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Diari de Catalunya

Over half of l'Horta de Lleida homes are illegal and cannot be renovated

Most of the 3,100 homes in the area were built after the 1956 law, which declared them non-developable, preventing renovations and devaluing their price.

Aerial view of scattered houses in a rural area with green fields.
IA

Aerial view of scattered houses in a rural area with green fields.

More than half of the 3,100 homes in l'Horta de Lleida are in an irregular situation, built after the 1956 law that classified the area as non-developable, preventing their renovation and devaluing their price.

Residents of l'Horta de Lleida are demanding solutions from local and regional administrations to regularize the situation of hundreds of single-family homes. These dwellings, illegally built on non-developable land since 1956, cannot obtain permits for integral rehabilitations or renovations, which reduces their value by up to half.
The territorial commission of l'Horta has repeatedly urged the city council to find a formula that allows the Generalitat to accept their regularization through the new municipal urban planning plan (POUM). However, residents believe that current proposals do not provide a clear solution for irregular homes, but rather focus on those that are already legal.
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"It's a hot potato for both residents and the Paeria, we hope a solution is found soon."

the president of the neighborhood commission
In l'Horta, the construction of buildings and homes is permitted if they are linked to agricultural or livestock activity. Houses that do not meet this requirement are only legally established if they predate the 1956 Land Law or if they are the result of modernization that meets certain requirements. Despite their irregularity, all homes have a certificate of habitability and owners pay the corresponding property tax (IBI).
According to the latest l'Horta land use plan from 2017, of the approximately 3,100 existing homes in the 52 districts, about 1,700 have registered residents. Only 840 homes predate 1956, indicating that the number of irregular properties more than doubles that of legal ones.
The Col·legi d'Arquitectes de Catalunya confirms that they receive almost no renovation projects in l'Horta, as they can only be carried out if they have a license. Furthermore, many of these homes are low-quality self-builds where an architect has never been involved. Real estate agents (API) point out that the value of an irregular house in l'Horta can drop to half its price in a consolidated urbanization, as banks only finance up to 50% of its value in mortgages.
The parliamentary group of Junts presented allegations to decree-law 2/2025 on urgent measures in housing and urban planning, requesting that city councils be able to regularize scattered homes on non-developable land through special plans. This amendment, which primarily sought to benefit l'Horta de Lleida, was rejected in committee at the end of last year with votes against from PSC, ERC, and Comuns.

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