2009 Archive
Saturday, 12/12/2009
Support for SOHA.ES. Article by the Green party…
What is amiss in Alcaucín?
What no one wants to happen to even his worst enemy is now occurring in Alcaucín. We are referring to the case of Judith and Ivor Pringle.
They are inhabitants or our village since 2001, the year in which they bought their house from Sr. J.M. H.G. A lawyer was consulted to verify the correctness of all official documents. The Pringles are in possession of the “Escritura Notarial”, building licence, licence of first occupation, and are paying IBI, water and electricity bills since 2001. On the 16th of October 2009 Judith and Ivor received a Juridical Order from the Town Hall for demolition of their house. They were devastated and asked themselves: “What went wrong?” Apparently the former owner had been notified in December 2000 that during the construction of his house he had exceeded the area he was allowed to build and that the plot was in rustic area. Consequently his building licence was revoked by the Town Hall. The Pringles of course were not notified of this important fact, neither before nor after having bought the house. In fact, the previous owner received a second notification in 2008. Now in 2009 the Pringles have been given two months time to demolish their house. In case of nonconformity the authorities would do so, and present them with the bill! This is travesty of justice! The fooled and innocent one has to pay for the incorrectness of the former owner. First our village had to suffer the shame of being in the headlines of national and international press for urban corruption, and now we are faced with the persecution of the innocent. This is a clear example of blind justice and abuse of power. If the relevant authorities are so anxious to start with demolition, why don’t they begin with the four level apartment blocks of 300 units in Los Altos de Alcaucín? The Green Party of Alcaucín is against the methods of the authorities in the handling of the Pringles case in the demolition of their house. Many times we have been told that we should respect Justice, but how can Justice be respected when the innocent has to pay for the guilty? This is neither about the size of a house, nor about the nationality of the present and former owners, nor about a house in a legal or illegal situation. This is about total injustice and lack of defence. The Green Party of Alcaucín is trying to defend its environment. People are part of the environment. When we are facing a clear case like this, where people first have been deceived when buying their house and now must suffer the consequences of a deaf and blind justice system, we have no other choice then to stand up for those people. For this reason, the Greens of Alcaucín have decided to support each and every protest that will be organized. If necessary, we will be the ones to organize the protest. We cannot and will not allow this property to be demolished without a prior and complete refund for the present owners. We need all the neighbours of our village to support these protests. This is the first but not the last order for demolition. We will support everyone facing the same injustice, but we will condemn it when the owner knew he was violating existing laws. Last but not least, we want to emphasize that the Greens have denounced for over more than 10 years all those irregularities. If the authorities had listened and investigated those complaints, we would have avoided situations like this.
The Greens of Alcaucín.
Wednesday, 09/12/2009
On the weekend of 5th and 6th December 2009 SOHA.ES were visited by Ms Jane Slade who is the Property Editor of the Sunday Express in the UK. She had flown over specifically to report on the terrible situation that many of our members find themselves in, having bought property here in Spain. On the Saturday morning Jane met with with over twenty of our members who were given the opportunity to discuss their own situations directly with her. After listening to everybody’s stories Jane arranged to visit several of the homes under threat of demolition during the course of the weekend in order to order to gather more details and also to take photographs of some of the affected houses. Jane was extremely disturbed to hear how so many innocent people had bought their homes, after carrying out very thorough checks with reputable lawyers etc and who had acted entirely legally only to find that several years later the issuing of those licences was being revoked in court with demolition orders being issued as result. She has pledged to do all that she can to raise awareness of our situation in the National press back in the UK and we look forward to reading the finished article in due course. SOHA.ES are extremely grateful for the commitment and support shown by Jane and very much hope that she will be able to highlight the issues and exert some pressure on the relevant UK authorities who may be able to help us.
On Friday 4th of December SOHA.ES held a quiz night at the camping bar/restaurant to continue with the awarness campaign in our area. For full report please see the Events section of the web site.
We would like to thank all who attended, those who put in time and effort to make this happen and also all who donated prizes for the raffles.
Thursday, 26/11/2009
Minutes of the general meeting held on 18th of November 2009
Introduction,
The Chairman welcomed everyone and requested that questions be kept to the end. He touched on the subject of ‘Land Grab’ in other areas, and mentioned that several members had written to their MEP’s. He stated that the tribunal in Madrid had annulled the decision of Vinuela Town Council to unilaterally pass the PGOU and said we that had the legal right to get involved in influencing the new one. The Plan General is an important way of solving our problems if our houses can be shown as being on land authorised for building i.e. urban.
