Nerja

Can you build a house on rustic land?

Andalucía requires at least 2.5 ha for a new house on rustic land.

Other cases: 5 ha on forest land.

Decreto 550/2022, art. 31. A town plan can be stricter.

Plan in force: Plan General (a full town plan), from 2000. The region's planning viewer ↗

The national urban information system (SIU) maps the land class for 100% of the municipality.

Only the town hall can confirm it, in writing: ask for a certificado urbanístico.

Is there water?

IGME records 95 wells and boreholes in Nerja. Half of the 89 with a depth found water at 9–130 m. 28 springs are recorded.

Ground: 62% karstic or fissured aquifer, high productivity; 22% practically impermeable; 15% porous aquifer, medium productivity.

Choosing where to drill takes a hydrogeologist.

What to watch for

• 2 fires since 2016 reached the municipality: 699 ha in all, the latest in 2024.
• 0.6% of the municipality lies in the 100-year flood zone; 0.6% in the 500-year one.
• 0.6% of the municipality is preferential flow zone, where new building is generally banned.
• 68% of the municipality is Natura 2000: new works need the region's consent.
• 68% of the municipality is a protected natural area, whose plan limits what can be done.
• Not a radon zone.
• Basic seismic acceleration 0.17 g: new buildings need seismic design.

Living here

• 4G reaches 99% of homes; fibre 92%. Averages for the municipality.
• Rain: 532 mm a year (1971–2000), about 458 by 2041–2070.
• Summer highs: 28.3 °C, about 30.9 °C by 2041–2070.
• Frost days: 1 a year, about 0 by 2041–2070.

Around it

Frigiliana · Otívar · Almuñécar · Torrox · Cómpeta