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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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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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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The administrators who took over the accounts of the firm Aifos last july have released a preliminary report. In this they name some 6,234 creditors who are owed debts that amount to more than 884 million euros.
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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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Last weekend, Chris Bryant, Britain’s Minister for Europe visited Andalucía. Speaking exclusively to SUR in English, Bryant said there were three principal reasons for his trip. “Firstly, I wanted to listen to a range of issues which are affecting British expats in Spain; secondly I came to put some pressure on the Spanish authorities to resolve some long-standing property issues; and thirdly to appoint two additional civil servants to advise Brits on legal matters relating to property and social services,” he said.
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