How to check whether a plot is buildable before you buy

Most plots that turn out unbuildable were bought on a verbal promise, a customary deed and a visit in good weather. The law nevertheless gives the buyer official documents, quick to obtain, that say what can be done with a parcel and who owns it. This guide proposes the order in which to request them, what to read in them, and the signals that should stop a negotiation. It extends the guides on land status and on planning documents.

In what order should you check?

1. Identify the property. Land title number, registration application number, or “unregistered”: it is the first box of the official planning note template, and it determines everything that follows.
2. Request the certificate of ownership. From the land registry, which issues the statement of inscriptions on the title (article 61 of the dahir of 12 August 1913): owner, shares in joint ownership, mortgages, inscribed easements, provisional inscriptions.
3. Request the planning information note. From the urban agency, issued within a deadline not exceeding two working days (article 7 of the general building regulation).
4. Read the zone regulation and the specifications. Designation, height, setbacks, coefficients, reserved land; in a subdivision, the specifications are added.
5. Check the plot itself. Boundary markers and actual area with a surveyor, access, networks, topography, soil, neighbours.
6. Have an architect review everything. With the documents in hand, he says what can actually be built and on what conditions.

What should you check on land status?

On registered land, the certificate of ownership says everything that matters: article 62 of the dahir of 12 August 1913 makes the title “the single starting point of the real rights and land charges existing on the property”, and article 66 states that a real right exists against third parties only through its inscription. Read the owner’s name and share on it; in joint ownership, article 58 provides that a single duplicate is issued to the mandated co-owner, and a sale requires everyone’s agreement. Read the charges: a mortgage, an inscribed seizure (article 87) or a provisional inscription (article 85) signal a dispute or a debt.

On land whose registration is in progress, ask for the application number and the stage reached: extract published, survey done, closing notice published, oppositions received. The two-month opposition period (article 24) and the referral to court where an opposition is not lifted (article 32) can delay the purchase by years. On unregistered land held under a melkia, caution is required: proof of ownership can be contested, and most of what follows, credit, resale, permit, becomes harder. The guide Land title vs melkia details these situations.

What should you read in the planning information note?

Article 8 of the general building regulation requires the note to state the nature of the planning document (zoning plan, plan d’aménagement or rural development plan), the zone’s designation, prohibited and conditional uses, the maximum site coverage and floor-area possibilities, implantation conditions relative to boundaries, whether several buildings may stand on one property, maximum height and conditions of access to roads and parking. The official template adds three mentions that decide everything: “located in zone …”, “burdened by …”, and “a new alignment is to be respected along road … of … m width”.

The “burdened by” mention cancels more projects than any other: it signals land reserved for a public facility, a road or a green space. The plan d’aménagement amounts to a declaration of public utility of those facilities for ten years, and the reserved land cannot be built on by its owner during that period. Article 7 finally recalls that the note “may in no case” amount to “approval in principle of any project”: it states the rule, not the decision. Médias24 recommends requiring a note less than six months old, consistent with the plans in force.

How do you know whether the use you want is allowed?

The zone regulation first says what may be done there. A villa zone does not admit an apartment block, an activity zone does not admit an isolated house, and the permitted height opens or closes the option of an extra floor. Médias24 flags a frequent case among buyers: in an agricultural zone a permit remains possible for farm installations and a dwelling tied to the activity, but the minimum parcel “is often one hectare”, sometimes less in zones classified as douar in rural areas. A 2,000 m² agricultural plot sold as “buildable” generally is not.

If the plot is a lot in a subdivision, the subdivision’s specifications apply on top of the plan d’aménagement and may be stricter; Médias24 recalls that a lot buyer is “bound to respect the subdivision’s specifications”. Check too that the subdivision has been formally accepted by the commune: the general building regulation classes individual dwellings in an accepted subdivision as “small projects”, reviewed on the day of filing, which changes the future permit’s procedure.

How do you read the coefficients and setbacks?

The “maximum site coverage and land-use possibilities” of article 8 cover two notions: the share of the plot the building may cover on the ground, and the total floor area that may be built on it. Médias24 presents the usual terms thus: the COS “defines the number of m² you may build on your plot” taking height into account, and the CUS “defines the building’s footprint on your plot, a bit like an imprint”. Other sources and other regulations use these abbreviations differently; the only safe reading is that of the zone regulation, which the planning note attaches as an extract. The guide on COS and CUS gives a full treatment with a worked example.

Setbacks from the road and from side boundaries, maximum height and, where relevant, a new alignment reduce the usable area further. On a small parcel it is often the setback, not the coefficient, that makes a project impossible.

What should you check on the plot itself?

The area on the title and the area inside the fence do not always match. The 1913 dahir entrusts the boundary survey to a sworn surveying engineer (article 19) and provides a separate survey for each lot from a division (article 54); a contradictory survey before purchase avoids paying for square metres that belong to the neighbour or to the public domain. Then check access: the planning note states the conditions of access to roads, and a landlocked parcel depends on a right of way that must be inscribed. Check networks: the permit template forbids any connection without the operators’ authorisation, and distance from water, electricity and sewerage weighs heavily on the budget.

Boundary disputes are the most common reason a titled plot still ends up in court. The dahir’s logic is that the plan annexed to the title, not the fence or the neighbour’s memory, defines the parcel; if the two diverge, the surveyor’s report before purchase is what lets you negotiate the price down or walk away, rather than inherit the dispute.

Finally the ground and the site. A geotechnical study is not always required at the purchase stage, but a sloping, flood-prone, backfilled or wadi-side plot is already visible on site and in the planning note, where a non-buildable zone or an easement may appear. In a medina, a listed site or near a monument, additional approvals will be added to the permit.

Which signals should stop the negotiation?

• The seller refuses or delays providing the day’s certificate of ownership, or is not the registered owner.
• The property is jointly owned and not all co-owners have agreed in writing.
• The planning note carries the mention “burdened by” a facility or road reservation.
• The plot is in an agricultural or non-buildable zone, or in a perimeter under study.
• A registration application is pending with oppositions not lifted.
• The advertised area matches neither the title nor the survey.
• The “permit” the seller promises exists only in words: a permit that lapsed because foundations did not start within a year is worthless, and a permit issued to someone else for another project is no help to you.