The Supreme Court has agreed to admit for processing the appeal filed by a Tarragona campsite against a ruling by the TSJ of Catalonia that endorsed the decision of the city council to deny the installation of mobile homes —the so-called mobile homes— in the campsite, considering that they it dealt with land use and therefore subject to prior planning permission. In its ruling, the TSJ argued that the fact that mobile homes have wheels does not alter the fact that there is an occupation of land in a campsite, which entails a use of land that is subject to prior planning permission.
For the TSJ of Catalonia, the question was clear: “A mobile home, whether it has wheels or not and is easily movable or not, is a prefabricated structure that is used for housing, normally provisional, that occupies a certain piece of land and that entails a use of the land it occupies”, ruled the magistrates in June of last year. The court pointed out that the urban planning law of Catalonia requires the application for a license for all acts of transformation or use of land or subsoil, building construction or demolition.
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In its first appeal, which was denied by the TSJ of Catalonia, the Tarragona campsite reproached the court that had ruled in the first instance that it had confused mobile homes with bungalows and prefabricated houses. And, before the Supreme Court, he insists on that idea again: he alleges that this type of mobile home is included in the category of trailers, since they are habitable recreational vehicles that do not need a prior planning license from the municipalities.
Whether or not they are the same as a bungalow or a prefabricated house —for the purposes of the urban planning license— is now in the hands of the Supreme Court, which explains in its admission order that the matter presents appeal interest —that is, that it is capable of receiving a judgment of the high court in which it establishes doctrine—because the solution that is adopted can affect a large number of situations, given the progressive use of mobile homes and the absence of jurisprudence in this regard.
In recent years, unconventional housing proposals have multiplied, such as mobile or modular homes. The high court understands that it must rule on the controversial issue “given its incidence in the urban regime of land ownership and the control of its use by the competent administration”, to which is added the novelty represented by the appearance of mobile homes or mobile homes.
The judgment will be in charge of the Fifth Section of the Contentious Chamber, which will have to determine, firstly, the nature of the mobile homes —whether they are a habitable vehicle or a construction that may require a permit— and, secondly, if the camping activity license also covers the installation of mobile homes. The pronouncement of the Supreme Court will establish doctrine on this matter.
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