Teverga approves an ordinance to require the conservation and cleaning of properties

The Teverga City Council has approved a municipal ordinance regulating the duty of conservation, maintenance, cleaning, security, health, and public ornamentation of all properties within the council. The text, signed by the Mayor in Teverga on September 10, 2026, is published in full in the Official Gazette of the Principality of Asturias (BOPA) no. 182, dated September 21, 2026, under the reference Code 2026-07580. The regulation will enter into force once its full text is published in the BOPA and the scheduled application period has elapsed.

The ordinance is issued under municipal regulatory powers and develops the regional reference framework: Legislative Decree 1/2004, of April 22, which approves the consolidated text of the legal provisions in force regarding land use and urban planning, and the Land Use and Urban Planning Regulations (ROTU), approved by Decree 63/2022. The City Council justifies the initiative based on the observed degradation of the built heritage and unmaintained land, which has resulted in debris falling onto public roads, fire risks due to dry vegetation, dumping, and obstructions to the provision of services and supplies.

The text is structured into eight titles and 43 articles, plus three additional provisions, one repealing provision, and one final provision, and it is binding for owners, holders of real rights or usage rights, homeowners’ associations, and occupants.

Scope of Application and Obligated Parties

• Unbuilt plots and parcels, urban, developable, or rural land, and buildings and constructions of any kind, including auxiliary ones.
• Elements capable of affecting public roads or third parties: walls, fences, chimneys, cornices, balconies, canopies, scaffolding, or similar.
• Private open spaces for community use or habitual transit.

Owners must maintain properties in conditions of security, stability, health, public ornamentation, and accessibility, with actions taken on structural and non-structural elements and installations, and prevent deterioration caused by humidity, leaks, or parasitic vegetation. Occupants and tenants must allow access for inspection and for the execution of ordered works.

Inspection, Hearing, and Forced Execution

The procedure provides for municipal inspection documented in a record or report, urgent provisional measures—signage, marking, closing of areas, removal of loose elements, shoring, limitation of passage, or preventive eviction—and a hearing process for the owner for a period of no less than ten business days, which may be omitted in the event of serious and imminent risk.

In the event of non-compliance, the City Council may resort to the following means:

• Asset seizure.
• Subsidiary execution, with the cost of works, technical fees, taxes, and damages charged to the obligated party.
• Repeated coercive fines, with a minimum monthly frequency and up to a maximum of ten, set at an indicative amount of 10% of the estimated cost of the action, with a minimum of 300 euros and a maximum of 3,000 euros per fine.

Ruin, fire prevention, and sanctions

The declaration of a legal state of ruin shall proceed, among other cases, when the cost of the works necessary to maintain or restore safety and structural consolidation exceeds 50% of the current value of the building, excluding the value of the land, or when there is generalized exhaustion of the structural elements with a certain danger of collapse. In the case of imminent physical ruin, shoring, evacuation, and, exceptionally, demolition may be ordered immediately when essential and provided the assets are not protected.

Regarding fires, the clearing of adjacent land in population centers must be completed before June of each year, with a perimeter safety strip of 30 meters in accordance with regional regulations and a minimum strip of 2 meters free of shrubby vegetation next to enclosures and boundaries.

The sanctioning regime classifies infractions as minor, serious, and very serious:

• Minor infractions: fine from 150 to 750 euros.
• Serious infractions: fine from 751 to 1,500 euros.
• Very serious infractions: fine from 1,501 to 3,000 euros.

The ordinance provides the Teverga City Council with a tool to intervene quickly in a small-scale municipality, where the deterioration of a building or the accumulation of brush and rubble directly affects neighbors and pedestrians. The owners of the council thus assume an explicit legal duty of conservation, with specific deadlines, procedures, and sanctions.

Source: Official Gazette of the Principality of Asturias, no. 182 of September 21, 2026, section IV. Local Administration, pp. 1-9 (official reference: Code 2026-07580).