judge orders the necessary steps to continue in order to wind up the entity.

Pratdip Town Council challenges this ruling before the High Court of Justice of Catalonia.

On 28 April 2021, the Court dismisses the appeal. It recalls that the dissolution has already been ordered by a final judgment and that the municipality must take the necessary steps to allow the EUCC to be fully wound up.

The Court nevertheless makes clear that these proceedings concern only the enforcement of the dissolution. It expressly states that it does not have sufficient information to rule on the respective obligations of the parties once the entity has ceased to exist.

The issue of public services

Since the dissolution of the EUCC, the provision and funding of public services have remained at the heart of the dispute.

AVPR–SOS Planas is calling on the municipality to provide Planas del Rey with the services that, in the association’s view, fall within municipal responsibilities, including:

drinking water supply;
waste collection;
street lighting;
maintenance of public roads;
sewerage and wastewater services.

Article 26 of Spanish Law 7/1985 of 2 April sets out the minimum services municipalities are required to provide according to their population.

How this provision applies in practice to Planas del Rey nevertheless depends on the nature of each item of infrastructure, its legal status, whether it has been formally accepted by the municipality and the responsibilities actually exercised by the Town Council.

Street lighting, which has been out of service across much of the development since 2017, remains one of the association’s main demands.

A disputed economic land readjustment project

Alongside the dissolution of the EUCC, the municipality continues to process the economic land readjustment project for PAU-4 Planas del Rey.

The project is intended, among other things, to clarify ownership of the plots, allocate planning rights and obligations, and determine the contribution property owners are expected to make towards works that are still considered necessary.

It also provides for the creation of an Administrative Cooperation Association for PAU-4.

According to the draft statutes, this body is intended to allow property owners who wish to join to take part in monitoring the land readjustment project and the development project, in cooperation with Pratdip Town Council.

It is not a new conservation entity responsible for the long-term maintenance of the development, but a cooperation body linked to the implementation of the planning management instruments for PAU-4.

In December 2021, AVPR–SOS Planas files an administrative appeal against the amendment to the economic land readjustment project.

In that appeal, the association challenges, among other points:

the use, in certain documents, of information stating that the EUCC is still active;
the way in which property owners are informed and formally notified;
differences between the various versions of the project;
the legal status of certain roads, green spaces and facilities;
the proposed allocation of the cost of the works.

The association asks that the amendment to the project should neither receive final approval nor be entered in the Land Registry in the form presented.

How the cost of the works should be shared

The need to renovate part of the infrastructure in Planas del Rey is not the only point of contention.

The dispute also concerns the exact nature of the works, their cost and the share to be borne by each party.

In its December 2021 appeal, AVPR–SOS Planas argues that the municipality should contribute to the funding because, according to the information cited in the appeal, it owns land and public spaces within the area concerned.

The association puts the publicly owned area at 291,359.15 m², representing 44.90% of the area concerned, and argues that this proportion should be taken into account when allocating the costs.

These percentages and their financial implications nevertheless form part of the association’s arguments in its appeal. They should not be presented as a cost-sharing arrangement definitively upheld by a court.

Questions that remain unresolved

With the May 2023 municipal elections approaching, several key issues still need to be clarified:

the precise legal status of the roads, utility networks, green spaces and facilities;
the extent of the infrastructure already formally accepted by the municipality;
the works genuinely required to complete or regularise the development;
the services that should be provided directly by the municipality;
how the cost should be shared between the municipality and property owners.

The 2016 judgment brought the EUCC to an end. The rulings issued in the course of its enforcement require its winding-up to be made effective.

They do not, however, provide a complete answer to all the planning, property and financial issues affecting Planas del Rey.

The aim is to reach a legally sound and financially fair solution that makes it possible to modernise the infrastructure, guarantee public services and provide lasting clarity on the position of Planas del Rey within the municipality of Pratdip.

05/05/2023
Jim – La Tribune de Planas