Other Groups,
Report from Les, with reference to the Joint Brief for Jose Antonio Castro and the Right Honourable Chris Bryant, MP, informed us that Mr Bryant had visited Madrid on that day for talks with relevant bodies. The MP for the Green Party was interested in, and working with, AUN and it may be that the Ombudsman will be asked to get involved now in solving ‘housing illegality’ problems, something not previously acceptable when a court case was pending. AUN are promoting the Federal Group but we have not yet formally joined although Les attended the first meeting in Madrid. We can contribute at a ‘working level’ but without the language it is difficult to take part in formal discussions. We agree in general with it’s formation but would like to clarify our involvement first. We were told that the Government is not keen to get involved with decisions made at Regional level because of the autonomy of action that has been taken. We have an established relationship now with the Junta de Andalucia and that seems the best way forward in liaison with our Ayuntamiento.
Visit to Seville,
Nader reported on the second meeting that he and Phil attended with the Junta and Ana Moniz, Inspectora in the Junta. It was suggested that they are planning to find solutions to the problems within the existing Spanish law but must first have an inventory of each village. She warned that not all would be part of the PGOU and it would involve some form of compensation from owners for infrastructure work. She is happy to meet with any groups as long as it is not confrontational. We may arrange another meeting as we feel the need. There is an intention to resolve the situation.
Guest Visitors,
The two lawyers present, Juan Diego Miranda and Alberto Pelaez Morales, who represent six of the members, were thanked for attending and were happy to meet with anyone requiring help or had any questions.
Membership,
Steve reported that membership had gone up from 60 to 120. As we are now meeting with more influential bodies, the higher the membership the better so please continue to seek support.
Notification of Destruction Order,
Ivor and Judith Pringle were then introduced and he gave an outline of his case and thanked SOHA.ES for the immediate support they received in October. He felt it took much of the pressure off them and pointed them in the right directions to cope with the problem. They were given a demolition order on Oct 14th 2009, saying that their license was nullified before they bought the house back in 2001. In 1997 a license to build was granted by Alcaucin but the Green Party denounced it the following year, so the owner put it up for sale in Dec 2000. The lawyer found nothing wrong when going through the paperwork for the Pringles, there was no addendum on the escutura warning of the withdrawal of the licenses so the seller was committing a crime. Paperwork always goes to the original owner not the present one. On Oct 17th they were notified that they had two months to demolish the house. The case is looked at in four phases:
• meet with the Alcalde to say there was now a legal case pending.
• A case file was prepared for the court case in Malaga. Failing that it would come under the ‘Human Rights’ and a suspension order would be obtained.
until such times as the laws change.
• Recover all legal costs from the Ayuntamiento.
• Take legal action against the previous owner.
Ivor pointed out that everything had to be recorded – a book of expenses, including each visit to the lawyer with documentation, and a compilation of major action. The lawyer has asked for an enormous amount of paperwork. He fortunately has the original contract stating ‘no outstanding debts’. He had received a phone call from Phil Ellis, Foreign Office, who is very interested in the case and is fully aware of the problems. A neighbour has said that there are another 25 cases in the area (Alcaucin) awaiting the results of this case.
Fund Raising,
Pauline brought the Quiz night on Friday Dec 4th to the attention of members and stated that those wishing to take part but not eat would need to pay only 3 euros.
Contingency Planning,
A request was made for members once again for members to help on a working committee to prepare for action, should the need arise. Some legal information had been received from AUN but options need to be considered.
Any Other Business,
• Jayne Slade, a journalist with the Sunday Express, would be at the Camping Bar Restaurant with her photographer husband to talk to members about their problems on Sat Dec 5th at 10.30 am. We need members present who are happy to be in a write up.
• Nader asked for more photographs for his presentation, to be used at meetings, etc – houses in construction, views of them completed, with the owners, gardens, etc. Please email 6 to 8 photos to SOHA.ES membership. We are told that there are 660 new detached houses on non urban land, in Vinuela alone, and of those, 89 licenses have already been impounded.
• A protest in Malaga was mentioned by Harro Posthumus and he said a demonstration outside the house prevented a demolition order being carried out. He also said there were many Dutch groups, and other nationalities, that we should try and visit to recruit and inform. He asked how solutions can be found if …’”there is no reason to change the laws”? Phil stated that the President of the Diputation de Malaga has said that there are provisions within the law to solve most of the problems of illegal houses. No decision has yet been made as to how they do it – there has to be a solution.
• Richard Eely stated they also had a demolition order and a 540,000 euros fine because they had built on agricultural land, and like many others in Benamargosa, had been given the go-ahead by the Ayuntamiento and had 3 documents from them, including one for the Manchester Building Society, saying they were legal. How could that be right? Phil said unfortunately he had no easy reply, only that we must remain patient until the PGOU’s are completed and the Junta can begin to find reasons for them to remain.
