Losing land to pay for urban infra-structure - mortgage???

We have been told there is a plan in process (pre-dating the time we purchased) to urbanise our land (we are unconsolidated urban now).  All the houses and property registrations on Land Registry are well over 15 years old (many 20 or more) and they have never been declared illegal.  We have water, elec and phone. 

Have been told the costs will be around 250000 to 300000 euros for us alone, half a million for other owners as there are not a lot of us and we all have largeish plots - its this high as there are specific expensive features the Town Hall is including within the plan..........we do not have even a tenth of this money.  We have a mortgage.

If a Town Hall takes all your land (and thus also your house on the land) in lieu of payment for urban infra structure what happens to the mortgage payment after the Town Hall has taken the property? I understand they are allowed to take your entire property and if they did then that would still not meet the costs given the size of our mortgage.......... Is this true?

Or is the mortgage cancelled as there is no asset in owner´s name and it was not lost due to default on the loan?

Or would the banks expect you to continue to pay the mortgage?

Or is it that the town Hall can only take the proportion of property that you own? 

Would appreciate any advice please as these costs are outrageous and unrealistic but in law we seems we HAVE to pay them or lose our property, we are on the coast in Andalucia

This message was last edited by MexMaya on 04/03/2011.

Is there really no one who can advise on this?

Are they allowed to take everything to pay for urban infra structure you do not want or need when the properties are legal by dint of long standing and history?

Maria De Castro may be able to offer some advice? However it does sound as though you need more than just advice, perhaps some paid for professional services?

I am really looking for guidance on the relevant law at the moment, we have already taken professional advice about the existence of the plan and associated costs.....however it seems to be unknown territory where my specific questions are concerned.....

Mexmay,

There are currently over 300,000 properties in Andalucia that are considered illegal or semi-illegal, with the biggest problem in Almanzora Valley where there are some 11,000 properties which are built near the town of Albox, where the town hall in Albox claims to have only 11 'officially' issued building licenses.

In order for someone to give you some further advice, then we need to know where in Andalucia you are, then maybe we can help point you in the right direction.

Hi thanks for response, this is not a question of legality, all the houses are fully legal with water and elec and phone etc, IBI, the works since the 1980´s.......it is because the Town Hall re-classified the land as unconsolidated urban........AFTER the houses were built so it is a different situation.  There is no question or threat of demolition, one house built after 2003 has been demolished as that was not legal but ours are all legal with never any kind of action taken against them as they have been in existence legally and reality for between 20 to 40 years, one house is over 100 years old. All houses are affected.

I don´t want to mention the name of the town at the moment for good reasons but it is Costa Almeria

Without knowing more specifics it is difficult to comment, however I understand your desire not to mention too much right now!

Normally it is the purview of the Town Hall to provide the means and meet all the costs involved with urban infrastructure, however in recent times most Town Halls struck 'deals' with developers, where the developer would brunt the extra costs and also do all the work.

Many roads in and around Manilva, where i live, were built in such a fashion and the infrastructure put in place at the same time.

Including a two-lane 'road to nowhere' around the campo next to where I live, on land that was scheduled to be built on.

You need to find out if such a deal was struck at the time of building some or all of the properties in question.
 

Thanks - the developer is long gone, decades ago!!  Town Hall has no money hence it decided to do this and seems we are lumbered with it, all the costs etc, hence my question, we are all happy with all the services we need, perfectly legal, yet the risk is some of us will lose ALL our property, land and house to cover the infra structure costs - to what end?  So the Town Hall can grab our land and build on it themsleves?  In order to achieve the values they have quoted it would mean many of us losing our entire properties, land as well, hence my questions?  I know it happened in Valencia butrhere there is really nothing to be gained and there is loads of empty land the town Hall could build on a lot more cheaply.....surely this cannot be legal or done? So what would happen to the mortgage if we no longer owned te asset through no fault of our own?

One thing for sure is that a Spanish mortgage for a property is a 'personal loan' against the people buying the property, and not put against the property itself.

It sounds like the local council is hiding the truth form the Junta de Andalucia.

I would suggest that you contact, in writing, the Junta de Andalucia stating what is happening.

When you do this, have your lawyer send a Burefax, which is like a recorded delivery and will have to be signed for.

Good place to start would be the Consejería de Obras Públicas y Vivienda (Department of Public Works and Housing)

There was also a grant given out by the Junta de Andalucia, Consejería de Obras Públicas y Vivienda allowing aid to the municipalities in order to finance urban planning. Link here

So your local Ayuntamiento (Town Hall) should have applied for that.

Also, here is a list of Oficinas Técnicas de Asesoramiento Urbanístico en la provincia de Almería (Urban Development Advisory Technical Offices in Almeria), which include the name of the Office Manager, the address of the office, Telephone and fax numbers, and an email contact address

Hi Mex,

I really sympathise with your predicament. A few random thoughts: Out of curiousity, do you have any Spanish neighbours? If so what are they doing? Of course it goes without saying that all of you that are affected (how many properties are we talking about?) want to be channelling your efforts in the same direction, splitting costs for legal advice  etc etc.

Thinking about it from a different perspective; a lot neighbours in our Urb. were disgruntled with services, charges, not to mention corruption, so we set up our own political party a few years back and have enough socios now to win the elections in May. But you should have seen how fast things started getting done when the old school politicians realised their cash cow was about to disappear over the horizon.

Who controls the Town Hall where you are at the moment? If it´s PP or PSOE could you contact the regional junta and alert them to what´s going on. Often they are unaware of the corruption going on in their own parties. To give you an example, our town received 200,000€ Plan E money, the money went to a company called Temir Construciones SL in Almeria (We´re near Madrid) who then sub-contracted the work back to the teniente de alcalde in our own town hall. Legal, but completely immoral.

The very best of luck to you, do keep us updated.