Various moves are being announced in Spain that give hope to many British owners whose property has been declared illegal and face demolition.
Owners of property declared illegal in the Valencian municipality of Catral, most of whom are British, may have a case to sue both the Valencian government and the town hall for damages, according to the European Association of Town Planning Consumers (AECU).
It is estimates that 1,272 homes have been illegally built on rustic land around the town of Catral, most of them sold to British couples relocating to the region to enjoy their retirement.
The town hall has plans to charge owners around €20,000 each to legalising their properties, whist developers and town planners involved in the scandal get off scot free.
But having consulted a legal expert in town planning at the University of Alicante, the AECU argue that the Valencian government and Catral’s town hall are to blame for failing to enforce town planning laws, and may even have encouraged illegal over development in the area. As a result, owners may have a case to sue the authorities for damages, say AECU.
In Valencia the regional government is drawing up a plan to certify the quality and legality of holiday homes in the region. It will mean officials visiting every property and specialists at the Valencian Building Institute will issue a certificate for properties deemed to be of suitable quality and with legal title deeds.
Officials said that homes with the certificate will have added value as they have an official stamp of approval. Critics say it is a ploy to try to sell a glut of 20,000 newly built holiday homes on the Costa Blanca.
A webpage providing more information is planned and the IVE has approached other European building organisations for their backing, focusing on the UK, France, Germany and Holland. It is thought this will add more value to the Valencian stamp of approval, and inspire more confidence amongst buyers from other European countries.
Spanish property expert Mark Stucklin does not think it will have much affect when demolitions are still continuing. ‘The problem with the new seal is it will do nothing to make the bad press go away whilst the underlying abuses continue. So with the Generalitat and local developers continue blaming others for their own mistakes, it looks a bit like an empty gesture,’ he said.
Indeed there is growing concern that fast track demolition is being accelerated in some parts of Spain. Owners of homes in Andalucía which are retrospectively judged to have fallen foul of regional planning rules face being given just four weeks notice as part of a crackdown on excessive development in one of Spain’s most popular regions.
Thousands of homes that were bought or built in good faith across the area are at risk since the regional authority began reviewing local councils’ planning approvals and concluded that in many cases, permission to build should never have been granted.
Source: PropertyWire