Spanish Real Estate forum - Spanish property - Estate agentsSpanish Real Estate forum - Spanish property - Estate agents

MAone · 11-05-2008, 02:33 PM

Hi Homefinder,

I have been in real estate in Spain for several years, and owned property here since late 90´s. I started out in business as we were seriously ripped off ourselves and we are very strict about who we work with professionally always.......

Relating to our discussion I don´t agree with you as I do think the buck stops with the JDA - they had responsibility under the regional autonomy rules and failed to monitor the town halls properly. Its true its the town hall with jurisdiction over the policia local but there are other means of communicating officially. You cannot say that town halls could not see the developments going on under their noses. They did nothing for years and now innocent home owners will have to pay or lose their homes, when most of them are pensioners........

Yes there were some mis-guided people who thought it was a golden rainbow and knew they were getting irregular propeties or under-declaring to ridiculous amounts etc, and so not all buyers are innocent. But apart from those why do you think the buyers should pay? The majority of them were told infrastructure was included and paid urban land prices even if their land turned out to be rustic in reality. The Authorities are responsible in law for this debacle and they failed in their duty of care and their responsibilities.

It would be better if they approached the EU for funds to bring all places up to scratch and conform with the EU legislation on the basis of a loan per property affected and in return put a charge on each of the properties affected so that when they were either sold or the owners died then they got the money back.....no its still not entirely fair but it is a much fairer solution than that proposed currently. Lets also not forget that the Authorities happily accepted taxes on irregular or downright illegal properties as many were signed for at the notary too!!.

I agree with Nigel that this is a good time to buy in Spain but I think the spanish government needs to get a grip and finally resolve this issue once and for all, as a market that is haunted by such matters is not truly healthy. Spain is a great place to live but it needs to sort out the mess of its own making and greed over the last 40 years........

Homefinder · 11-05-2008, 04:46 PM

Thank you MAone for a very interesting reply.
I have to agree with everything you say except for one very important point.
Every case has to be judged separetly and we don't really know enough to pass judgement. Considering only the "Prior Demolition": You condem the J de A but we don't really know if the Priors were warned in good time. We do know that the J de A first took the case to court and got a judgement within a year of the date of building licence being issued.
The important point is whether the Priors were informed at this stage - because there was still good time to avert a major disaster for them. At the worst they would have paid for the plot and have a partly built house. Perhaps the building had not even started then.

Homefinder

MAone · 11-05-2008, 05:36 PM

Perhaps as Agents we should start a pressure group or similar to campaign for this resolution?

I do happen to know that neither the Priors or their solicitor was informed, only the town hall, so the latter are definitely culpable, the Priors were not aware until after they had been living in their house for quite some time. But I don´t want to debate an individual case, for me its really the principles behind it............I pay and have always pàid my taxes and everything else need to run a legitimate business here in Spain, and that is not cheap. We HAVE to keep our own house in order or the taxman etc embargoes our bank accounts, so the same principle should apply to government bodies as well!!

Homefinder · 11-05-2008, 08:40 PM

MAone - With respect I do think that individual cases should be considered. "Let him cast the first stone . . . " - or something like that!
If what you say is true about the Priors not being informed then de J de A have done and awful, terrible thing and have lost all creditability. It would be interesting to know if the Priors have started proceeding against Vera and/or the J de A because if they never knew about the first court order they are absolutely blameless.
Perhaps either or both have already considered this and there has already been an out of court settlement. Otherwise why has everything gone so quiet!

Homefinder