El País highlights foreigners affected by the Spanish Coastal Law

El País highlights foreigners affected by the Spanish Coastal Law
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By h.b. - Oct 20, 2008 - 8:12 AM

Cliff Carter and friends at their El Saler home - Photo El País.

The paper explains how both Spaniards and foreigners who purchased coastal property before 1988 can not sell it as it is expropriated by the Spanish state.

The United Kingdom and Germany have asked Spain for explanations for what they consider to be abusive expropriations of property owned by their subjects in Spain. Britain has already asked for information from both the Spanish Foreign Minister, Miguel Angel Moratinos, and the Spanish ambassador.

The case is highlighted in today’s edition of El País, and looks as homes which now face demolition under the Ley de Costas, Coastal Law, which came into force in 1988, but which has not really been applied to any extent until 2004 which the arrival of Cristina Narbona as Minister for the Environment.

Thousands of Spaniards and foreigners who have homes on the front line of beaches across the country now face losing their properties. Under the law they can use them for at least 30 years, but they cannot sell or extend them, and they need special permission to carry out any type of reforms. The paper concentrates on the case of the Briton Cliff Carter and others at the La Casbah urbanisation in El Saler in Valencia.

A statement from the Ministry of the Environment says that they have no intention of changing the current legislation.

The British consuls are reported to be recommending British citizens to complain to the Defensor del Pueblo, the Spanish ombudsman, or to take their case to the European Parliament which has already been informed of the problem. Britain says she understands that Spain wants to limit construction along the coast, but they do not share the method by which they are expropriating property, considering that it affects those who have purchased in good faith.

The Ley de Costa establishes that the coastline land defined as ‘dominio público marítimo terrestre’ can see no homes or swimming pools, but that those built before 1988 will move into state ownership but will give the owners a 30 year use of the property, which can be extended to 60 years in some cases.

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