British Shun Buying Homes in Spain
There has been a dramatic fall in the number of houses and villas being sold to non-Spaniards according to figurines released last week by the Costa del Sol Association of Constructors and Promoters.
Since the frightening plan coming to light of thousands of illegally built homes being placed under demolition threat, Britons have been scared off from buying further property on Spain’s Mediterranean coasts.
Corruption and planning scandals have been brought to a head over the past few years with the worst violation of the planning laws was found to be in the Costa del Sol town of Marbella, where it has been alleged that Planning Chiefs took bribes to grant licenses for over 30,000 houses to be built.
Police arrested 28 people during 2006; among them Marisol Yague who was the Mayor of Marbella and the alleged mastermind of the fraud was Juan Antonio RocaNicolas who was a former Head of Planning. They seized property and goods worth a total of £1.7bn.
Roca, 53 became one of Spain’s richest men after it was said he took bribes to approve over 600 developments, as well as taking 10 per cent commission to ignore planning restrictions during his 15 years in office.
British owners are now fighting in the courts to keep the bulldozers from knocking down their dreams homes and over 5,000 illegally built homes in Marbella alone are under threat.
Pensioners Watch as Dream Home is Bulldozed
Last year, Len and Helen Prior had to stand and watch the bulldozers flatten their beloved home. The British pensioners had used their lifesavings of £350,000 six years ago after gaining planning permission from the town hall for their project, but the regional government of Andalusia now insist that the house had been built on protected greenbelt and had to be demolished.
After obtaining a solicitor and going through all the correct channels they were woken up one morning by a dozen police officers and a mechanical digger. The couple was given just two hours to pack up their belongings and get out before the bulldozer moved in.
ee bedroom house was reduced to rubble as well as the swimming pool as villagers and neighbours watched with horror and dismay.
Houses Built on Nature Reserve
The Town Hall in Costa Blanca was stripped two years ago of its planning powers after it was discovering 1,270 homes had been built on a nature reserve between 2003 and 2006. Hundreds of homeowners were told that their houses were built illegally and Valencia authorities are now warning they have plans to demolish the homes after considering each case individually.
Homeowner, Dave Wheeler from Birmingham said, “The demolition in Vera was a big wake-up call to people around here as many of them have had their heads in the sand. Even people who received demolition orders just ignored them because they never thought they would be carried out. The only way out of this nightmare for us is for our homes to be legalised. Until that happens we are in limbo.'
Clifford Carter, 59, and his wife María José Ruiz Giner, 58, have been told they no longer own the ground on which their home in El Saler, Valencia is built because the house breaches the Ley de Costas. Carter, a retired electronics engineer from south London, said: 'We have owned the chalet since 1976 and it was built legally 17 years before the Ley de Costas came into effect. We received a letter from the government saying we are no longer the legal owners of the land. We've been told we can live here until we die”.
Jobs Lost and Businesses Closed Down
Estate agent Jesus Perez has now stopped promoting Spanish properties and concentrates on homes in Romania, Hungary, Germany and Portugal instead. 'A few years ago I was selling six houses in a single day to Brits,' he said. 'Things changed so quickly that we no longer promote Spanish properties”.
Last year 50,000 constructions workers lost their jobs and 20,000 fewer new homes are expected to be sold this year. Half of the countries estate agents have also closed for business.
Can this be the broken dream for many sun starved British in retiring to their ‘place in the sun’?
