Compulsory expropriation: fighting the fair price with the appraisal sheet

Every expropriation requires a prior declaration of public utility or social interest (articles 9 and 15 of the Ley de Expropiación Forzosa of 1954, LEF). Afterwards, the Administration specifies which assets it needs: this is the necessity of occupation phase, with a 15-day public information period in which you can claim errors in the list of assets (ownership, surface area, boundaries). The necessity of occupation agreement initiates the expropriation file (article 21 LEF).

From then on, the fair price (justiprecio) is determined. The Administration and you can close it by mutual agreement at any time (article 24 LEF): if you accept the offer, you get paid sooner but give up discussing the value. If there is no agreement, the fair price phase opens with the exchange of appraisal sheets and, in case of discrepancy, the Provincial Expropriation Jury decides.

In practice, most major works are processed through the urgent procedure of article 52 LEF: a pre-occupation record is drawn up (you must be notified at least 8 days in advance), the Administration issues prior deposit sheets, consigns that deposit, compensates you for the damages of the rapid occupation (moving, pending crops) and can occupy the property within a maximum period of 15 days. The fair price is discussed later, with the property already occupied. You can attend the pre-occupation record accompanied by your expert and a notario (Spanish notary public), and it is advisable to record everything that affects the value: crops, leases, industry on the premises.

The appraisal sheet is the document in which you specify the estimated value of the expropriated asset. The Administration will require you to submit it within 20 days from the notification (article 29 LEF). The valuation must be justified and can be backed by the signature of an expert, whose fees are at your expense.

The Administration has 20 days to accept or reject it (article 30 LEF). If it accepts it, the fair price is fixed and it must pay you before occupying. If it rejects it, it will notify you of its own appraisal sheet, and you have 10 days to accept or reject it with the written submissions (alegaciones) and evidence you deem appropriate. If you reject it, the file goes to the Provincial Expropriation Jury (article 31 LEF).

A crucial point that almost no one explains: case law considers that appraisal sheets bind the person who formulates them. The Jury decides in view of both sheets (article 34 LEF) and moves between the figure offered by the Administration and the one you requested. If you ask for little, that figure acts as a ceiling for the entire procedure, including the subsequent judicial route. That is why the appraisal sheet is prepared with a serious expert report and requesting all concepts: land, buildings, plantations, damages for division of the property and the affection premium. Managora drafts the appraisal sheet for you based on your expert report, without you needing a lawyer or a procurador (court representative) at this stage.

For real estate, the free criterion of the LEF does not apply, but exclusively the valuation regime of the consolidated text of the Ley de Suelo y Rehabilitación Urbana (TRLSRU, Real Decreto Legislativo 7/2015, articles 34 to 37) and its valuation regulations (Real Decreto 1492/2011). The valuation refers to the moment the fair price file begins (article 34.2 TRLSRU), not to the occupation or payment.

Rural land: it is appraised by capitalising the real or potential annual income of the exploitation, whichever is higher, with possible upward corrections for location (proximity to population centres or environments of environmental value). The law expressly prohibits computing urban planning expectations (article 36 TRLSRU): the fact that the land is next to a future motorway does not make it a building plot.

Urbanised land: if it is not built on, it is valued by the static residual method applied to the buildability and use attributed to it by the planning; if it is built on, the higher value between the joint appraisal of land and building by market comparison and the residual of the land is taken (article 37 TRLSRU). Buildings and installations on rural land are appraised by replacement cost according to their condition and age (article 36.1.b).

To all the above, the affection premium is added: an additional 5% on the fair price that compensates for the compulsory loss of the asset (article 47 LEF). And if only part of your property is expropriated, you can also claim the damages that the division causes to the rest.

The Provincial Expropriation Jury is the body that sets the fair price when the appraisal sheets do not match. It is constituted in each provincial capital, chaired by a judge, with technical members (state lawyer, specialised technical civil servant according to the nature of the asset, notario and a sectoral representative) in accordance with article 32 LEF. In several autonomous communities, their own valuation bodies act with a similar composition.

Its resolution must be justified, reasoning the valuation criteria applied, and exhausts the administrative route. Article 35 LEF refers directly to the contentious-administrative appeal, but, as it is an act that puts an end to the administrative route, it is also possible to file an optional appeal for reconsideration (recurso potestativo de reposición) before the Jury itself beforehand, within a period of 1 month (articles 123 and 124 of Ley 39/2015). If you opt for reconsideration, the deadline for the contentious appeal does not start counting until it is resolved or dismissed by silence. The date of the agreement also opens the calculation of the expiration of the valuation for reappraisal purposes. Although the law gives it a resolution period of days, in practice the Jury usually resolves within a period of 1 to 3 months.

The courts recognise the Jury's agreements as having a presumption of correctness and objectivity, due to the technical qualification of its members. This presumption is not invincible: it is distorted by a solid expert report that shows errors of method or data in the valuation. Hence, the expert report is the piece that sustains the entire procedure, from the appraisal sheet to the eventual lawsuit.

The LEF compensates two different delays. First: if 6 months pass from the legal initiation of the expropriation file without the fair price having been fixed by final resolution, the Administration guilty of the delay owes you the legal interest of the fair price, which is settled with retroactive effects once fixed (article 56 LEF). Second: once the fair price is fixed, the Administration has 6 months to pay (article 48); if it does not do so, the amount accrues legal interest in your favour until effective payment (article 57).

In the urgent expropriations of article 52, the interest of article 56 is calculated from the day following the occupation of the property. It is worth knowing how they are calculated: the Supreme Court has been applying the interest on the difference between the fair price finally fixed and the amounts already delivered or consigned (prior deposit and compensation for rapid occupation), because those amounts are made available to you at the beginning and therefore do not generate default interest in your favour. The legal interest of money in force in 2026 is 3.25% per year, according to the official table of the Bank of Spain (budget extension). This interest accrues by operation of law, but in practice it must be claimed and quantified by means of a written document addressed to the expropriating Administration.

If 4 years pass without the fair price being paid or consigned, you have the right to reappraisal: a complete new valuation of the asset in accordance with current criteria (article 58 LEF, as drafted by Ley 17/2012). Note: once the payment has been made or the consignment has been carried out, reappraisal is not appropriate, even if the 4 years have passed.

Yes. The Jury's agreement exhausts the administrative route. You can file beforehand, if you wish, an optional appeal for reconsideration within a period of 1 month (articles 123 and 124 of Ley 39/2015), and in any case a contentious-administrative appeal can be filed before the Contentious-Administrative Chamber of the High Court of Justice, within a period of 2 months from the day following the notification (article 46 of Ley 29/1998). In that lawsuit, the Jury's presumption of correctness is fought with expert evidence. The Administration can also appeal if it considers the valuation excessive.

Keep in mind the difference in requirements: the entire administrative route (appraisal sheet, written submissions before the Jury, claim for interest, request for reappraisal) does not require a lawyer or a procurador. The contentious route before the TSJ does require conferring representation to a procurador and acting assisted by a lawyer (article 23.2 of Ley 29/1998), and it is not included in the Managora procedure.

What exactly the Managora procedure covers: the appraisal sheet within the 20-day period, the reply to the Administration's appraisal sheet and the valuation and written submissions (alegaciones) document before the Provincial Jury, quantifying with your expert report the difference compared to the official offer. The claim for default interest and the request for reappraisal are subsequent documents, which arise months or years later (6 months and 4 years, respectively): Managora also drafts and submits them, but as an independent assignment when the time comes, not within this same procedure. You can see the scope and updated amount of each one in the procedure file.