Monday, 09/11/2009
Three important articles in as many days…
RTNews: 06/11/09:
Catral solved? I wonder…. Written by : Louise Clarke Round Town News
After years of campaigning by Catral residents to get their homes legalised, it seems that, at last, there is light at the end of the tunnel. The Town Hall in Catral will soon be reclassifying and therefore legalising the pockets of land which are classed as rustic. Over 1300 homes in Catral alone have been affected by this ‘illegal’ homes situation, where builders and developers built properties on rustic land and built houses on plots less than the required 10,000 square metres. As a result, homes were deemed illegal, habitation certificates were never issued and hundreds of home owners were left with houses that they couldn’t sell, not to mention without the basic utilities. Now, after many petitions, meetings, the ousting of the previous Mayor, which resulted in the Valencian government taking over the town briefly, as well as a trip to the European parliament in Brussels, which was exclusively covered by Round Town News, the affected homes will soon become legal and habitation certificates will be issued. Good Faith, Sadly, this will not happen without cost and after initial estimates and many rumours, the Town Hall has decided that every municipal home owner must pay 1% of the valuation of their house to the Town Hall to pay for the required infrastructure which is needed to make the land urban. Obviously, this has caused furore amongst some residents, but the Town Hall insisted that this was the fairest way to do it. In an exclusive interview with the Catral Mayor, Aurelio Albero Garcia and Councillor for Urbanism, Antonio Bellido, Round Town News was told that the Town Hall had pondered over the question of charges for many months and as much as they don’t want to have to implement charges, they will have to. Antonio said: “If we had just charged the affected home owners, this would have been unfair as they all bought in good faith. I appreciate that some of the town’s residents will not be happy about it, but this is Catral’s problem and it must be resolved. It is only fair that the problem is shared.” IMPORTANT, When RTN left the meeting, we met two Catral residents who are happy that the situation is being resolved. Pat Bagnall, is Secretary of the Vecinos Colaborando or Neighbours Association. She and her husband have lived in Catral for five years and they are happy to pay the money so that they can secure their property. Pat told RTN: “We have been waiting five years for this and if it means that our property is legalised after we pay this 1%, then we are happy to pay it. This is our home and we love it here.” She did say that it was important that residents are aware that they must all get the forms from the Town Hall as soon as possible as they need to be filled in and sent back by the end of the month. She said: “There is a BANDO, which is an official notification, on the front door of the Town Hall. The forms must be filled in and sent back to them by 30th November and there will be an opportunity to meet Town Hall representatives on 26th November between 8:30 and 11:00 in the Centro Sociocultural.” She added: “It is very important that everybody who is affected does this or the Town Hall has said that an embargo could be placed on your property.” She concluded: “This is a very positive move on the part of the Catral Town Hall and I, for one, welcome it. A lot of people have their heads in the sand, but they must now realise how important it is to fill these forms in.” Responsibility and Blame, However, not everyone is happy about the way that the Town Hall has handled the situation. Brent Gardner, President of CACAU, told RTN: “CACAU has not even been informed by the Catral Town Hall of any new process that is to take place. Rumours have been circulating and now of course, we realise that the press and other persons have been informed of this latest development before consulting or even informing the very people that it concerns, i.e. the residents of Catral” He continued: “It would seem that the authorities are completely disregarding the reality of the situation and completely ignoring the fact that they should bare(?) an extremely large proportion of responsibility and blame for allowing and in fact, condoning the illegal practices that have taken place in Catral. If these faceless people had done their jobs correctly, this situation would not and could not have occurred.” He concluded: “It seems to be a popular opinion that the residents who purchased what they believed and were told are legal properties, have an unlimited supply of money and can just produce what is required at a moments notice; this is an unrealistic and ridiculous notion. As an association, we will endeavour to officially obtain the current information and we will of course be consulting our solicitor to guide us towards any future action and in turn will inform our members of any developments via our newsletters.”
The Scotsman: 06/11/09
BRITONS whose Spanish homes have been rendered worthless because they lack a “habitation licence” will today petition Madrid in their fight for justice. The petition will detail more than 1,000 cases of people, mostly retired couples who fell victim to a scam whereby local mayors reclassified rural land to sell to builders, often in return for bribes, and they in turn marketed properties to unsuspecting clients, knowing the requisite permits were not in place. Many have not even been able to occupy their houses, getting only a stamped document in exchange for their life savings. Suzanne Wyatt said: “The majority paid the money six or seven years ago and lost everything. I spent 90,000 (£81,000) and haven’t received anything. I doubt we’ll be compensated. ” She admits the chances of getting a response from the Spanish government are slim. Danish MEP Margrete Auken said: “It’s the largest case I’ve ever come across. Tens of thousands of people, British, Germans, Spaniards, are affected. Rules were not respected, corruption was rampant.” She said the Spanish government was trying to avoid tackling the issue, despite a resolution passed in March by the European Parliament threatening sanctions unless these cases were resolved. Nowhere is the situation starker than in the arid and rugged Almanzora Valley in south-eastern Spain. Liz and John Browne, a retired couple from Bellshill, Lanarkshire, moved there five years ago. But their retirement dream turned into a living hell after realising they had bought one of some 11,000 illegal properties built in the area. “We’re trapped. We can’t do anything. The builder and our Spanish lawyers said the building licence was in order, so we paid 140,000, which was half of the total, and look what we have now,” said Mr Browne, pointing at the empty concrete shell of his house. They have spent the past five years renting another place for 600 a month using the other half of the money, waiting in vain for someone to compensate them or to be allowed to complete their house. “Our money is running out,” Mr Browne said. “I’m 72 years old and a few months ago, I was diagnosed with cancer. I feel sick. I don’t want to leave my wife with nothing and give up our dream.” In another part of the valley, in Aljambra, 13 British couples live in whitewashed, tiled houses with swimming pools which they bought five years ago for about 200,000, but which turned out to be illegal. Their electricity has been cut off, forcing them to buy diesel generators which they can afford to run for only about five hours daily, while some houses do not even have running water. The local mayor has been arrested, but they do not expect their cases to be resolved for years.
