Which works require a licence
The exact split between licence and responsible declaration is set by each region's planning legislation and by municipal ordinances, but the general pattern is stable: the licence is reserved for the works of greatest impact, new construction, extensions, interventions on protected buildings, demolitions and, in general, whatever the regional legislator considers significant enough to justify prior control. The underlying criterion is planning risk: the harder to reverse and the more capable of contravening the plan a work is, the more likely it requires a licence. The boundary with the responsible declaration is developed in the article dedicated to that route.
The application: documentation and documentary quality
The typical application comprises the form, the technical design, at least the proyecto básico for building works, proof of payment of the fee and of the construction tax where applicable, the site direction appointment sheet where the municipality requires it at this stage, and the concurrent sectoral authorisations where the location demands them, heritage, roads, coasts, aviation, water. The exact list is checked in the specific municipality's ordinance.
Processing experience is summarised in one rule: the file moves at the speed of its weakest document. Municipal reports review the design against the plan parameter by parameter, buildable area, coverage, heights, uses, provisions, and each internal inconsistency of the design, areas that do not match between report and drawings, incomplete justifications, becomes a requirement. The article on the proyecto básico develops the level of definition that avoids this friction.
Processing and its clocks
The ordinary circuit chains registration, technical and legal reports, sectoral reports from other administrations where applicable, and resolution. Over this circuit run two different clocks worth not confusing. The legal resolution period, set by regional regulation, marks when the administration should resolve and when administrative silence comes into play. And the real period, which in many municipalities exceeds the legal one, depends on the service's workload, the file's complexity and the number of requirements it generates.
Each correction requirement is the calendar's intimate enemy: it suspends the clock, demands a documentary response and re-queues the file. Hence the investment in application quality has a direct return in months.
On administrative silence, prudence rules: its meaning varies with the applicable legislation and the nature of the works, and the general rule of state law prevents acquiring by silence powers contrary to the urban plan. Building on the back of a positive silence without serious legal verification is one of the sector's most expensive bets.
| Application document | Content | When it is prepared |
|---|---|---|
| Application form | Formal request with the details of the works | When the design is closed |
| Technical design | At least the proyecto básico for building works | Before applying |
| Fee and construction tax | Proof of payment | With the submission |
| Site direction appointment sheet | Designation of the technicians, where the municipality requires it | With the submission |
| Sectoral authorisations | Heritage, roads, coasts, aviation, water | In parallel, from the outset |
The cost of waiting
The licence is the phase of the process where the developer pays most for not controlling time. While the file advances, the land's financing costs run, the operation's overheads run and, in rising markets, so does the construction cost that will be contracted later. This waiting cost economically justifies the practices that accelerate: the prior consultation with municipal technical services where it exists, which anticipates criteria; the application with a complete basic design self-checked against the plan; responses to requirements in days rather than weeks; and parallelisation with the detailed design's development, which turns the processing months into productive time.
After the licence
The resolution does not close the chapter: the licence incorporates conditions, is granted without prejudice to ownership and third-party rights, and comes with start and completion deadlines whose breach can trigger lapse. Design modifications during the works that alter what the licence controlled require its modification, with the boundary criterion developed in the article on the proyecto de ejecución. And the end of works has its own administrative circuit, with the first occupation licence or declaration as the key to the building's use, linking with the closure covered in the article on handover and the final certificate.
Frequent errors
The first is planning with the legal period instead of the specific municipality's real one: the difference is measured in months and paid in financing. The real periods are asked of the town hall itself before programming.
The second is submitting, to secure a date, a design that is not ready: the first requirement returns the time gained with interest. The file stops until the correction arrives complete.
The third is ignoring the concurrent sectoral authorisations until the municipal file demands them, chaining waits that could have been parallel. They are worth identifying and launching in parallel from the outset.
The fourth is treating administrative silence as an automatic licence, without the legal analysis its invocation demands. Invoking it requires prior legal analysis, case by case.
Note: licence regulation is regional and municipal; the periods, fees and silence regimes cited must be verified in the legislation applicable to each works' specific location.