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EXPATS' VILLA KNOCKED DOWN ILLEGALLY
Contributor / 2009-05-02 13:19:08
Len and Helen Prior, retired to southern Spain from Berkshire six years ago, and have recently gained in unwanted ‘honour’ of becoming the first British expatriates to have their home flattened by bulldozers in a clamp down by regional authorities concerned with widespread flouting of planning laws.
The British couple were forced to live in their garage when the Spanish authorities went ahead and carried out their threats to destroy the Prior’s home following infringements that supposedly made the villa illegal. Their £600,000 Spanish villa was bulldozed but they have now been told that it was the authorities who got it wrong and that in fact the demolition was illegal.
Last week, Spain's Constitutional Court ruled in their favour and said the demolition had been carried out illegally because the Priors were not told in advance about a crucial court case in which the building's fate was decided.
The Priors, both 65, have always insisted they had the correct planning permission as issued by the town hall in Vera, Almeria province, on the southern coast of Andalusia and watched aghast as the bulldozers moved in on Jan 9 last year.
The couple, who for 15 months have been living in a garage on the site of their former home without access to mains electricity or water, will now use the ruling to support their claim for compensation. Mrs Prior said: "We've been fighting our corner ever since the demolition and this is a major victory for us.
"The Constitutional Court has ruled the authorities acted illegally when they knocked down our home. We still haven't had a penny in compensation but we are now in a stronger position to claim," she said.
The priors, who have already spent more than £25,000 on legal fees, are demanding compensation and plan to sue the Ministry of Justice and the regional Andalusian government, which issued the demolition order, claiming the property was built on protected land.
The bulldozing of the Priors' home shocked expatriate communities in Spain, where as many as one million Britons are thought to own property. Hundreds of homes bought in good faith have been declared illegal on 480 miles of Mediterranean coastline and are under threat of demolition.
Many other ex-pats still await the fate of their dream homes – most of which were bought in good faith from unscrupulous builders and lawyers who failed to give them either the correct paperwork or just operated in fraudulent manner. This ruling may not affect others who are awaiting judgements but it might make the Spanish authorities look at things (paperwork maybe…?) a bit more thoroughly.
Tags: Spanish Dream
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