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Homefinder · 01-15-2008, 06:53 PM

Last Wednesday (09/01/2008) a house owned by British people was demolished on order of the Junta de Andalucia.
The owners claim that they had a building licence and it would seem that the Vera Town Hall admit this fact.
The Junta de Andalucia claim that they warned Vera that the licence was illegal, along with many others in the same area, and that there are many more illegal buildings in the area to be demolished.

The international press is full of it and it is reported that the husband, in his 60's, had to be taken to hospital with a suspected heart attack.

I am surprised that Forum members have missed it until now. I am writing a report "The Vera (Almeria) Demolition" which will be available in a few hours.
Meanwhile the Web is full of it already. Start here: Google: "Vera Demolition"

Well friends, looks like that's it. Right or wrong, the Junta applied a coup de grÃ¢ce to the dying Spanish real estate. If they carry out the further proposed demolitions they will bury it at the same time.

Lets hear from you on this. The Forum has a voice and Google listens. Lets have your comments there when the world takes notice.

Homefinder

Homefinder · 01-16-2008, 09:42 PM

My article "The Vera (Almeria) Demolition" is No. 1 and my post is No. 2. Follow this link to see: Google: "Vera Demolition"
This has happened in 24 hours. This post will probably be No. 2 tomorrow as I am optimising carefully.

I am writing the Article: "The Vera (Almeria) Demolition" and you can see it in a couple of hours.

It would seem that more demolitions are planned by the Junta de Andalusia, including anothet 11 in or around Vera.

The whole situation is extremely serious for Spanish real estate, already in a crisis situation, and a lot more will happen withing the next few days - both the continuance of the demolition orders, litigation to prevent them and denouncements of the Spanish and local governments from the world's press.

There have been 37 viewings of this post but no comments from the Spanish Real Estate Forum.
I'm surprised!

Homefinder

Homefinder · 01-17-2008, 05:38 PM

Spanish Time have pirated the Forum copyright to my post by publishing verbatim the text -

January 15, 2008

Spanish Real Estate Crisis | Vera (Almeria) Demolition

Uncategorized | @ 10:53 am
Right or wrong, the Junta applied a coup de grÃ¢ce to the dying Spanish real estate. If they carry out the further proposed demolitions they will bury it at the same time. Lets hear from you on this. The Forum has a voice and Google â€¦

I have removed all URL's in order not to give them a link but it can be seen here.

Spanish Time Â» Spanish Real Estate Crisis | Vera (Almeria) Demolition

Richie: What are you going to do about it? Doi you want me to tell them or have you already agreed to it?

Homefinder

Richie · 01-18-2008, 09:55 AM

They haven't copied it, they use the rss feed from the forum.

There is a couple of sites that are heavily using the forum feeds which is good for you as you get free links back to your site without having to do any work!

Richie · 01-18-2008, 03:24 PM

It seems as though this kind of action from the town hall has not only put another nail in the coffin but also shot themselves in the foot! News travels fast and bad news travels even faster.

Obviously as a license was issued by the town hall - you would think that the government would simply fine the local town hall instead of reaping more unrest in the real estate industry here in Spain. Where has common sense gone in this country? The government much benefit hugely from the real estate sector or has done, surely they must not have properly thought about this one.

As I have written about before, there is a number of illegal builds in Cartagena which have been constructed on protected land, and as usual the main people being affected are Brits again, yes there are some Spanish affected but never as much as the British.

This is really sad news for the buyers / home owners and for all Estate Agents and property promoters as yet again the stupid laws and greed of local authorities / builders has not for the first time (I would count but I donÂ´t have all day!!!) tarnished the real estate industry in Spain.

We need better news than this to get things going again.

Homefinder · 01-19-2008, 04:24 AM

The town hall that wrongfully issued the building licence should be fined of course (hopefully that will happen) but the problem does not end there because there is still an illegal building on rural land.
If the law says that the building should not be there and nothing can be done to legalise it then it has to come down.
If the owners bought the house in good faith, as would seem to be the case, then the courts should swiftly and adecuately compensate them at the cost of those who were to blame.
The time for the Junta de Andalisia to act was when they first detected the erroneous licence and they should have moved quickly to prevent the construction of the property, thereby limiting the damage to the party who (presumably) bought in good faith.
I cannot reallly say any more about this right now as I am still researching the article.
I believe that there is a whole can or worms here and all sorts of facts will emerge.
This is not the first demolition in Almeria. 5 other properties were eliminated in December and the Junta state that there are another 11 pending in the Vera area.
Even this could be just the tip of the iceberg.

