On the shoreline, the first question is not « what is this plot worth » but « can this land be owned at all ». On the maritime public domain, the answer is no: what you hold is a right of occupation.
1. The maritime public domain: property outside commerce
The maritime public domain covers, broadly, the seashore and its dependencies allocated to the use of all. Like any public domain, it follows two principles that separate it radically from private ownership: it is inalienable — it cannot be sold — and imprescriptible — no occupation, however long, allows anyone to become its owner.
For a buyer or an investor the consequence is blunt: there is no private ownership to acquire on the maritime public domain. Whoever « sells » you a seafront plot belonging to the public domain transfers you nothing. At best they hand over a factual occupation whose regularity and durability remain entirely to be verified.
2. Imprescriptibility: long occupation never creates ownership
This is the point most often misunderstood. On private property, peaceful and prolonged possession can, under conditions, found a right — that is the logic of acquisitive prescription. That logic does not apply here. Because the public domain is imprescriptible, it cannot be won through time, whatever the number of years of occupation.
A family that has run an establishment on the shore for thirty years has not thereby become the owner of the ground beneath it. They hold a situation of occupation — regular or irregular — and that distinction is the first thing to establish before any transaction.
3. What a temporary occupation permit confers
Use of the public domain runs through an administrative authorisation: a temporary occupation permit. It allows a defined use, over a defined area, for a limited period, in return for a fee and subject to conditions set by the administration.
Three features shape everything that follows. It is precarious: it can be withdrawn in the conditions provided for. It is temporary: it has an end date, and renewal is not automatic. And it is granted to a specific person, which limits how freely it can be transferred — a permit is not passed on like a lease.
4. What this changes for a coastal or tourism project
The first consequence is on financing. Arrangements that rest on security taken over the land do not work in the usual way, since the ground is outside commerce. A project on the public domain has to be structured around that constraint from the start, not discover it halfway through.
The second is on the investment horizon. Capital committed to a structure has to be recovered over the period that is genuinely secured — the remaining term of the permit — and not over the notional life of the building. A twenty-year building on an authorisation with six years left is not a twenty-year investment.
The third is on exit. What you would be selling is not a plot but a business activity and a permit whose transfer depends on the administration. The pool of buyers is narrower and the price reflects that.
5. Valuing a right, not a title: the method
A valuer never values « the land » on the public domain. What is valued is the right of occupation, over the horizon that is actually secured. The analysis rests on the remaining term, the conditions attached to the permit, the fee payable, how transferable it is, and the income the activity can generate over that period.
The result is a value of use over a limited horizon. It behaves quite differently from the value of a freehold plot: it declines as the term runs down unless renewal is secured, and it is highly sensitive to any condition that constrains the activity. Presenting such a figure as if it were the value of land would be misleading — and it is exactly what a seller hoping to pass off an occupation as ownership would want you to do.
6. The reflexes to have before investing near the sea
- Establish the status of the ground first. Public domain or private property? Everything else follows from that single answer.
- Ask to see the permit itself, not a description of it: its holder, its area, its term, its conditions and its fee.
- Check the remaining term against your investment horizon, and treat renewal as a hypothesis rather than a certainty.
- Verify who the holder is. If the permit is not in the seller's name, what exactly are you being offered?
- Have the arrangement examined before paying anything, including any deposit.
7. Our reading: value follows the right, not the sand
The view, the beach and the footfall are real. None of them creates a right. On the maritime public domain, value follows the legal right attached to the position — its term, its conditions, its transferability — and not the physical qualities of the site. Confusing the two is how coastal investments go wrong in Morocco.
Our valuations are produced by RICS-certified experts, and on this kind of asset they state plainly what is being valued: a right of occupation, over a stated horizon, under stated assumptions. Fees start at 3,500 MAD excl. tax.
Considering a project on the shoreline? We establish what you would actually be acquiring.
Request a valuation →