Justice plea by Britons caught up in Spanish homes scam By Alfonso Daniels in Almanzora Valley, Spain
and so it continues…
The Olive Press 02/11/2009
Case 1, Retired lawyer John Toomey and wife Marissa are among the 300 families caught up in the Banana Beach saga. Despite initially not believing that the authorities would demolish the Marbella complex, they have been forced to realise it is now an imminent threat IT TOOK us a while to come to terms with the harsh reality that these people really do intend to destroy our home. We were in denial for a long time, we thought it would go away but it hasn’t. They really will demolish everything, we have to fight them. Imagine what it will be like when they destroy everything and turf out 300 families. Although we spend most of our time in London, we do regularly visit our Banana Beach home. I could not even begin to imagine what it is like for people who live there full time. Everyone is very distraught about this, some people are already very ill. There are English couples in their 80s and young families with mortgages and they have this horror hanging over their heads. The human cost as a result of all this really is huge, it’s truly horrendous. This is the last thing I wanted when I invested here, it’s very distressing for both my wife and I. My wife Marissa is diabetic and stress is extremely dangerous for her health. Unfortunately, she probably has never been so fraught. It constantly dominates our thinking as every day we are making telephone calls and sending emails to try and garner support as well as actually get to the bottom of what is really going on. Even the Spanish lawyers who live here are absolutely clueless. They’re leading us out in the cold, not even the Marbella town hall are sure exactly where this is heading. However, I have a feeling they are planning to send in the demolition men early next year because the proposed town planning bill looks set to be approved. But I can assure you it will actually taken them years and years. We know we are in the right and we will stand up against this and fight them till the end. We did everything by the book and we will not allow this to happen. In fact, I have most recently sent a letter to all London MEPs, urging them to put pressure on the European Commission. Every day we are trying to keep our minds occupied but it is so tough with this hanging over us. It is completely debilitating. Everything seemed to be so straightforward and clear when we bought the place. Sadly this has turned into a nightmare.
Case 2, Richard and Sandra Jenkins have just discovered their dream retirement home in Alcaucin may be reduced to rubble in just two months They are now painfully contemplating the cost of destroying their own home before the Spanish demolition men arrive to do it themselves LAST week the local police came round and issued the terrible news that our house is set to be demolished in two months. We are thinking about all the possible scenarios. How is it going to feel to be homeless? What we can do to stop this from happening? We are even considering selling the car to try and raise some cash to move to France. The reality is we have no idea how to raise enough money to do this. It is a completely drastic situation. We are living in fear that we may end up homeless. It doesn’t even bear thinking about that we may be back in England by Christmas, homeless. My wife is on tenterhooks at the moment, she has not been well, her blood pressure is very high. During the day the situation doesn’t seem quite so bad, but at night it is horrendous because that’s when your mind starts to wander. The desperate truth is that our whole life and everything we own rests on our house. If it gets pulled down what will I have to leave my children for their inheritance? We are about to employ some lawyers in Malaga – our future will soon be in their hands. I just do not have any idea how long it is going to take or whether they will be able to make a difference. Unfortunately, we had no idea our licenses had beenullified when we bought our house in 2001. If so, we definitely would not have bought the property. Furthermore, we have also spent in excess of 40,000 euros modernising and improving the property – it is now worth half a million euros. I worked 32 years to be able to buy this dream house. A JCB costs 280 euros a day to rent, our house is three floors tall, we cannot even bring ourselves to consider the possibility of paying for the destruction of our own home. I just wish I could get hold of the old owner of the house who sold it to us. There was no mention whatsoever of the licenses being revoked in the purchase contract, we were completely caught out and look set to be punished. It’s heartbreaking. Worse still, we have been told that we need to pay for the demolition of our own home, if not, the Junta will send people round themselves and we will later foot the bill. A JCB costs 280 euros a day to rent, our house is three floors tall, we cannot even bring ourselves to consider the possibility of paying for the destruction of our own home. And that is even before we think about the legal bills. Even if we win the case it will take ages for us to be repaid by the Junta. Apparently, Len and Helen Priors – who had their Almeria house pulled down three years ago – are still waiting for what they are owed after the Spanish High Court ruled it was illegally pulled down. (The Junta has now announced it will re-start court action against the Priors). A thin ray of light may be that the new mayor of Alcaucin, Guillermo Perez Martin, has confirmed he will do everything in his power to make sure all the houses in danger are protected. We live in hope.
