September 2012

Hello again. Sometimes the hardest question to answer is, “what do you want”? So when Marta Andreason asked SOHA.ES this very same question we had to sit and think a minute.

Marta is a member of the European Parliament representing the UKIP party and had been fighting for the rights of British home owners in Spain for some years now. Indeed, she marched with us in Malaga two years ago. She wrote to us last week saying she is trying to get a meeting with the Environment Minister in Spain. She goes on to ask us, “Would you be able to summarize in three points what you want the Minister to do about your situation”?

Good question! Our first thought was legalise every illegal house in Spain (and while your at it eliminate poverty and war). But this is neither helpful, practical or probably even desirable.

As I discussed last month our belief is the way forward for us is to get the governments of Spain to see the economic impact of their failings. Lets face it who is going to buy a house in Spain if they are going to be unsure as to its legal status? But we don’t want All illegal houses to be made legal only those where the owners are the victims of the misdeeds and mistakes of others. This is the case with the members of SOHA.ES. So our first request for the government of Spain is: Quickly bring all houses, bought in good faith, to a recognised level of full legality. But what is legal? It is not black and white as it is elsewhere. We have discussed before the two tier status that “asimilado fuera de ordenacion” gives. We want FULL legality.

But what about those who have already had the licences unfairly revoked by the Junta de Andalucia? Our second request is: End immediately legal cases brought by government agencies against the victims of corruption and malpractice. Clearly it is morally wrong to persecute victims for the crimes of others. This means that a mechanism must be found which overrides the legal process. A royal decree?

Finally we need to ensure that this never happens again in any part of Spain. For this we need to: Establish a NATIONALLY recognised and rigid process of property planning and registration. Which would mean cooperation from all the comunidads in Spain.

Good luck Marta!