Homefinder

Jimmck · 01-19-2008, 09:18 PM

What on earth are the Spanish authorities thinking about, are they totally unaware of how much money expats have brought into Spain and the Costas in particular and if these regions are to prosper they need to be attracting more investment. The effect of that photo of Mr. Prior collasped in the garden with his wife trying to comfort him in the UK press will have far reaching effects. Just wait until "Tonight with Trevor MacDonald" does their bit.

The Catral furore was bad enough but I think that this really could set 2008 to be a terrible year for the market in Spain, it has certainly got off to a dreadful start with the exchange rates and now this.

I know it's a cliche but the old saying "Spain is a sunny country full of shady characters" really is hitting home.

I know this does nothing to help but it seems the Spanish authorities are really set on a suicidal mission.

Jim
Costasales.com

Homefinder · 01-20-2008, 01:11 AM

Well written Jim!

Quite possibly the Spanish Government realise that they can't win this hand, have decided to throw in their cards, cut the deck and start over.
They may have to pay out a few billions in compensation but people have short memories. The next time round they would have got it right by breaking up the town halls revolt and demolishing all the illegal buildings.
The Regional Government of Andalusia has provided a report to the European Parliment saying that it was not their fault and pointing ourt to the Priors that they can sue the Vera Town hall for compensation.

The Catral issue has still not been concluded. If all of the illegal buildings cannot be legalised there will be some demolitions there as well because they can't be seen to be knocking houses down in Almeria and let Alicante get away with it.

RIP Spanish Real Estate.

Homefinder

Almeria Property Place · 01-24-2008, 12:00 PM

hi all,
the supposed story is that the licence was issued legally at the time,by vera, but during the licence granting time the Junta had changed the laws and are claiming that under the new regulations that the licence was granted ilegally as the full licence wasnt totally completed before the new laws came into place, if it had have been 100% completed before the change then there would have been no problem!!
Sounds like another "jobsworth" to me, or is there more to this... I also heard that the new AVI line was running through that particular area!! do we have a new conspiracy theory here?? the stories that are circulating here in almeria are of possible corruption, well that's something new for Spain isn't it??
one thing is for sure it doesn't help us at all!!
will keep you posted as i hear more

Jeremy

Homefinder · 01-24-2008, 03:34 PM

I am not sure that Jeremy is right about completing the building before the law change.
To my best knowlege and belief the granting of building liceses on rural land has ALWAYS been conditional to the building being destined for agricultural purposes - making viviendas illegal!
Another point here is that there is another law which prevents the demolition if not detected within 4 years but I'm not sure how that one works.
The only way to resolve such irregularities is for the Town Hall to change the PGOU so that the area affected comes within the Casco Urbano.
This is what they are trying to do in Cartral (Alicante) and in Marbella - In order to avoid as many demolitions as possible!

I have written an article about illegal building in Spain which explains the situation in detail.

I have also provided an English translation of the report issued by Region Government of Andalusia to the European Parliment about the Vera (Almeria) demolition.
The report is extremely enlightening, if you believe it, because the Regional Government says that THEY demolished the house.
The court ordered Vera Town Hall to do it and they refused THREE times. Finally the court ordered the Junta to do it.
However, it did not even end there as the Priors sent a fax refusing access to their property.
The court then ordered the Junta to enter the property in order to execute the demolition order but, when they arrived, it was still full of the owners furniture and personal belongings.
The demolition was delayed whilst the house was emptied and proceeded at 15:00 on 9th January.
Mr Prior, who suffers from a heart condition, collapsed and an ambulance was called. Fortunately he was later discharged.
The town Hall of Vera has provided a house for the Priors "for as long as they need it".
The report by the Junta to the European Parliment informs that the Priors could sue the Town hall for damages.
The court filed a dununcia with the public prosecutor for contempt and disobedience.

Can anyone imagine what the Priors went through on that day?
Their home in Vera probably represented the baulk of their life savings and, witnessing it's destruction must have been like watching the execution of a friend or relative.

There have already been other demolitions of illegal buildings and there could be more to follow.

Homefinder