Case 3, Although their monthly 3000 euro fine has been waived due to a “clerical error” Andy and Theresa Bartlett are facing an anxious wait to see if their kitchen extension will be on the Mijas town hall demolition list Their 16-year-old son – who is currently studying for his GCSEs – is suffering due to the on-going stress of the situation. We are so scared of receiving the 24-hour demolition notice. We are surrounded by about 45 other illegal builds but, for some reason, they seem to be specifically targeting us. We are still waiting for the demolition list to be made public and you can bet your bottom dollar we will be on it. There doesn’t seem to be any clear-cut way to solve this. Our life is a living hell – worse still, our son is right in the middle of studying for his forthcoming GCSEs. His stress levels have gone through the roof. According to him, he has never known us to be so worried. We are just not ourselves at the moment and it definitely is the unknown that is killing us. We feel like we are being persecuted, especially when we look out of our windows and see what other people are happily building. For instance, our neighbour has built a massive six-foot high wall that completely surrounds his whole garden but he has received no such warnings. It appears as if he can get away with whatever he wants, he has got more bricks in just one corner of his wall then we have in our whole kitchen. This is like persecution, we feel like Jews waiting to go to the gas chamber. We have taken our problem to British Consular Minister Chris Bryant, but we are just going around in circles. At least the fine was suspended, thankfully the town hall told us it was a clerical mistake just before we had to pay for the first month. We are in a stagnant situation and have no idea just what exactly is going to happen. Believe us though when we say, we will fight them to the death if they do decide to tear our kitchen down.
Case 4, After seeking the support of some 70 British MEPs, Dan Thorneycroft vents his anger to the Olive Press regarding the dire situation faced by thousands of home-owning, law-abiding expatriates across Andalucia His 172,000 euro home in El Fas, Cantoria is illegal and facing imminent demolition WE have been told that no building permissions were issued by the Cantoria town hall for 25 years. Why are we being punished when we had done all we could to ensure that we complied with the law and bought in good faith? It is inconceivable that the regional authorities were unaware of thesituation regarding illegal building, and thereby condoned it. Where did they think the extra revenues were coming from? Why has Spain been booming in recent years? Where did all the businesses that profited from the mainly British investments think that the money came from? It really is shameful that they should suggest that we should pay to have our homes legalised. What about sharing some of the profits they have made out of us? This is the shame of Spain! The realisation that so many houses are now classed as illegal was the main cause of the property slump in Spain, long before the current worldwide economic problems. All we want is to live out our lives in peace, and enjoy your wonderful country among the good Spanish people. Surely this is our basic human right.
House of Lords Questions,
Four questions put forward by Lord Burnett which is asking the Goverment to take action with regards to the Spanish land laws, and the rights of EU citizens being abused.
Lord Burnett, to ask Her Majesty’s Goverment what assessment they have made of the report prepared by Margrete Aucken MEP, dates 20 February, on the impact of extensive urbanisation in Spain on individual rights of European citizens; and whether they have raised the matter with the Prime Minister of Spain.
Lord Burnett, to ask Her Majesty’s Goverment what action they have taken in response to the petition delivered to No 10 Downing Street on 12 March by Suzanne Wyatt concerning United Kingdom citizens who have bought, or attempted to buy, property in Spain; and whether they have raised this matter with the goverment of Spain.
Lord Burnett, to ask Her Majesty’s Goverment whether they will make representations to the goverment of Spain about the level of compensation paid to United Kingdom citizens for properties nationalised under the Ley de Costas.
Lord Burnett, to ask Her Majesty’s Goverment what assessment they have made of the number of properties owned by United Kingdom citizens in Spain which may be demolished following the revocation of planning permission, in the light of assurances given to the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on his recent visit to Madrid that no, or very few, properties owned by United Kingdom citizens would be demolished.
