Spanish property owners fight to stop Development
September 13th, 2006
Before buying any new apartment or town house being built in the Manilva, Cost Del Sol Los Hidalgos development, “please be aware that you could be adversely affected if the courts find in favour of this community’s legal actions”.
This is the warning posted on a new website set up by the Hidalgos owners association, the Los Hidalgos Community of Owners.
Los Hidalgos is a fast growing, mixed development of villas, town houses and apartments, with a commercial centre nearing completion. The community wants the building licences revoked, and the ultimate sanction could be an order for demolition of properties, it warns. “Purchasers may not be able to reclaim their money”.
According to Spain’s chief prosecutor, people who buy in the knowledge or strong suspicion that a property is illegally built will not be entitled to compensation.
And last July a count accepted 146 apartments had been built in “Las Bouganvillas”, where only 22 villas had been given outline permission. The court gave Manilva Council six days to explain why this charge should not go to trial.
“Delays caused by a severe workload backlog at the Courts means that no further information is yet available”, said the website.
The three existing Pueblos and individual villas at Los Hidalgos are not affected by the court actions. The projects being challenged by The Community of Owners are El Diamonte, consisting of 16 town houses, Los Bouganvillas, and Jardines de la Duquesa, comprising 166 apartments. Further action is to start soon against Royal Vinedos del Mar, a development of 200 apartments by Royal Marbella Estates.
The direct action is being taken by the community following a catalogue of unresolved complaints against the builders including sewage ending up on the beach, cut off street lights, damage to roads and faulty water connections.
It says that over the last four years it has had to put up with building works on construction of “a great many apartments and some town houses” being built on land designated for villas.
A delegation of EU Members of the European Parliament continued their investigation in the Valencia ‘land grab’ laws by visiting 16 Spanish towns this week, including nine in Alicante province.
The Alicante association, Veïns de Parcent, said the visit is the third fact finding mission dealing with Spanish land law and urban development projects conducted by the Petitions Committee. It was finally authorised by the Bureau of the European Parliament in mid February.
To emphasise the importance of the visit the two most senior members of the Committee are participating in it. Based on the large and growing number of petitions that the Committee on Petitions receives from Spain, members will be meeting with national, regional and local authorities which, each, have a responsibility for the problems faced by petitioners as well as for the solutions which must be found. Failure to find solutions cannot fail to have a negative impact on public confidence in the building of large “urban” infrastructure projects which, in many cases, undermine the rights of European citizens – including of course Spanish citizens, to their legitimately acquired private property.
The visits included a trip to Albox, in Almeria where an estimated 6,000 property owners – many British – could lose their properties. They say they were not told that their properties were build on land classified as rural.
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