Renovating in a medina: what Law 22-80 requires, article by article, and how it fits with the permit

Every guide on this site about the medinas, from Fez to Essaouira, points here. They describe what UNESCO protects and who administers it; this guide says what Moroccan law requires of an owner, article by article, and how those requirements fit into the ordinary permit procedure. It rests on the full text of Law 22-80 as amended by Law 19-05, on the general building regulation, and on the UNESCO assessments that describe each city’s own tools. It belongs to the Building in Morocco pillar and complements the building permit.

Which regimes apply to a medina house?

Law 22-80 covers “immovables, by nature or by destination, as well as movables whose conservation is of interest for the art, history or civilisation of Morocco”, which “may be the subject of an inscription or a listing” (article 1). Among immovables it includes “historic or natural monuments” and “sites of artistic, historical, legendary or picturesque character or of interest to the sciences of the past and the human sciences in general” (article 2). A medina house can therefore be protected on three grounds: because it is itself inscribed or listed; because it stands within a listed site or “zone surrounding historic monuments”, with its servitudes (article 13); or because the medina’s planning documents, development plan or architectural charter, impose rules on it.

World Heritage inscription by itself creates no obligation for an owner: UNESCO says so for every city, “protection measures essentially relate to the different laws for the listing of historic monuments and sites, in particular Law 22-80”. It is the Moroccan texts, and the management tools each city has adopted, that bind.

What is an inscribed building, and what does inscription require?

Inscription “is pronounced in accordance with the regulations in force” (article 3), by ministerial order published in the Official Bulletin, which makes it quick. Its effects fit in four articles. “The inscribed immovable or movable may not be defaced or destroyed, restored or modified without notice having been given to the administration by the owner or owners six months before the planned date for the start of the works” (article 6). Owners “are bound to facilitate access and study for researchers authorised for that purpose” (article 5). “Grants may be allocated by the administration to the owners of inscribed immovables or movables, for the restoration and conservation of their property”, and the administration “may undertake, at its own cost, in agreement with the owners, any works aimed at safeguarding and enhancing the inscribed property” (article 7). Finally, inscribed buildings “may be transferred”, but “that transfer is subject to the conditions laid down in Title V on the State’s right of pre-emption” (article 9).

The six-month notice is the rule owners most often ignore. It is not an authorisation but a notice: the administration has that time to react, propose, subsidise or, if it thinks necessary, open a listing. Starting works on an inscribed building without giving it is an offence.

What is a listed building, and what does listing require?

Listing follows an inquiry whose opening is published in the Official Bulletin. For one year from that publication the building “is assimilated to a listed building”; if the listing act is not published within that time, “the inquiry is deemed lapsed” (article 11). “The commune council of the place where the building stands must give its opinion on the listing proposal during the inquiry. Failing an opinion within that time, it is deemed favourable” (article 12). The listing act “is entered on the land title if the building is registered”, ex officio or on request, free of charge (article 19): a buyer therefore sees it on the certificate of ownership, one more reason to read it, as Land title vs melkia explains.

What changes when you are inside a listing perimeter?

Article 13 allows the listing of “natural or urban sites” and “zones surrounding historic monuments”, with “the establishment of servitudes defined by the administrative act of listing” to protect “either the style of construction particular to a region or locality, or the character of the vegetation or the soil”. Article 23 draws the consequences: “no modification of any kind, notably by subdivision or parcelling, may be made to the appearance of the places within the listing perimeter except after administrative authorisation. The issue of the authorisation to build, subdivide or parcel by the competent communal authority is subordinated to the authorisation referred to in the preceding paragraph.” In “sites and zones burdened with non-buildable servitudes, constructions existing before the listing may only be the subject of maintenance works, after authorisation. No new constructions may be erected in place of those demolished.” Finally “any installation of external or visible electrical or telecommunication lines is subject to authorisation”.

Two points. Planning documents “may modify the servitudes imposed under article 13” (article 14): the medina development plan can therefore refine or tighten them. And servitudes that change “the destination, use and state of the places” may give a right to compensation, but only for “private individuals who made observations during the inquiry” and within six months of the listing’s publication (articles 15 and 16): hence the importance of taking part in the inquiry when a listing is opened in your quarter.

And if your house adjoins a listed monument?

