MORE BRITS TO LOSE THEIR SPANISH DREAM HOMES

News

Dave Bull / 2010-01-13 08:47:27

The protest was taken through the streets of Almeria

Houses with ‘Permission’ find it revoked

Brit expats living less than an hour down the coast from Torrevieja are facing an anxious New Year after police served notice that they are to lose their homes and told that they will soon be bulldozed after their construction was declared illegal.

The properties are set to be razed to the ground before spring unless a last-ditch appeal can save nearly a dozen British couples who are fighting the threat of homelessness after being served with demolition notices.

The homes under threat are all near Albox in Almeria, south-east Spain, which is not far from where another British couple Len and Helen Prior's home was illegally bulldozed two years ago.

The problem is that the Spanish authorities have been running a campaign against former officials who they accused of allowing over-development of the coastal regions. Even though the local town hall issued building licences for the latest properties targeted, they were cancelled following court action from the regional government.

However, the expats say they no nothing about this and that they had no idea their houses had been declared illegal. One resident, John Burns, a pensioner who came to Spain in 2001 with his wife following a heart attack said, "The first I knew of any problems with our house was on December 22 when a police officer knocked at the door and gave me the demolition notice, it's a beautiful three-bed detached house surrounded by olive groves. It's our life's dream. The expiry date on the notice is April 9 and it has upset my wife very much."

Another resident, Christine Payne, a former office worker who emigrated to Spain when she took early retirement in 2000 with her husband Noel, said: "We had our house built in 2002 and moved in the following year but the first I knew of our home being under threat was two days before Christmas when our builder rang to say the police wanted us to go to the local station.’

A support group fighting the regional government’s controversial land laws, Abusos Urbanisticos Almanzora No (Auan), is sponsoring an appeal and according to another resident the building licences for all these houses were issued by Albox town hall but later the regional Andalucian government annulled them because of a perceived risk of 'urban nucleus' and they have been the subject of court action for the last six years but it seems that no-one has informed the homeowners.

The Priors, who have seen it all happen to themselves, are still living in a converted garage in Vera, close to Albox after their £350,000 property was demolished in January 2008 when the regional government revoked the building licence issued by the town hall.

Auan is co-hosting a candlelit vigil on Jan 9 at the site where their home once stood to mark the two-year anniversary of its demolition but the Priors are yet to receive any compensation for the loss of their home.

Maura Hillen, the group's president, said: "We'll fight these demolition orders on the basis these people's human rights were infringed because they weren't informed of the legal proceedings against their homes. The situation is very serious and our lawyer shares our opinion.’’

Tags: Illegal Homes, Demolition, Propertyportal

Comments

Tony 21-01-2010 / 18:21

I think we need to stop calling these homes 'illegal'. By European standards the owners abided by planning laws in force in the area they chose to live. No different to the UK. But as also in the UK a greater planning authority can, if they choose, declare a development undesirable, etc., but full compensation is given. The Junta acts totally illegally by threatening demolition without compensation; they are acting criminally.
Can someone answer this question? The builders, lawyers, estate agents, Notaries have all benefited massively from the housing boom and I've no doubt many are living in houses which are illegal by any standard. I've also seen numerous houses, mansions go up in he most beautiful areas, there must be thousands throughout Andalucia. Many are known by word-of-mouth to be illegal but either belong (by devious means) to tha Alcalde or his relatives, friends, millionaire backers, or any in the group above, etc. Why is the Junta victimising foreign pensioners and relatively poor Spanish nationals who cannot fight back? Could it simply be that the Junta is in on the corruption?