Renovating an old house in Mallorca: permits and the order of work

Start before you buy

The most expensive renovation mistakes are made before the deposit is paid. A buyer who plans to add a floor, a pool or a guest room should find out first whether the planning rules allow it. In Mallorca that depends on the town hall’s general plan, the island plan of the Consell de Mallorca (the island council) and, on country land, the Balearic rustic land rules.

• Ask the town hall for a planning certificate, or have an architect check the plan for the plot.
• Check whether the building is listed or appears in a heritage catalogue.
• Compare what is built with the licences on file. Rooms or terraces added without a licence limit what you can do later.
• On rustic land, confirm the land category and the plot size.

Our guides to surveys and checks and buying a finca explain these checks in detail.

Two kinds of permission

The Balearic planning law (Law 12/2017, known as the LUIB) sets out two routes. Which one applies depends on whether the works need a technical project under the national building law.

Comunicación previa

A prior notice to the town hall, used for simple, small-scale works that need no technical project, such as some interior refurbishments. For these, works can start the day after the notice is filed. The notice must set a time limit for the works of no more than two years.

Licencia de obras

The building licence. It is needed for new buildings, works on existing buildings that require a technical project, demolitions, changes of use and opening tracks, among other things.

The Consell de Mallorca can widen the list of works that only need a notice, but the law never allows the simpler route for works on protected rustic land or on listed or catalogued buildings, nor for works that affect the foundations or structure, change the volume or the number of homes, or involve demolition. Town halls set the paperwork in local ordinances, so check the rules in your municipality.

Old houses on rustic land

Country houses are where most renovation plans meet limits. The island plan only lets town halls allow reform and extension of genuine traditional houses of at least 35 m² of usable space, built with authorisation or before the 1956 Land Law. A legal house on a plot smaller than today’s minimum cannot be extended at all. Works that amount to rebuilding the main structure are not allowed, apart from partial work on roofs or floors.

• Living, cooking and sleeping rooms must stay in one building; a separate guest house is generally not allowed.
• One pool per finca, with no more than 35 m² of water surface and 60 m³ of volume.
• A full renovation needs a project for the whole finca: dry-stone walls, terraces, fire safety and lighting.
• Unlicensed parts that can no longer be demolished can only be repaired, not improved.

Owners with old unlicensed buildings may be able to use the 2024 extraordinary legalisation, open in Mallorca until February 2028. Buying a finca explains how it works and its limits.

The order of work

1. 1

   Survey and measured drawings

   An architect or technical architect (arquitecto técnico) surveys the house and records what exists and what is legal.

2. 2

   Basic project and application

   The architect prepares a basic project, which is enough to apply for the licence, and files it with the town hall with any reports the law requires.

3. 3

   Licence

   The town hall must give its decision within three months of receiving a complete file. Heritage authorisations and Consell reports for rustic land can add time.

4. 4

   Execution project

   If the licence was granted on a basic project, the detailed execution project must be filed within nine months, and building cannot start without it.

5. 5

   Start notice and site board

   The town hall must be told at least ten days before work begins, and a board showing the licence must stay on site.

6. 6

   Building

   An architect directs the works, usually with a technical architect supervising construction. Temporary electricity and water can be contracted on the strength of the licence.

7. 7

   Completion

   The technicians certify the end of the works. New or altered buildings may need an occupancy licence or habitability certificate, and new or enlarged buildings should be declared at the notary and in the Land Registry.

Timing and deadlines

A building licence sets a period to start and a period to finish. If the general plan says nothing, the law gives six months to start and three years to finish. The owner can obtain one extension of each, for half the original period, by asking in time with a reason. A second extension to finish is possible once at least half the building work is done and the facades and roof are complete. If the deadlines pass, the licence lapses and a new one is needed under the rules then in force.

Budget for the municipal construction tax (ICIO) and the licence fee, which are paid to the town hall, as well as the professionals’ fees. See choosing a lawyer for how your lawyer and architect can work together.