Lenox

An elderly retired English couple watched as their house was demolished today in Vera, Almería, by bulldozers under orders from the Junta de Andalucía. The house was four and a half years old and had planning permission from the Vera town hall. The couple had received a letter two weeks ago warning them of the demolition order (a warning they were told to discount by their lawyer) and this morning their power and water (surely signs of legal occupation) were cut. The Guardia came round and told them to be out by 3.30pm when the bulldozers were booked to knock the house down. Neighbours helped the couple empty the house which, at 3.30 sharp, was demolished. The garage and a garden shed - on a different permit - were spared.
The husband had a suspected heart-attack during the proceedings and was attended by a doctor.
Their entire savings were in their house. So now, what do they do?

sarahchirles

How awful...! What now.. God Knows. Contact the UK press maybe...?

billgates

Where's you get the story from Lenox? It sounds appalling.

Lenox

I live nearby and a neighbour told me. I'll take photos tomorrow and post them on Spanish Shilling

jandy44

What can anyone say,this is absolutely devastating to hear,the poor couple ,my heart goes out to them ,some-one along the line wants putting against a wall and shooting for robbing this couple of their savings and their home this couple have been left homeless and in despair ,it now begs the question where do they go from here,someone in the townhall and the solicitor have got to be responsible BUT to get to the bottom of it and to recieve any possible compensation will be a very long drawn out proccess and costly in the meantime there is very little help for homeless people in Spain,have they got relatives here that could help

jackytoo

Thats awful, sad tale No wonder sales are down. I have lived here many years but I don't think I would buy now!

lee8

It could be the start or the end dependent on the outcome of EU courts.

Hopefully these stories will bring some benefit in the future.

Something has to be done and soon, but Spain is full of horror stories when it comes to money issues, there have been hundreds of Brits evicted from static caravan sites because of planning issues and lack of legal protection and have caused serious financial difficulties to many.

Its about time Spain being an EU country was brought into the 21st century and forced to implement rules for both parties.

The Junta de Andulucia is a group of ignorant, arrogant peasants trying to act like adults.

They implemented an idea that people could rent housing they wouldn`t normally be able to afford, they could then claim back a percentage of the rent.

So far people have been forced to sign rental agreements they couldn`t afford and have had to pay because the Junta didn`t plan on the popularity of the scheme and to date haven`t paid a penny out.

And as a Spanish friend says "Typical Spanish".

sarahchirles

I am sure that Spain would not like to be the 'Pariah' of the expats world. The Costa's have been built up to within an inch of their life... but hey we all need bingo... But the British invest so much money into their new life in Spain...


You have to remember.. if the Brits didn't holiday in places like Benidorm, Malaga, Ibiza etc, the Spanish would be fishing for their dinner and still riding donkeys..... So let us not forget where we came from! I am half Irish so I can do a million things with potatoes...

big wheels

Obviously someone in the Vera town hall was telling lies

twyntub

Truly awful.

This sounds like yet another case of "the lawyer told it was OK therefore it must be". One wonders whether this was the same lawyer that helped them "discount the paperwork" during the conveyancing process too?

Illegal builds are rife around here - literally hundreds of properties built on rustic land - ruins and old farm buildings replaced with sprawling villas and a pool - totally at odds with planning laws just as they would be in the UK. Most, I'm sure, will get away with it - eventually - but possibly some won't. Most likely it will be the weakest / most vulnerable - the people without the money or enchufes that are targeted.

Somehow I cannot see the Spaniard near us who's extended his garden across the road because he fancied the extra space, and oh by the way who also went to school with the head of planning in the regional government, being earmarked for demolition.

jdr

The Junta de Andulucia have set aside thousands of €`s towards the demolition of illegal propertiesin the Marbella area alone.
A block of 15 appartments near me was demolished because it was a mtr too wide and had a penthouse extra to the plans.

koalakim

Hi

It's very sad that this has happened but there must be something iffy in the planning permission or the paperwork for this to have happened?

Our friends in Spain has a friend this was about to happen to. A Dutch builder put up about 15 houses of the ones built I think two have been demolished. The friends house has an appeal on it, they aren't going to now knock it down but these people are stuffed as they can't sell and again all their money is tied up in it. In fact at one stage they wouldn't leave the house unattended in case they turned up to knock it down. Of course the builder scarpered back to Holland leaving a trail of debts and disorder.

The one thing my friends did say is that they used the same conveyancer as the builder and the house had no mortgage on it - so apparently if they'd used someone different or had the bank involved the illegal planning permission may have been picked up. This story was actually featured on Tonight with Trevor MacDonald a couple of years ago.

Hope they manage to get themselves rehoused soon.

twyntub

That's why a habitation licence is so important.

Builders often get planning permission for X, but build Y. If they can sneek another 10% more appartments into a block - they can literally get 10% more money for nothing. Or they can make gardens a little smaller and sneak another row of villas in.

Having planning permission / a licence to build is almost irrelevant if the builder doesn't actually build exactly what's been agreed. At least getting the habitation licence means that the town hall are happy with what's actually been built, including what's around it.

We know many people having 'major issues' with their new build. The one thing in common - none have a habitation licence in place. We certainly have no intention of completing without one knowing what we now know.

Beachcomber

This is another case of the elected dictatorship of the Junta de Andalucía playing politics with people's lives.

Vera Town Hall is run with an outright majority by the Partido Andalucista, the bully boys of the Junta are PSOE. The permission was probably granted by the Town Hall by some jiggery-pokery and not ratified by the Junta.

Forget about help from the EU. All they are capable of is interfering in Spain's domestic issues, for example, over driving licences, residents permits and taxes etc. which only antagonises the authorities against foreigners but I received a reply to an email the other day in which they stated that they do not accept that there is any corruption in Spain! Can you believe it??

jimmbo

Can the lawyer be named?