Real Estate in Morocco: The reform that will finally unlock thousands of stalled housing projects

The Minister of National Land Use Planning submitted the draft law No. 34.21 to the competent parliamentary committee on April 1st. This reform responds to the rapid urbanization of the kingdom. According to Les Inspirations Éco, the objective is to modernize a legal framework that has become unsuitable in order to secure investments and revitalize a sector long paralyzed by complex procedures.

On Bladi.net: Real Estate in Morocco: The State tightens the screws and imposes new strict rules

The text introduces unprecedented flexibility in the management of construction schedules. The validity period of subdivision authorizations will now be modulated according to the size of the project, and can reach up to fifteen years for large developments. Furthermore, the law provides for the suspension of deadlines in the event of forced stoppage of work for reasons beyond the control of the developer, thus providing legal protection against economic or technical uncertainties.

Administrative simplification is at the heart of the new system. Processing times for files are reduced and the examination of certificate applications will be entrusted to a joint commission bringing together the municipality, the prefecture and the urban agency. In return, the responsibility of the subdividers is strengthened: the presidents of municipal councils will be able to recover the expenses related to defects observed during the year following the acceptance of the work by a simple collection order.

A major advance concerns the transfer of collective facilities to the public domain. Roads, water and electricity networks as well as green spaces will be automatically transferred to the community after provisional acceptance. This measure puts an end to the legal voids that prevented the maintenance of infrastructures. Moreover, certain operations such as the extraction of lots for public facilities will now be exempt from authorization in order to accelerate the construction sites.

On Bladi.net: Moroccan passport: a proposal in Parliament to extend the validity to 10 years

The draft law finally tackles the problem of informal neighborhoods by setting the conditions for the regularization of non-regulatory subdivisions. This approach favors bringing up to standard rather than demolition. Transitional measures will also allow projects whose authorization has expired to obtain additional deadlines, a crucial provision to protect buyers awaiting the delivery of their homes and the promised facilities.