Bought a home in Spain in The last 2 years??? beware!

I live In Mijas Costa and I bought a property in Aug 2007. 

I am now unemployed (yep! the crisis) and my partner earns just under 1500 euros.... we have 2 children under the age of 2....

I am English but my partner and children are Spanish.... and I speak fluent Spanish as I have lived here now for over 15yrs

I purchased a 32 year old apt of 114m2 which had been on the market for 2 years at 175000 euros with 2 trasteros (storerooms). I declared the value at 170000 for the property.

I have just received a notification and final demand from the dept of Hacienda / Ayuntamiento de Mijas requesting 18.000 euros in Taxes. Why ?

Because the local goverment ie: Mijas Costa, has decided that my property is worth 360.000 euros (3000 euros/m2) and NO MATTER what price I paid I MUST declare and pay the taxes as per the catastral value. So no matter if it is a brand new 114m2 modern lux apt worth 300K or a 33 year old 114m2 apartment that is a good 10min walk from the beach and has NOT been modernised. The properties have roughly the same value  AND therefore you WILL have to declare the value as per Catastro and You have to pay the tax as per the catastro...... crazy but true!.

The fact that most of the people who have bought in the last 2 years have been investors who have purchased at a low price thinking they have a bargain but are in for a nasty shock...... and the great thing is that it seems that the local goverment are not trying very hard to notify owners of the properties in question to inform them of this "complimentry tax"

My 4 notifications just contained my name and a diff urb and NO other details of my property even though they had a copy of my copia simple (title deed) with my full address  and I am also empadronada in Mijas with my full name and address. Hacienda also has my full address as I have just become a mother and recieved a grant from them via  letter to my home address.... The fact that they could not notify me has cost me over 3000 euros in fines. (They say I am included in the BOLETIN OFICIAL OF the JUNTA but I cant find it)

My biggest worry was the amount of Britsh names on the official Boltein de la junta de Andalucia..... all of whom seem to be unaware that soon there bank accounts will be frozen and the money will be taken. and if there is no money they WILL take your home.

Thousands of People have taken to the streets in protest all over Spain but andalucia is the hardest hit...

In Cadiz alone, 5000 people attended a protest against the new valor catastral which has gone up by 400% in some areas...funny when we are in the middle of a property crisis.......

The only way I think you can check your value is by looking at your IBI rec. and multiply the value of the Catasro by the figure on the table below depending on you area......

The IBI receipt I have declares that the value in 2006 as 179000 euros but the townhall multiplies this then by 2 (look at the table) and this gives them just under 360.000 euros... surely if it was revalued in 2004 this would have already affected the catastral value.... or when I sell do I have to declare 720k????

I have a lawyer on the case but I am unable to pay the amount and the house is worth less now so I dont know what will happen....We have 2 babies and it looks as though we are about to lose our money,house or car and all because the ayuntamiento are money grabbing ladrones....