Costa del Sol Property Blog

As I have previously written, the Junta de Andalucía has been working on a decree which would enable many of the current illegal properties in Andalucía to finally be legalised.

The decree on the illegal properties was meant to have been ready within six months of its announcement back in March but is still not ready and the provincial delegate for Public Works and Housing has stated that will not be ready until November, more than likely December.

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The Aifos owner, Jesús Ruiz Casado could face a prison sentence of four years for failing to return funds paid by buyers for properties on a development in Casares that was never built. Approximately 20 buyers, many of them foreign couples, were never refunded the sums of between 50,000 and 70,000 euros they paid towards properties on the Hacienda Casares development. Aifos is expected to have received more than 1.1 million euros in total. Construction was supposed to start in November 2004 but the development never materialised.

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Investors bought off-the-plan apartments in a proposed development called Estepona Beach and Country Club, 30km west of Marbella.

In some cases, the prospective owners – many of whom were from Northern Ireland – put down an £85,000 deposit for their Spanish properties.

However, the land still belonged to its original owner and the complex was never built.

An investigation is now ongoing into Ocean View Properties, based in Birmingham, which was the British representative for Sun Golf Desarrollos Immobiliarios SL in Spain.
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THE issue of illegally built homes is one that affects many thousands of expatriates living in Spain, and in particular areas like the Costa del Sol and Almeria.

The General Plan for Urban Development (PGOU) for Marbella, in Malaga Province, was recently approved and its aims are to restore judicial safety to the town, as well as attempting to solve problems from the past relating to the more than 16,500 illegally built homes.

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Dear fellow petitioners,
You may remember that 17 months ago I submitted a petition to the Governor of the Bank of Spain with regard to the non-compliance of the various Spanish banks who were not honouring the guarantees given by them to protect deposits paid by purchasers of off-plan properties. You very kindly supported this petition and were signatories to it. The petition was briefly brushed aside by the Bank of Spain’s legal representative who in so many words suggested we deal with the matter through the courts. This in spite of the public pronouncements made by the Governor himself when explaining his powers to deal with recalcitrant banks.
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Owners of homes which are retrospectively judged to have fallen foul of regional planning rules can now be given just one month’s notice that council bulldozers are being sent in, as part of a crackdown on excessive development in one of Spain’s most popular regions.

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After several years of British (and to lesser degree Germans, Swedish, Irish, etc..) buyers having to deal with multiple issues including illegal builds, retro-active permits, coastal laws, etc… with little or no help from their home country MEPs, they are now receiving support from a variety of sources. Being cynical we could talk about looming elections or the fact that a lot of the hard has already been done. Either way everyone appears to be jumping on the band wagon and is condemning Spain for a range of property related issues, which should help speed up and resolve these issues. The latest is from Roger Helmer.
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It appears that the British government is finally attempting to do something to support British citizens in Spain. As you can expect the main issue revolved around illegal/irregular properties and the need to find a ‘voter friendly’ solution.  Anyway, please find below the governmental press release.
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Foreign property owners in Spain still suffering from irregular planning issues on rustic/rural land will be holding a gathering/march in Malaga on the 17th of March to protest the ongoing issues that are plaguing their properties.
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For good news, the new PGOU Urban Plan for Marbella was approved on Friday the 29th of January 2010 by COTUA, the Andalucía Territorial Planning Commission. A vast majority of the properties that had previously been left out of the local town plan have not been fully legalised and many owners after years of stress and worry can now breath a sigh of relieve. Congratulations to the owners of the staggering 18,000 properties that have been affected by this whole mess.
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At long last there may be light at the end of the tunnel for Marbella. The long anticipated Marbella PGOU (urban plan) might finally be approved in October. The latest version for Marbella plan, unlike previously announced by the Marbella town hall, was been approved without including illegal properties. It appears that the mayor, Ángeles Muñoz, decided on this course of action after the Junta de Andalucia confirmed that they would no accept any of the proposed modifications to include all existing illegal properties in Marbella within the new plan.
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As many of you undoubtedly know, there are a few illegally built properties in Spain. If any of you saw that show recently “Spain, Paradise lost” you will know that some owners face demolition orders and are hoping and/or fighting that there property will be safe.

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Demolition work start this week on an illegal development in the Golf Río Real area of Las Chapas, Marbella. The block in question consisted of 34 apartments built by Naviro Inmobiliaria on land designated as a green zone.

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With the constant stream of property related problems in the media regarding Spain, from land grab laws, illegal builds, bankrupt developers, etc… I was looking into compiling a list of areas/properties for buyers to be wary of.

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This month, a petition will be delivered to Number 10, requesting that Gordon Brown plays his part in helping solve some of the issues involving Spanish real estate and the UK investor.
The document asks that he lodge’s a complaint on behalf of British citizens who have become victims of Spanish property scandals and abuses. It also asks that Britain involve the EU.

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