Liability of the Compensation Boards and their members

Abstract

The execution of the planning is part of the urban activity and it is recognized as a public function. In that execution, private parties can participate as it is the case in the compensation system, in which the Administration’s role is limited to management, inspection and control. Under this system, the owners of the lands of the polygon or unit of action constitute a compensation board and they assume, both the board and the owners as a part of the board, a series of obligations in order to execute the planning and to urbanize the area as a part of the right to property.

In relation to the legal nature of the Compensation Boards, these entities are part of the public administration and their legal nature is that of a typical figure of self-administration to which the law confers a public function supervised by the administration. In addition, the obligations of the members of the Compensation Boards to pay the urbanization fees have the character of public law income: a non-tax nature because they are not a source of financing or instruments of general economic policy. The article will analyze the Autonomous Communities’ regulations, the central state legislation and the case law (contentious-administrative and civil) on the compensation of the Compensation Board in case of non-payment of the members of the Board. The article also will analyze the obligations of the owners and the affectation their lands to those obligations.

Keywords:

liability, Compensation Boards, apportionment