Tuesday, 03/11/2009
From our friends in AUN…
We listened to the 30-minute documentary that was broadcast on Mon 2 Nov 2009 11:00am on BBC Radio 4, that is now available online for the next week. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00njwd7
Tuesday, 26/10/2009
Important, please read…
A letter from one of our members we received recently…
We live in El Toril, a small hamlet going towards Zafarraya, for administrative purposes, we come under Alcaucin. Although not full members, my wife has always your meetings. Out of the blue, over the last three consecutive days, we have had a visit from the local Police, on each day delivering an official letter from the Ayuntamiento de Alcaucin regarding our property. The first two letters informed us of a resolution that revoked/nullified the building licence in December 2000. The Third letter delivered this morning (Saturday) states that our house is to be demolished in 2 months time from the date of the letter (16th October). This is the first time we have received notification of any kind whatsoever that our house is illegal, although, the previous owner (as stated in the letter) was notified in October 2008. As far as our solicitors are concerned our paperwork is in order and our house is legal, the only outstanding issue is that the previous owner who built the house has exceeded the m2 of the licence issued by the Ayuntamiento de Alcaucin. Steps to rectify this situation to obtain a new and accurate escritura are at present in motion. As you can imagine, these series of letters come as a total shock and we are obviously very devastated by the course of these “sudden” events. Needless to say, my wife and I find the contents of the letters very upsetting. We bought the house of our dreams from Juan Manuel Hurtado Gonzalez in July 2001, (the original owner of the house when first built.) We were not aware that the licence to build had been nullified in December 2000, if so, we would not have bought the property. In addition to buying the property we have also spent in excess of 40,000 euros modernising and improving the property. Given our limited funds we have a home that we are very proud of. Secondly, we employed the firm of ‘Expatriates’ (whose office is in Torre del Mar close to the Supersol supermarket) to ensure all legal matters were checked and taken care of. They told us that everything was legal and that there were no reasons why we should not go ahead with the purchase. At the conclusion of the sale, we were, and still are, in possession of escituras for both the land and the construction of the house. We also have copies of the licence to build, issued by the Ayuntamiento, Nota Simple and Licence of First Occupation. Now my wife and I are told that our home will be demolished within 2 months when we are the innocent party, totally. We have done no wrong. Everything we have in the world is in this property, it has been our home for over 8 years and we are very happy. However, because the previous owner lied (with regard to the fact that he was aware that the licence had been nullified in December 2000) and our legal representatives (when we bought the property) did not carry out a 100% property check we are the people who will suffer. If the property is demolished we have no money to buy another house, my wife is a pensioner and I am 61 years old in January. Where will we live? Why are the authorities not prosecuting the parties who are in the wrong? Since buying the house we are registered for Spanish Income Tax, we have paid our IBI every year, also our water and basura rates, electricity and anything else we have to pay as residents living in Spain. We have always complied with the laws of Spain and now we are to be punished for other peoples wrong doings. Needles to say the first two letters are in the hands of our lawyer and the one received today has already been scanned in and sent. As it is the week-end, we await their comments early next week.
Newspaper articles from the Costa del Sol News. 22/10/2009
And unbelievable but true…
Friday, 06/11/2009
Monday, 25/10/2009
With regards to the vote mentioned below, please find extract from an email from one MEP who was in contact with one of our members. (full email is
available on request) “Unfortunately although I supported this amendment and intended to voteupon it; unfortunately it was prevented from being brought to
the floor on procedural grounds. I am sure you will share my frustration that we the supporters of this amendment felt….”
Thursday, 22/10/2009
Today there is a vote in the European parliament on the 2010 budget and the Greens/EFA group are tabling an amendment to place funds in reserve until
Spain alters its land policies. Extract from one of our members email to his local MP… “We would like as much support as possible for this amendment , I
hope we can rely on your support and from as many of your colleagues as possible. We strongly believe that this type of action is the only thing that will
persuade Spain to change its ways”.
Wednesday, 21/10/2009
Re our recent visit to Alicante, some of the interviews after the conference are available from the following links Interviews from the Alfaz conference……….
Wednesday, 07/10/2009
Other news…
Willy Meyer, MEP, chair of EU petitions committee, Member of Andalucian parliament and senior figure in the United Left party has stated his intention to raise
a question in the Andalucian parliament on the topic of urban abuse. The IU are a minority group in the Andalucian parliament but opening the dialogue is still
a major step for our cause. He has been given the information via other groups and we wait for an outcome.
Tuesday, 06/10/2009
Meeting in Albir (Alicante), 26th of September 2009
The meeting was held in Hotel Sun Palace, Albir, and was attended by over 500 people, including 12 SOHA.ES members who made the journey to support the groups under their own steam. Speakers included Margaret Auken, who explained more about her report and there were also people from other organizations with various difficulties. Most people had one thing in common. They had problems because of the land laws in Spain. Many were there because of the land grab issues in Valencia, others with similar complications. Having a motor way built a few meters from their home was another problem as well as the problems on the coast and the plight of the fishermen and their families in the Canary Islands, which was seen on the television all over Spain. (Footage may be available on you tube) There were a few speeches and some audio visual programms. Questions were taken by Margaret Auken, as well as others chairing the meeting. Philip Smalley, our chairman, also put our case to Margaret Auken. Amongst people attending, were the Prior family who had their house demolished. A petition was also available and signed by most people there to forward to Mr. Gordon Brown, again, to bring these issues to his attention. Another step forward is the formation of FAUN. This is a Spanish federation, formed to unite different groups, like ours, aiming to approach Madrid and the Goverment. First meeting has already been planned for 24th of October 2009 in Madrid. Anyone wishes to attend please contact Philip Smalley for more information. This meeting was an important step forward for the people in Valencia as well as others all over Spain. We welcome other members who may wish to attend future meetings to support others in a similar situation.
