Thread: Spanish Costa Home demolished and this is just the start....

Quite sad really, I have always been wary of considering any house in Spain, due to the corruption that does go on, especially the recent planning laws which states any builder firm can compulsory purchase any home, Land and build utility lines through it with YOU being expected to contribute to the cost known as "Urbanisation fees"

http://www.ukgovabusesexpats.co.uk/Articles/Corrupt.htm

until they or the EU straighten it out, buying in Spain is not worth it as anything could change on a whim.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main...wcostas111.xml

its so totally wrong and immoral

Been quite alot of programs about this in the UK, lots of people get shafted and there's nothing they can do.

perhaps the only way they will listen is if all British and European tourist and buyers boycott Spain, in many areas, Tourism is the only Main employer, this will kill many areas stone dead, they will have to sit up and take note of that.

This really gives the lie to the old adage that an Englishman's home is his casa.

Half of the 80 or so Brits I have met here in Hungary have sold up in Spain and moved to here. The wise ones who saw the writing on the wall perhaps. [Apart from thousands of Spanish new builds not sold, a high percentage of previously owned properties are on the market. eg., Campo Verde a mainly ex-pat village near the Costa blanca has about 100 used properties on the market]
Just an aside, I was clearing out some old paperwork and came across a blurb form Western Australia from 1994. Rockingham, Sorrento etc., just North of Perth "5 bedroom, 2 bathroom large plot, fencing, driveways, carpets, window treaments, insulation, gas appliances etc for around £23k.
I wish I had bought one when I visited the showhouse all those years ago. Just like UK, properties there have rocketed.

Spain is not the only place where such slimy dealings go on. It can happen in Greece also.
The mother of a friend had owned a vacation home on a Greek Island for about 50 years, spending about 4 to 6 months of the year there. Shortly before the old lady passed away at an advanced age, the mayor of the island declared her property "property of persons unknown" despite the fact that the tax bill mailed to the states had been paid every year.
The mayor then auctioned it off the property and it was bought (surprise!) by a relative of the mayor who immediately sold it (Surprise!) to a British entrepreneur. I won't name him but he is a well known man, a Knight, is involved in airlines and the music industry, and names his company with a name that evokes images of innocent young maidens. My friend hired a lawyer who did not seem to be doing much but them she discovered the local lawyer she had hired was a relative of the mayor who had sold the property. She fired the lawyer and got a lawyer from Athens.

At about this point my friend was caught in a rip current and drowned and the whole mess ended up with her 22 year old daughter. It turns out that the knight wanted to develop a huge resort but needed more ocean frontage for planning permission. The girl has continued the fight but had to leave university for a couple of years to deal with lawyers and fly back and forth to Greece. Apparently they are now close to some sort of agreement that will allow The Knight to build his resort and allow the girl to keep the family home she loves. Hope it works.

The moral of this sad story is the situation in Spain is horrible but there are other parts of Europe that are as bad and also that all of us should be grateful that the British system of law, which we inherited in 49 of the US states, protects the property owner as well as it does.

Northern Cyprus is another area that's incredibly dicey to invest in apparently.

on
Not at all its home to fraudsters on the run from the law and a couple of unionist politicians.
Who could ask for more, its like Lisburn with sunshine.

Originally Posted by DavidBOC

The moral of this sad story is the situation in Spain is horrible but there are other parts of Europe that are as bad and also that all of us should be grateful that the British system of law, which we inherited in 49 of the US states, protects the property owner as well as it does.

well done to the daughter she certainly has the Blitz spirit.

In this case I would support an EU property Law that protects owner as in the UK also it automatically overrides National property laws of the EU states, in this case I would be in full support, I am surprised that the EU didn't insist on all new members states to enact and adopt such laws.

if the EU is going to enact new Laws to overide National Laws better that these laws use the Highest Common denominator (Highest standards like us) rather than the lowest poor standard such as Spain and Greece.

I do sometimes wonder if the owner was Greek would the mayor try it on ? it is a bit racist to take on a British owner in this way.

I'm sure you'd support the destruction of pikey concrete 'caravans' if illegally built on the South Downs or Lake District... and this is exactly the same.

Sad for the couple involved, and my sympathies go to them, but the law's the law- the lawyer/estate agent/whoever should be compensating them, not the Spanish Govt.

re Cyprus, I have little sympathy for anyone who buys property built on what is, according to UN and EU law, illegally occupied land.

As an aside, I saw on TV the other day Amanda Lamb taking a couple around a flat in the old Jewish Ghetto of Krakow, saying "it has a wonderful history". Yes, until the owners were turfed out and shoved on a train to Auschwitz.

I wonder if similar (to Cyprus) legal claims could be made regarding former Jewish property, now that the C./ E. European property market makes recompense worthwhile?

Originally Posted by Rumpelstiltskin

I'm sure you'd support the destruction of pikey concrete 'caravans' if illegally built on the South Downs or Lake District... ?

Especialy if the bloody Pikeys were in the caravans at the time.

Originally Posted by ViolentBadger

Originally Posted by Rumpelstiltskin

I'm sure you'd support the destruction of pikey concrete 'caravans' if illegally built on the South Downs or Lake District... ?

Especialy if the bloody Pikeys were in the caravans at the time.

I for one mourn the sad demise of the pikey caravan in favour of more permanent housing, the caravans burned so much better.

Last month, the Spanish government took the unprecedented step of dissolving the city council of Marbella, a somewhat jaded Costa del Sol resort, following the exposure of a construction racket run by town planners. So far, more than 20 suspects have been arrested, including the mayor, Marisol Yague, and Juan Antonio Roca, the former town-planning chief. Roca, who is being held in prison awaiting trial, is accused of building a €2.4bn empire with 120 front companies that invested the bribes he received for granting thousands of municipal building licences for illegal property developments. Prosecutors allege that Roca approved 600 housing developments during his time as chief town- planner, receiving in return at least 10 per cent of the villas, flats or land involved. Police have also seized 340 works of art, a live tiger, 133 thoroughbred horses, a helicopter and two palaces in Madrid that belonged to Roca and his associates. Prosecutors estimate that 30,000 illegal homes have been built in Marbella in the past decade - of which 4,500 face court decisions on whether they will be demolished or legalised. Most of these illegal buildings were sold to unsuspecting holidaymakers.

A quote from the first link in the first post '(British Ex Pats Association (Spain)'

Dated 13th May 2006

Seems many sold up when found out to other unsuspecting people

they haven't sorted it out since then.