El Higuerón · New build & off-plan
Off-plan at El Higuerón, where the plan is the contract
El Higuerón is one of the few addresses on the eastern coast with genuine off-plan supply: Higuerón West alone is presented by Urbania as more than 750 apartments and villas. Because the amenity is the product here, the buyer's real work is getting the brochure's promises into the contract.
- Municipality
- Benalmádena
- Province
- Málaga
- Part of
- Fuengirola – Nerja
On a hillside consented as a single scheme, the drawing decides more than the specification does. The finished level of the phase below yours determines whether the sightline you were sold survives, and unlike almost anywhere else on this coast that level is already documented. So the contract, not the sales suite, is where an off-plan purchase here is won or lost: the plan of the phase, the block's position on the slope, the consented heights below it and the delivery programme all belong in an annexe with the contract's own reference number on it. A brochure image taken from a terrace that does not yet exist is marketing. A stamped drawing attached to the private contract is evidence, and it is what a lawyer can act on later.
The second thing that separates this hillside from an ordinary new-build purchase is that a large part of what you are paying for is not the flat. Higuerón West is presented by Urbania as more than 750 apartments and villas with a beach club, a sports club and spa membership and a coworking space, and that package is the reason most buyers are on this slope rather than down at Carvajal. Membership arrangements can attach to a dwelling, to an owner or to an annual contract, and only one of those survives a resale intact. Establish which applies, what it costs to hold, and whether it is written into the purchase deed or sold separately alongside it.
What is actually under construction on this hillside
This is one of the few places on the eastern coast where off-plan means a masterplan rather than a single replacement building. Higuerón West is presented by its developer, Urbania, as more than 750 apartments and villas with a beach club, a sports club and spa membership and a coworking space. That scale is the fact an off-plan buyer should hold onto: the amenity exists because the number of homes paying for it is large, and phases arrive over years rather than in one delivery.
Two consequences follow. The first is that your neighbours are a moving target. A community formed on an early phase inherits infrastructure — private roads, landscaped terracing, pools, lifts — before the later phases are contributing to it, and the budget you are shown at completion is a first budget with no history behind it. Ask how the charge is apportioned as phases complete, and what happens to shared costs in the interval.
The second is that the licence chain is what separates a scheme from a promise. A works licence authorises the building; the licencia de primera ocupación certifies that what was built matches what was consented and unlocks the utilities. Both are municipal, and on this hillside the municipality is Benalmádena rather than the Fuengirola that appears on the postal address. Paula's rule here is unchanged from everywhere else, and it matters more when the drawing is the product: no completion, and no final payment, before the first occupation licence is in the file.
| The scheme being built on this slope | Higuerón West is presented by its developer Urbania as more than 750 apartments and villas, with a beach club, sports club and spa membership and a coworking space 2026-08-27 |
|---|---|
| Protection of advance payments | Ley 20/2015 continues the regime under which sums advanced on a home under construction are covered by insurance or a bank guarantee and received into a special account — position as at 27 August 2026 2026-08-27 |
| The ten-year structural cover | Article 19.1.c) of Ley 38/1999 requires ten-year insurance against damage originating in foundations, supports, beams, floor slabs, load-bearing walls and other structural elements 2026-08-27 |
| The municipality that licenses here | The hillside falls within Benalmádena, while addresses inside Urbanización Reserva del Higuerón are written as Avenida del Higuerón, 29640 Fuengirola 2026-08-27 |
How this runs, step by step
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Step 1
Establish who the promoter actually is
Specific to Benalmádena
Several schemes on this hillside share a marketing identity while being sold by different companies. Before anything is signed, establish the promoter named on the contract, its accounts, and whether the works licence for that specific phase has been granted by the municipality. Higuerón West is presented by Urbania, but the entity you contract with, and the entity that owes you the guarantee, is the one on the paper.
