Hi John,

The problem in your question is the element of "the local town halls". There isn't an identical set of rules for all the town halls. And even if they had the same rules, they won't act on them in the same way. Also most of the time it isn't townhall but the forestal police (and sometimes the rural police) who act on illegal activities on fincas. I've been here for many years and I know lots of people with tents and caravans on their land for temporary visitors. In only three cases I know of the rurals or forestals did take 'action':

The first case was a friend of mine who had a small caravan on his land for 10 years. The new local forestal did tell him he must paint his caravan green because then it will fit better into the landscape. My friend said he would think about it and never heard anything of it again.

The second case was a funny on: a big group of friends thought they were camping on their land. The gardia civil came and told them they have to go. The neighbour had called the gardia and reported there were gypsies on his land. He didn't dare to go and look for himself but it where just his neighbours who didn't know exactly were their borders are ;D They moved the camp to their own land.

The third was a guy who had a huge caravan and lived on his finca. Because of he protested against a windmill-project on his land suddenly the gardia came (after a few years of camping) and told him it was illegal to place a caravan on the land. Because it was a caravan with wheels he claimed it was temporary and mobile. He moved the caravan to different spots on his finca every time they visited him to proof it was just a mobile thing. After a few times they did give up.

mark