ForHotspot

I have learned my lessons. NEVER use a lawyer recommended by an agent nor a builder. I used my agent's lawyer & had lots of problems. Never ever listen everything what an agent tells you. Please do a lot of research & most important things ask the neighbors around the area you're buying. I've learned a lot from my neighbors. Off plan is OK if you know what you're doing.

Rotor

With all the bad publicty I think the only way to get Brits buying again is for central government to issue gaurantee`s of legality or not as the case may be, cant see it happening though

metalmike

Whilst it has to be said that legality is a problem in many cases and decent unfortunate folk have paid dearly for the greed, corruption and dishonesty demonstrated in many instances, quite a lot of the problems are self-inflicted, but are never reported as such. As an example, look at all the people who bought cheap plots 5-6 years ago, knowing they only had 100m2 'almacen' permits. Now they are being fined huge sums of money for building houses and occupying them and they are most indignant! Just last week in Torrox a british couple were sent to prison for 8 months and fined 73,000 euros along with a demolition order for a 240m2house they built, with a license for a 24m2Casita. They were warned several times, yet continued to build!! I agree that there are problems in certain respects with buying property, but not all the cases that come to light are the sole fault of the Spanish authorities.

whitelinen

Its hardly rocket science.

I dont understand the negative forum responses with posters who allegedly have already bought in Spain giving dire warnings to those who may want to without saying if anything went wrong with their own purchase or not. And if not, what did they do that newcomers cant?

Nobody mentions the hundreds of thousands of folks who have purchased in Spain with no problems whatsoever. IMO some people do no research whatsoever. For Brits, David Hampshire´s books on living and working in Spain have always been available. Fortunately most buyers in Spain aren´t Brits.

ForHotspot

If you want a custom built house you've no choice except to go for an off-plan.

I agree that off-plan is risky & stressful to deal with builder, etc & a lot of research needs to be done before going for an off-plan. I still have problems for the builder to fix them & it takes a long time & hassles to get them fixed.

metalmike

A little move in the right direction on the off-plan issue - A Spanish court has made a “landmark ruling” to uphold the principal of bank guarantees on off-plan property despite small-print exonerating the bank from liability.

The judge ruled that the bank, Caja Cantabria, had failed in its duty and ordered it to give the client a full refund of both deposit and staged payments for a unit on an off-plan development which was purchased during the boom but never completed.

The court disregarded small print which stated the bank guarantee had expired, deciding that guarantees could not expire whilst the purchaser still had no home to show for their money.
This information was extracted from a court report.

Lenox

The main loser over all of this is of course the Spanish themselves. Andalucía - where most of the building trouble comes from - now has 30% unemployment, is losing billions in non-sales (they all watch their TVs in Northern Europe and the Priors and others like them have become household names) and the 'pringados' - the local political barons and their wide circles - are close to falling off their comfortable perch. What a mess and what a poor response from the Junta de Andalucía!
Meanwhile - there's still many other warm places in the world where you can buy a house and live there without being under threat.

fionamw

My OH has just reminded me that his main concern was on something slightly different he'd heard - namely that on a development where only some of the properties were sold and the developer defaults, they may not have paid all their dues to the utility providers (electricity, water, etc) for the infrastructure so the utilities have a right to (or do anyway) charge those existing homeowners for the balance of the cost?
Does this sound improbable, possible, likely or right?

jackytoo

It is possible but you would be able to find this out before purchase.

Rotor

Dont suppose you could post a link/copy for an unfortunate friends lawyer?

Lenox

In Cantabria, you can't lose your house/have it demolished, until you have received full compensation (news-story today):



Aprobada la modificación de la Ley del Suelo de Cantabria para indemnizar antes de los derribos

(EP).-El Gobierno de Cantabria ha aprobado este jueves el proyecto de Ley por el que se modifica la Ley de Ordenación Territorial y Régimen Urbanístico del Suelo de Cantabria, en relación con los procedimientos de indemnización patrimonial en materia urbanística, para poder indemnizar a los propietarios antes de los derribos.

Según ha informado el Gobierno en un comunicado, con esta Ley se trata de cumplir la resolución del Parlamento de Cantabria de julio de 2010 para introducir las modificaciones normativas necesarias por las que se garantice a los propietarios sobre los que pesan sentencias firmes de derribo la indemnización del perjuicio patrimonial con carácter previo a la efectiva demolición del inmueble.

El Ejecutivo ha explicado que para su cumplimiento, se introduce en primer lugar un mecanismo que pretende dotar de mayor seguridad al tráfico jurídico inmobiliario, propiciando la mayor publicidad de los litigios que se susciten en el ámbito urbanístico, a fin de evitar mayores perjuicios a los terceros adquirientes.

Así, los servicios jurídicos de la Administración autonómica tendrán la obligación de promover la publicidad registral de los procedimientos en los que se impugnen actos de naturaleza urbanística cuando se advierta que pueden derivarse perjuicios para terceros.

En segundo lugar, se pretende incorporar a la legislación urbanística de Cantabria una previsión, dentro del marco establecido por la legislación estatal, que permita el abono de la indemnización con carácter previo al derribo efectivo de los inmuebles.

Según el Gobierno, se trata de evitar que a los propietarios afectados se les prive de sus inmuebles sin que por la administración responsable del perjuicio se atiendan sus legítimas pretensiones de forma inmediata, dando una rápida respuesta a su petición resarcitoria y evitando, al mismo tiempo, que el perjudicado tenga que esperar a verse privado del inmueble para incoar un largo proceso ante las administraciones y tribunales para conseguir el resarcimiento patrimonial.

Esta ley introduce un mecanismo que, sin alterar la configuración general del instituto de responsabilidad patrimonial, permite la sustanciación del procedimiento de forma anticipada, sujetando la eficacia de la resolución indemnizatoria a la condición suspensiva de que el propietario del inmueble afectado ponga éste a disposición de la administración obligada a materializar el derribo.

Por otro lado, la norma articula un mecanismo de intervención de todas aquellas administraciones que se les imputa el daño, ofreciendo así las herramientas para una mejor resolución del procedimiento que permita una adecuada identificación de la administración que resulte responsable