Elche pauses turning shops into flats on key streets

Elche council has suspended licences for new ground-floor homes and for converting commercial premises into flats on its main shopping streets while amendment no. 52 to the town plan is prepared.

This is not a city-wide ban: the measure covers only the designated shopping axes in the historic centre and newer districts, including Calle Ángel, Antonio Machado, Corredora, Cristóbal Sanz, Plaza de Baix and Avenida de la Comunidad Valenciana. On other streets licences are processed as usual. The council says it wants to keep neighbourhood shops and stop traditional shopping streets from slowly becoming purely residential.

For buyers and investors this is an important detail: a cheap ground-floor “local” in central Elche bought to be turned into a flat cannot currently be legalised on these streets. Before buying commercial premises to convert into a home, in Elche or in other towns discussing similar measures, check with the council whether a change of use is allowed at that exact address.