Monday, 05/10/2009
The Jalon Valley, a property hotspot. Safe As Houses? (Demolition of illegal homes “unlikely”) Thousands of homes branded ‘illegal’ – many owned by ex-pats chasing the Spanish dream – will escape the bulldozer, revealed MP Chris Bryant following Madrid talks. After meeting Spanish counterparts, the minister said the “good news” was that the demolition of property would only go ahead in “exceptional circumstances”. Mr Bryant, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, said he had met with politicians of the newly created Ministry of Territorial Politics and discussed controversial property laws. As well as the notorious ‘land grab’ legislation, he said talks also included the problem of illegal property where homes bought in good faith “no longer have the right planning permission” and faced being razed to the ground. And he said central government was “very aware” of an “indiscriminate” problem that affected Spanish and ex-pats alike. SOLUTION Mr Bryant told British journalists at the new Consulate General: “They are keen to find a solution but it is complicated. However, I am confident on some key issues the minister wants to move forward. “The minister said he felt someoutrageous things had happened and he was keen to reassure me that it was very unlikely people’s houses would be taken down. However, he accepted that in the immediate future, the nightmare for home owners would continue and blighted properties lose value. Mr Bryant said the foreign office would also want to see what teeth the new ministry had – especially as Madrid’s political relationship with the autonomous regional governments could be “quite difficult”. And he said the Spanish minister was “very clear in saying that except in very exceptional circumstances he could not see a situation where people would have their houses pulled down.” Mr Bryant added: “I think that is very good news.” CLARITY He also said things would vary across the different parts of Spain and there was a need for clarity. The MP for Rhonda added it was also hoped to reach a position where a victim who bought property in good faith, only to see it torn down, would be offered another home of “similar stature and value”, or receive compensation. It is understood there are some 35,000 cases of “property issues” in Spain – around 7,000 involve foreigners and, of those, 2,500 are linked to British citizens. And Spanish and foreign citizens continue to form associations to campaign against the abuses of property and the environment caused during the country’s construction boom. The European Parliament voted earlier this year to accept MEP Margrete Auken’s scathing report on the problem – which called for funding to Spain to be put on ice until action is taken. A Danish politician, Ms Auken will tour parts of Alicante this weekend to meet residents affected by Valencia’s property legislation and the national Coastal Law to gauge feeling on the ground. She will also speak at an open meeting on Saturday September 26th at 18.00 until 20.00 at the Hotel Sun Palace, Alfaz del Pi.
Article in Round Town News – Safe as Houses Written by Jack Troughton Thursday, 24 September 2009
Saturday, 19/09/2009
Meeting with Junta de Andalucia
The above meet took place Wednesday 16 September with myself and Tony Lindsay-Jones representing the assoc.and Sra.Ana Matiz for the Consejeria supported by two of her assistants Eva Gamero Ruiz(Vivienda) and Antonio Jesus (Inspector). The meeting was very cordial ,lasting approx.1.5 hrs.with Sra.Matiz(who is new in the role) showing great interest in our problems. She explained that a general amnesty cannot be contemplated as it is important for society in general that those who have abused the systems cannot be seen to get away with that abuse,but that she is confident that ,within the law progress can be made towards legalisation of the majority of properties,but that it is inevitable that where a building should not have been constructed that demolition would occur. I asked who would pay compensation and she replied that it is the Town Hall’s responsibility as they issued the illegal license. She stressed that the Junta is not our enemy and that everything possible would be done to resolve the problems throughout Andalucia, stressing that the problems in the Axarquia (detached houses in the Campo)are totally different from other areas,and I got the impression that ours is one area she wants to quickly resolve.The inspection teams are completing Sayalonga and Sedella?,but the inspection done by Viñuela Town Hall is not sufficient and needs more information,although it is a positive that Viñuela is co-operating. She is looking for commonality with our building problems and to that end has asked us to supply her with some case studies – Tony and myself have already agreed to provide her with all our paperwork(copies of),and they also want chapter and verse on who you bought the land/building from,estate agents,lawyers,notaries etc. involved in the purchase . Tony and I are quite prepared to supply this info.is there anybody else?I also believe the questionnaire we sent out some time ago would be quite useful in showing commonality,but despite repeated requests we still only have twenty forms when the membership stands at more than sixty so I am resending the form – can those of you who still have not filled it in PLEASE do so and send it back to me. We have been invited to return on 16 November for another meeting with the Director,with them having had a chance to analyse the case studies we will have sent -volunteers please! The important thing for me here is that the request for a further meeting came from the Director and that she is happy to continue with
the dialogue – at last we are making progress.
Philip Smalley
Here is a recent article on how the EU Parliament would like to pressure the Spanish government.