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Step 2
Annex the plan, not the render
Specific to Benalmádena
Ask for the consented drawings for your phase and for the ground below it, and have them attached to the private contract as a numbered annexe. The whole slope was drawn at once, so the finished levels of later phases are documented rather than speculative. What you want in writing is the block's position, the floor, the orientation of the terrace and the consented heights in front — the four things that determine whether the view you paid for is permanent.
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Step 3
Secure every payment made ahead
Money handed over before delivery is protected by a specific regime, not by goodwill. Ley 20/2015 continues the requirement that amounts advanced on a home under construction be covered by insurance or a bank guarantee and received through a credit institution into an account used only for the works. Ask for the policy or guarantee document itself, in your name, for your unit, and check that every transfer lands in the named account.
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Step 4
Write the membership into the deed
Specific to Benalmádena
The club, the spa and the beach club are the reason this hillside commands what it does, so the legal form of your access to them is worth as much attention as the kitchen. Have the lawyer establish whether it runs with the dwelling, with you personally, or under a renewable contract; what the annual cost is and how it can change; and whether it transfers on a sale. Then have the answer recorded in the deed rather than in an email.
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Step 5
Complete only after first occupation
Specific to Benalmádena
The licencia de primera ocupación is the gate between a finished building and a connected one, and it is issued by the municipality the plot sits in. On this hillside that is Benalmádena, even where the postal address of the urbanisation is written as Fuengirola, so confirm which town hall holds the file before a completion date is agreed. Do not take keys, or pay the balance, against a promise that it is imminent.
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Step 6
Snag it, then diary the guarantees
Walk the unit with a surveyor before completion and list defects in writing. Then record the guarantee clock. Ley 38/1999 requires ten-year insurance against damage originating in foundations, supports, beams, floor slabs, load-bearing walls and other structural elements — which on a stepped hillside block includes the retaining works the terraces stand on. Note who holds that policy, and diary the shorter cover for finishes and habitability alongside it.
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An off-plan purchase pays in stages, and the stages matter as much as the total. A reservation, a contract deposit and instalments follow the works programme, with the balance at the notary on delivery. New build from a promoter carries IVA plus AJD rather than the transfer tax a resale attracts, and Paula's lawyer confirms the current rates in writing rather than a page quoting them. What is specific to this hillside is what starts on the day you complete: a community charge that maintains terracing, private roads, pools and lifts, plus whatever the club and spa arrangement costs to hold. Budget the holding cost alongside the purchase, not after it.
GUIDE An indication of where this area sits, not a valuation of any particular home. Ask Paula for a figure you can act on.
Questions about this in El Higuerón
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Can a later phase still be built below my terrace?
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Possibly, and unusually you can find out before you sign. Because the whole slope was consented as one scheme, the consented heights of the phases below any block are on record rather than a matter of speculation. Ask for those drawings, have the relevant sheets attached to your private contract as a numbered annexe, and read the levels rather than the render. A buyer who does this either confirms the sightline is permanent or learns, in time, that it is not.
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Does club and spa access come with the purchase contract?
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That is exactly the question to put in writing, because the answer is not uniform across this hillside. Access can be structured as a right attaching to the dwelling, as a personal membership held by the owner, or as a renewable annual contract, and only the first passes cleanly to a future buyer. Ask what the arrangement is for your specific unit, what it costs to hold, how that cost can be revised, and whether it is recorded in the deed. An arrangement that lives only in a brochure is worth nothing at resale.
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What does the ten-year cover include on a stepped block?
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Structural elements, and on a hillside that reaches further than buyers expect. Ley 38/1999 requires ten-year insurance against damage originating in foundations, supports, beams, floor slabs, load-bearing walls and other structural elements of the building. On a block stepped down a slope, the retaining works and the structure carrying the terraces sit inside that definition, which is precisely where a defect would be expensive. Ask who the policyholder is, keep the certificate with the deed, and diary the shorter periods covering finishes and habitability separately.
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