Costa del Sol Property Blog

The Andalusian government on Tuesday approved a decree under which in the most extreme cases the homes of the most needy families subject to eviction proceedings initiated by banks will be embargoed by the region for a maximum of three years.

The Andalusian commissioner responsible for public works and housing, Elena Cortés, said the government also plans to impose fines of up to 9,000 euros on banks and real estate companies that leave empty homes that are fit to live in. More..

At the meeting the association put forward the situation of its members, who built properties with a licence from the local town hall and always respected the plans handed in to the local authority. More..

The below article was written prior to the elections last Sunday, but is still of interest as it looks at many of the urban projects that are still pending and will be beneficial to the Costa del Sol property.

More..

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.

More..

Tourists who visit Malaga province mainly to play golf spend €103 per day on average, a Junta de Andalucia study shows.

Since 2005, the golfing sector has seen visitor numbers increasing by more than three per cent each year, and in 2010 alone, 427,000 golfers spend €687m in Andalucia.

More..

It appears that at the next general meeting of the Alhaurin de la Torre council in September, the councillors are to give the green light to an ambitious project to create an ‘airport city’. The project, over fifteen years, will lead to the creation of a commercial and industrial zone covering 3.8 million square metres in the north-eastern part of the municipality, near the extended Malaga airport.

More..

Work on the major infrastructure projects under way in the province of Malaga is soon to feel the effects of the government cutbacks. If during the first couple of years of the downturn public works helped keep the province’s economy afloat, the situation looks set to change. On Wednesday the Minister of Development José Blanco announced where he would make his cutbacks, which amount to savings of some 3,200 million euros on a national level

More..

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.
More..

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.
More..

Chris Bryant (Minister of State for Europe and Consular Affairs at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office) has visited Spain this weekend where he discussed a wide range of issues affecting British citizens moving to and living in Spain.
More..

Political battle lines are being drawn in Mijas over the 700 properties in the Calahonda Royale development. Home owners in the urbanisation, which is located near the Mijas Costa/Marbella border, just north of the N340, have been waiting for over a decade to be granted the first occupancy licence, ‘licencia de primera ocupacíon.’
More..

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.
More..

The government of Andalucia, or Junta, announced yesterday a subsidy of 1 billion Euros to help liquidate the region’s property glut estimated at around 70,000 newly-built homes.
More..

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.
More..

It appears that’s 2 properties/developments are to be demolished, the cost to be paid by the developer

These are 2 of the 8 properties that the Mayor, Ángeles Muñoz, has promised to demolish in exchange for the Junta de Andalucía granting temporary trading licences to businesses located in other illegally built buildings. Although it appears that the Junta are going to want to see further demolitions in the future.

One of the properties to be demolished in Rio Real is owned by Avila Rojas, currently facing charges under the Malaya case and the other is located in San Pedro and was built by the builder Prosavi

News source: www.typicallyspanish.com