Lenox

The local paper La Voz de Almería says that the Junta de Andalucía has demolished 14 buildings in the province in the last eight years, of which only three belonged to the British (two more British owned homes are due to be demolished later this month in Cantoria).
And yet, says the newspaper in a surprised and slightly hurt tone, it is the Brits who are kicking up a stink about this.
Of course, it's everyone's fault except the Junta's, which 'is only following the law'. The story goes that 300,000 illegal homes were built in Andalucía in the first decade of this century...
Which the Junta, the hard-working and honest Junta, the 'we need that in triplicate' Junta...
ahh... never noticed.
The two British owners of the latest homes in Cantoria say they want their money back before the houses are demolished, as the Junta tells them to speak to the builder and in, what, ten years or so the court appeal will take, maybe he'll have had the time to put all of his possessions in the name of his wife!
Really, at 37.5% unemployment (over 70% in the small villages of the interior), how much more damage can the Junta de Andalucía do to its subjects in Almería?

amideislas

I'm not saying it's not true, or anything like that - I'm sure it is..

But I just can't reckon the motivation to do this.
Who gains? It seems that nobody does. Everybody loses. Including the "Junta".

I realise this is Spain, and common sense isn't always the prevailing wisdom, but I would expect that someone, somewhere within the annals of the "Junta", might come up with the bright idea that allowing the structures to be legalised can only bring in revenue, and spare a lot of agony of innocents.

Property taxes, income taxes, consumer spending, etc... People who don't live there don't put that money into the economy. Forcing them to leave and spending on the demolition is simply stupid. Everybody loses.

Now, if there is a local, politically-connected developer with a lot of money who just wants the land for a development, then I can understand what *might* be behind it, but even then, I would expect it to be exposed, investigated, and those behind it put in jail before the exercise takes any more innocent victims.

Again, an excellent example of what bureaucrats with too much power can and will do.

VFR

VFR

Lenox

The ecologists are very strong in the Andalucian Government (which helps explain our huge unemployment). Being largely city-folk, they are keen to keep the countryside empty (even of prickly pear, which they say is a 'planta invasora'). Most of them, of course, don't know which end of a cow the poop comes out of.

Fredbargate

[QUOTE=Lenox;11464545. Most of them, of course, don't know which end of a cow the poop comes out of.[/QUOTE]

Unlike politicians where the poop comes out of both ends.