Recently, I have felt a strong need to write about this particular topic. Mainly because of the growing number of questions I keep receiving, and quite frankly, because of the amount of confusion and misinformation surrounding this trend.
More and more often, clients ask me about non-urbanizable land, in other words, land outside designated building zones, because they are interested in buying it and possibly placing a mobile home, a modular house or my personal favourite, a converted shipping container, on it.
Because if it is all over YouTube right now, it must surely be a brilliant investment plan.
Cheap land.
Beautiful views.
Solar panels.
Off-grid lifestyle.
A little pool.
Airbnb.
Passive income.
Basically, the dream!!!
Except that reality in Spain tends to be… how shall I put this diplomatically… a little less Instagram-friendly.
Why am I bringing this up?
This year, while cycling around, I started noticing something I genuinely had not seen in my 25 years on the Costa del Sol.
Large plots of land that are not designated for development are suddenly being enclosed with high aluminium fences.
There are cameras everywhere…
Electric gates…
New access roads…
Levelled slopes and terraces carved into hillsides.
And behind the fence you suddenly see:
Mobile homes, modular homes, containers…
One next to another.
Sometimes a small swimming pool.
Sometimes a pergola.
Sometimes practically an entire mini housing estate.
And I find myself wondering…
Excuse me, but since when did land outside a building zone become a private container development?
Because that is exactly what it is starting to look like, except for one small detail.
- No sewer system
- No proper infrastructure
- No public roads
- No urban development plan
- None of the requirements that a normal developer has to meet in order to legally build a residential development
But apparently, if you add wheels, everything suddenly becomes fine?
…It doesn’t.
And this brings me to probably the biggest myth currently circulating among investors:
“It’s a mobile home, so I don’t need planning permission.”
I hear this sentence so often that I am starting to think someone hands it out for free when you buy a plot classified as “suelo rústico.”
So let’s make this very simple.
Spanish planning authorities do not really care whether your house has wheels or sits on blocks.
What they care about is:
- whether you live there,
- whether you are connected to water or a well,
- electricity,
- a septic system,
- whether you have a terrace,
- a swimming pool,
- a barbecue,
- or a Wi-Fi password stuck on the fridge.
Great.
Good luck explaining to the authorities that your “temporarily parked trailer” just happens to have a swimming pool, terrace, septic tank and fibre-optic internet.
Let’s call it what it is.
If you place a mobile home on non-developable land and use it for permanent or long-term accommodation without the necessary authorisations from the town hall or planning authorities, it may be illegal.
Not “maybe a bit of a grey area.”
Not “it will probably be fine.”
Il-le-gal.
In more serious cases, the consequences can include:
Fines.
An order to remove the structure.
An obligation to restore the land to its original condition.
And in certain cases, even criminal proceedings.
What fascinates me even more, however, is the mentality behind all of this.
The real issue is not one mobile home sitting somewhere among the olive trees.
The problem begins when someone buys a huge plot, divides it into smaller sections, puts up fences, installs cameras, creates private access roads and starts placing mobile homes next to one another like Lego bricks.
Suddenly you have:
access roads,
swimming pools,
cars parked side by side,
weekend family gatherings…
So in other words:
a development project.
Just without a developer.
Without permits.
Without infrastructure.
Without costs.
Without rules.
With zero safety, flood-prevention or fire-protection measures.
Well, who wouldn’t want that, right?
And this is where I especially want to warn investors.
Just because other people are doing it does not mean it is legal.
And it certainly does not mean this whole trend will not be stopped tomorrow.
This is one mistake I have seen many times on the Costa del Sol.
Remember Marbella during the Jesús Gil era?
Back then, everyone thought the boom would last forever.
That the law did not really matter.
That inspections would never come.
That if everybody was doing it, it must somehow be fine.
And…
It wasn’t.
Court cases.
Investigations.
Demolitions.
Fines.
And suddenly the party was over.
We are seeing something similar now with Airbnb.
A few years ago, half the market believed that short-term rental returns would continue forever without restrictions.
And today?
Registrations.
Inspections.
Fines.
And so on.
The Costa del Sol has one rather interesting characteristic.
History keeps repeating itself.
First comes the boom.
Then comes the “easy money.”
Everyone starts copying everyone else.
Then it gets out of control.
Complaints follow.
And then regulation arrives.
So please be very careful when you hear statements such as:
“Everyone is doing it.”
“Nobody checks.”
“The neighbours have had three containers there for ten years.”
That is not legal analysis.
That is gambling, not an investment strategy.
So what is my advice?
If you are considering buying “suelo rústico” land on the Costa del Sol, filling it with mobile homes or containers and offering people an off-grid lifestyle or holiday accommodation, then before you transfer the reservation deposit and start choosing the colour of your pergola, do one thing first.
Have the project properly checked.
Find out:
- what the local planning rules and regulations actually allow,
- where the water comes from,
- where the wastewater goes,
- how legal access to the property is arranged,
- and most importantly, whether you will actually be able to sell or rent the project legally afterwards.
Because in sunny Spain, the distance between the dream of a free life surrounded by nature and a demolition order can sometimes be surprisingly small.
Nature, peace and quiet, and five “temporarily parked” mobile homes behind the fence Nature, peace and quiet, and five “temporarily parked” mobile homes behind the fenceA view of a newly emerging mini housing estate in a picturesque mountain landscape, where only yesterday there was still open countryside. A view of a newly emerging mini housing estate in a picturesque mountain landscape, where only yesterday there was still open countryside.