Article 28 is the most concrete for the terraced houses of the medinas: “no new construction may be built against a listed building. Constructions existing before the listing must no longer, when they are the subject of works other than maintenance, bear directly against that building. On the party side of the latter, the owners must erect, on their own land, a counter-wall to support the constructions.” Compensation “representing the servitude of support may be allocated”. And “during the works they carry out on their buildings, neighbouring owners are bound to take all necessary measures to preserve the listed building from any damage that may result from the works”, measures the administration may prescribe. In a medina where houses hold each other up, this article can turn a floor renovation into a structural project.

How do these rules enter the permit procedure?

The general building regulation admits to the review committee, beyond the permanent members, “the administrations whose opinion or visa is required” by legislation (article 23). For an inscribed, listed or perimeter house, that is the heritage service, and its authorisation is, under articles 22 and 23 of Law 22-80, a condition of the permit. Each city then has its tool: in Marrakesh, according to UNESCO, “the Regional Inspection for Historic Monuments and Sites” is “specifically responsible for the examination of requests for building and development permits and the control of building sites in the Medina”, on the basis of a 2008 architectural charter; in Fez, “a Development Plan of the Medina” of 2001 “re-evaluated every ten years”; in Essaouira, a development and safeguarding plan approved by decree in 2021; in Rabat, special development plans. The guides on Marrakesh, Fez and Essaouira describe each.

One special case: in Rabat-Salé, the powers Law 22-80 gives the communal authorities under articles 22, 23 and 46 “are exercised by the governor” (article 59).

What happens when an inscribed or listed building is sold?

“Any voluntary transfer of an inscribed or listed immovable or movable is subject to a declaration by the owner. Any transfer that does not respect this condition is deemed null” (article 38). “Within two months of receipt of the declaration, the administration must notify the owner of its decision either to proceed with the acquisition at the price and conditions set, or to waive”; “failure to reply on expiry of the two-month period counts as waiver”; “any change to the price and conditions set gives rise to a new declaration” (article 39). If the State pre-empts but does not buy within a month, the owner may sell on the declared conditions (article 40). For the buyer of an inscribed or listed riad, the sale is safe only after those two months or an express waiver; a preliminary agreement signed earlier is conditional.

What if the works uncover remains?

Article 46 targets exactly the renovation site: “if, in the course of any work, an excavation undertaken for a non-archaeological purpose brings to light monuments, coins or objects of art and antiquity, the person carrying out or commissioning the excavation must immediately notify the competent communal authority of the discovery”, which issues a receipt “indicating that they must not in any way damage or move, except to shelter them, the monuments or objects discovered”. The work “is assimilated to an authorised and supervised excavation and may continue until the administration has set the definitive conditions”, unless a temporary halt is ordered. “Movable objects of art or antiquity discovered in the course of either authorised excavations or any works become State property. Compensation is in that case paid to the possessor” (article 49). The use of “stones and ancient remains” from unlisted ruins is itself assimilated to an excavation and subject to authorisation (article 47).

What are the penalties?

“Offences against the provisions of this law and the texts adopted for its application are punished by a fine of two thousand to twenty thousand dirhams. In case of repeat, the offender shall be sentenced to a fine that may not be less than double that previously imposed, without however exceeding forty thousand dirhams” (article 52). Above all, “offences against articles 22, 23 and 28, and failure to respect the servitudes established under article 13 are punished under the conditions provided” by planning legislation (article 53), that is, today, under the reinforced regime of Law 66-12 described in the guide on the legal framework: site stoppage, restoration, demolition. Offences are recorded by judicial police officers, “the agents of the administration in charge of heritage”, and authorised planning architects and technicians (article 51), and “a commission for monitoring compliance with this law” is “established in every prefecture and province” (article 51-1). The 1980 fines are small; the planning penalties are not.

What changes with Law 33-22?

The government adopted draft law 33-22 on heritage protection in November 2024, meant “to strengthen the provisions of Law 22.80” and align Moroccan law with UNESCO conventions. The House of Representatives passed it unanimously in February 2025, the House of Councillors by majority on 6 May 2025; the amended text had to go back to the Representatives. Among its contributions, the creation of “the concept of ‘historic groups’ composed of grouped real estate properties, built or unbuilt, of interest due to their architectural character, historical significance, or uniqueness, such as ancient medinas, lost cities, villages, ksours, and kasbahs”, a national inventory register, and a chapter on intangible heritage. For a medina owner, the notion of historic ensemble would give a heritage-law basis of its own to the rules that charters and development plans currently carry through planning law. At the time of writing we have found no record of promulgation: the articles cited above remain those of Law 22-80 until the new text is published in the Official Bulletin.