Lenox

Helen and Len Prior will mark their third anniversary of living in their garage in Vera this Sunday. That's quite a long time for a retired couple in the sunset of their lives.
Their home was demolished by the Junta de Andalucía in a lightening raid on January 9th 2008 and since then, the various authorities have skilfully 'passed the buck'. While the demolition is common knowledge to the British television-watching public, and a massive number of potential home-buyers from Northern Europe have decided to try elsewhere - losing Andalucía billions in lost sales and living costs - the Spaniards themselves barely know about this situation.

cricketman

Well, except for the readers of the biggest selling Spanish daily newspaper

http://www.elpais.com/articulo/andal...04elpand_5/Tes

scampicat

Is anything legal going on with this, or do they have to stay in their garage for evermore?

cricketman

Read the article I just posted. The ayuntamiento of Vera has to pay them the rent so they can stay in a house similar to one they illegally demolished

And yes, that is correct, it was the ayuntamiento of Vera who illegally demolished the house, not the Junta de Andalucia

I prefer to believe El Pais to Lenox

scampicat

So why are they living in their garage?

And although the rent payment is good, it does not make up for all the capital they put into their house, does it? (assuming they did of course).

agoreira

Wll according to that report the council is going to pay rent for a house similar to the one demolished, whilst they await the outcome of the case! The demolition order had been cancelled/reversed in April 2009, but they are still waiting for the compensation from Vera council. I love the comment from the mayor, "we will never turn our back on them".

cricketman

Of course it doesnt

I'm just saying that
1. What Lenox is saying is untrue, this story has had lots of coverage in Spain in the national media
2. The coverage the case has got shows that it is an unusual case within Spain and the Spanish media want to highlight it
3. Can anyone name any other demolitations? No, because there hasnt been any
4. Lots of people have bought housing that according to national laws has been illegally built. This is down to corrupt local councils, no doubt about it, and given that a lot of these are in the South, then yes, the British will be affected more than most

Lenox and others like to highlight this case as a campaign against the British, some kind of "race wars" that are going on. That's nonsense, the ayuntamiento demolished when they shouldnt have done. The real crime is that this has taken years to go through the courts, but unfortunately that is the way of the Spanish justice system at the moment, it can't cope and the courts are blocked, never mind what the nationality of the victim

Lenox

The Priors were offered a second floor apartment by the Vera Town Hall (under duress) but, since they are elderly and have dogs, they decided to stay in the grounds of their home. The apartment is used to store some of their somewhat superfluous furniture.
As far as the appeal goes - it doesn't. Not until Vera's own appeal against the Superior Court in Madrid is eventually settled and the Priors (or their heirs) find out who to make a complaint against.
And no, the demolition of the house was under the orders of a judge in Almería, following the direction of Luis Caparrós (at the time, the consejero delegado for Obras Públicas y Viviendas - since fired). Not under the orders of Vera or its lawyers. Several other houses in the same area were similarly under threat in 2008, but there have been no more demolitions (rather suggesting that it was a 'cock-up').
There are said (by our friends at El País) to be 300,000 'illegal' homes in Andalucía, many of these being in small pueblos or way out in the countryside somewhere, understandably bought by Northern Europeans in search of some peace and quiet.
And despite Cricketman's masterly understanding of the situation, the fact remains that the Priors are without their home, thousands of potential emigrants from the UK are 'looking elsewhere' and, worst of all, Almería's job market is adversely affected and unemployment stands currently at a hefty 30%.
It's not about racism, it's about stupidity.

cricketman

What a much better post than the original one

Context is so important in these cases

HBG

While agreeing with both Lennox and Cricketman, what neither of them mentioned was the original reason for the demolition in the first place – corruption by Spanish officials on a massive scale, right across Spain.

Hundreds of those corrupt officials are already before the courts, thousands are still being investigated, and tens of thousands have probably got away with it.

And those corrupt Spanish officials were right at the top of Spanish society; presidents, mayors, architects, lawyers, bankers, police chiefs etc etc etc.

Spain is addressing the problem, but the legal process is a laborious one.

Lenox

To mark the third anniversary of the demolition of their home in Vera today, Helen and Len Prior have sent nearly 400 New Year cards to politicians, members of the Junta de Andalucía, mayors, legislators, judges and even the King of Spain to underline their continued fight for justice.

Recipients in the UK included the Prime Minister, members of parliament and the British Ambassador to Spain. All Spanish and English MEPs also received cards. This action was supported by two organisations fighting urban abuse injustices in Andalucia, AUAN in the Almanzora Valley and AULAN in Levante.

The international scandal of the demolition in Vera has contributed to a European-wide crisis of confidence in the Spanish housing market and the card shows a graph of the sharp descent in house sales to foreign buyers over the last four years which reflects this.

The text of the card reads : 'Our New Years wish is a just and intelligent solution for the innocent victims of urban abuse in Andalucía'.

See: The Priors' Story.

steviedeluxe

Well it probably doesn't help, but I suspect the economic turndown (and the end of the housing bubble) are the major factors here.

jackytoo

Not about the Priors but there is a big write-up in today's málaga Sur about the 20,000+ illegal homes in Axarquia. Suppose there is a positive in that the media is actually publishing it! Not much sympathy from the spanish when I last read the comments.

http://www.diariosur.es/v/20110109/m...-20110109.html

Lenox

The Northern Europeans won't buy any more houses in Spain (having seen what will happen to them on their tellies) so they won't be bringing their money here. 200,000 euros per couple for a house, plus money for a car, furniture, plus monthly living expenses and - who knows - maybe creating a job for a maid or a gardener.
Five couples... a million euros.
Five thousand couples... a billion euros.
Two hundred thousand couples (for example)... how much is that?

agoreira

Yes, clearly a lot detest the British, somebody certainly doesn´t have much time for Brits in Benalmádena! They blame the Brits for building where they like, they seem to forget they all had licences granted by some bent alcalde.