Martes, 21/4/2009
Alcaucín, otro caso que se veía venir
Los alcaldes de la Axarquía se muestran temerosos ante la investigación judicial
FERNANDO J. PÉREZ – Málaga – 08/03/2009
Unos jóvenes sudamericanos jugando al futbito en las pistas municipales es la única actividad aparente en Alcaucín una semana después de que el nombre del pueblo abriera todos los informativos por la detención de su alcalde, José Manuel Martín Alba. El pasado viernes, el silencio y los gatos se habían adueñado de sus calles estrechas y empinadas, las mismas calles que el viernes anterior habían sido tomadas por un ejército de guardias civiles, periodistas y vecinos que se negaban a creer que su querido Pepe Calayo, que tanto trabajo había traído al pueblo, fuera un corrupto.
Quejas por los derechos de los detenidos
Una tránsfuga del PSOE da la Alcaldía de Alcaucín al PA
La noticia en otros webs
webs en español
en otros idiomas
Los compradores de viviendas se unen para luchar por que se legalicen
Con la perspectiva que dan siete días y unas cuantas informaciones periodísticas -entre ellas la de que Martín escondía 160.000 euros bajo su colchón- la fe de los vecinos en la probidad del ya ex alcalde comienza a resquebrajarse. Lo que no ha sufrido ni una grieta es el cariño que sienten por él, pese a saber que ahora duerme en el módulo 10 de la prisión de Alhaurín de la Torre. “Seguramente habrá hecho algo, no sabemos qué, pero Pepe es una buena persona”, sentencia un vecino en el bar.
“Se ha dejado engañar por los promotores”, opina otro. Todos dedican palabras gruesas para su compañero de cárcel, el jefe del servicio de Arquitectura de la Diputación de Málaga, José Mora, Chiqui, a quien consideran, sin entrar en detalles, culpable del triste destino del regidor. Eso sí, todo el mundo reconoce ya abiertamente que la operación Arcos -traducción al castellano del árabe Al-caucín- “se veía venir”.
Junto a la pista de deportes, una urbanización de 60 viviendas permanece parada. Así están todas las construcciones del pueblo, muchas de las cuales son bloques de pisos. El paro ha hecho presa de los habitantes de la comarca, que hace una década abandonaron masivamente los olivares y las viñas para lanzarse a alicatar el paisaje de La Axarquía de la mano de unos alcaldes que no supieron, o no quisieron, evitarlo. Ahora, entre 10.000 y 21.468 viviendas irregulares ocupan el suelo rústico de los 29 municipios más Rincón de la Victoria y Totalán.
El arresto de Pepe Calayo ha sembrado de inquietud a los residentes. “El pueblo tardará años en recuperarse de esto”, afirman los parroquianos del bar. También están temerosos los alcaldes de los pueblos limítrofes. José Manuel Aranda (PSOE), regidor de Canillas de Aceituno, donde la Fiscalía y los juzgados han abierto al menos seis diligencias de investigación por supuestos delitos urbanísticos, se confiesa “deprimido” y dice llevar “dos o tres noches” sin dormir. “Tenemos parados por un tubo, no hay día en que no venga alguien a pedir trabajo al Ayuntamiento. Con el kilo de aceituna a 25 céntimos, ¿para qué sirve La Axarquía, para criar camaleones?”, se indigna.
Aranda reconoce que “urbanísticamente” los alcaldes de la comarca han caminado “por el filo de la navaja de la legalidad” y culpa de la situación a la Junta de Andalucía “por emitir informes no vinculantes”. “Que miren mis cuentas si quieren”, desafía. En Canillas se ha pasado de una inmobiliaria a 30 en sólo siete años.
Muchos de quienes vendieron sus terrenos a promotores adquirieron casas en la costa, en Vélez-Málaga o en la capital. Otros, como Javier, permutaron los terrenos donde tenían sus negocios de hostelería a cambio de pisos en las futuras promociones y con la crisis se quedaron sin pisos y sin negocio. Ahora trata de malvender su todoterreno y sobrevive con una pequeña tienda en la que comercia, entre otras cosas, con las sillas de su perdido restaurante.
Otro colectivo que teme por su propiedad son los miembros de SOHA.ES, una asociación creada por residentes extranjeros para reclamar la legalización de sus viviendas en La Axarquía y evitar las posibles demoliciones. “Los propietarios somos los únicos que hemos cumplido las normas y pagado religiosamente, mientras inmobiliarias, alcaldes, abogados y notarios se saltaban la ley”, recuerda su portavoz, Gary Miles, un jubilado londinense de 51 años. “Más que los alcaldes vayan a la cárcel nos importa poder confiar en el sistema”, remacha Philip Smalley, de 62 años, y secretario de SOHA.ES. Ambos alaban “el sentido común” y la “profesionalidad” del nuevo consejero de Vivienda de la Junta, Juan Espadas, quien les ha “asegurado por escrito” que la mayoría de las viviendas se regularizarán.
