All that illegal property - What should be done?

Editorials
All that illegal property - What should be done?
By h.b. - Feb 5, 2008 - 7:37 PM

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Typically Spanish Editor, Howard Brereton, tackles the thorny subject of the illegal homes and their possible demolition which are now making their way into the British press

EDITORIAL COMMENT

With the story in the Daily Telegraph this week of three more British couples who fear their retirement homes in Turre, Almería could be demolished, it is easier than ever for the British Press to pass negative headlines and comment. The new case is slightly different from others to make the headlines in Vera, Chiclana, Marbella and other places, as it appears that the people concerned purchased land, with a licence to build, but that it was already earmarked some four months beforehand to be used for the construction of a new AVE high speed rail link. Now the compulsory purchase orders are reportedly on the way.

There is a general feeling among both the general public and the local town halls now having to face up to putting their municipalities in order, that those who purchased in good faith should not be penalised. However, as the Mayor of Mijas, Antonio Sánchez,(PSOE) pointed out last week, in some cases the building has been so blatant, in areas of outstanding natural beauty for example, that not all the property can be saved.

Consider too the case of the Los Monteros Urbanisation in Marbella, where the lawyer who is representing the community of owners, Inmaculada Gálvez, claims that the local Town Hall decided deliberately to ignore court orders to demolish. Here the people who purchased in good faith and completely legally have seen their sea-views removed or other inconvenience from the illegal property, and so immediately the case becomes more complicated. They want the demolitions to take place.

Many commentators say it’s a case of the Junta de Andalucia against Marbella Town Hall, and that the Junta is to blame for doing nothing for 15 years. That is not, in fact, correct. The Junta issued official complaints over more than 560 licences in the town over the period of the GIL administration, but in the end the only way demolition can happen is firstly, if a decision comes from the Andalucian High Court of Justice, and secondly, that decision is enforced locally.

The Mayor of Marbella, Ángeles Muñoz,(PP) may well have tried to put off some ordered demolitions, and now the Andalucian High Court has agreed and ruled that none should take place until the new PGOU Urban Plan is in place, and realistically that will not be for a couple of years.

In fact, if all this mess is to be put in order across the country, there needs to be firstly greater agility in the drawing up of the new PGOU regulations inline with the POT territorial plans. Perhaps a new specialised judicial office should be established to speed up any appeals that are made against the cases of demolition that do have to be ordered, and that such an office could serve also to speed up the compensation payments?

It would be nice to think that this was an opportunity for corrupt Mayors, lawyers, real estate promoters, and builders to be brought to justice, but without some sort of new body supervising procedures and taking each case one by one, that is unlikely to be the outcome. Tricks of builders claiming bankruptcy and so on should not be permitted, and if the law has to be changed to better protect the innocent, even retrospectively, then so be it.

At first glance many may think this all sounds very idealistic and expensive, but if this matter is not handled correctly and efficiently, stories like those seen recently in the British press will be ever more common, and the recession brewing in the Spanish real estate industry could well prove far deeper, and also have negative knock-on effects to the all-important tourism numbers. And that would see an even higher price being paid by Spain. The Government really needs to act at a national level and now.

The British press need to understand that the whole problem has arisen because of bad law. Laws which meant that a quick building licence often represented quick and needed income for the local Town Hall, and that it is not part of some part of a sinister anti-British or anti-foreigner campaign.

There are many Spaniards who are in just the same position, but of course, what is often true is that they are generally more accustomed to possible legal pitfalls, while the foreigner has been seen to have a greater and blinder faith in the legal advice and licences given.

MORE RELATED ARTICLES :
• Andalucian high court postpones Marbella demolitions - Mar 18, 2008 - 8:30 AM
• Lanzarote dubbed the new Marbella as 22 illegal hotel complexes face demolition - Mar 17, 2008 - 2:32 PM
• Locals fight against coastal development in Villaricos, Almería province - Feb 24, 2008 - 10:14 PM
• Mijas Mayor accuses local PP of using the irregular housing problem for political ends - Feb 18, 2008 - 8:31 PM
• Another British couple in Almería fear their home is to be demolished - Feb 5, 2008 - 12:45 PM