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Over 500 people attended the inaugural Leading Property Agents of Spain (LPA) conference on the Costa del Sol last week, which examined the issues surrounding the region’s property market and how best to address these to ensure its sustainability leading up to 2020.

The Mayor of Marbella, Angeles Muñoz, opened the conference in front of a packed function room at the Don Carlos Hotel in Marbella filled with numerous television, print and radio media, local residents and property professionals.

Muñoz acknowledged the problems plaguing the region in the past from corruption at government level through to oversupply and the ill conceived planning of certain developments, however she said that her administration would work to correct these problems by taking a more consultative approach with residents and industry in the future.

“I am very optimistic about the economic future of the Costa del Sol, it is just a question of getting our assets in order,” she told the audience. “We will be providing support and welcoming with open arms the suggestions that the industry have for the region. A lot of people are concerned with the public services and we want to ensure that future developments are fluid with the transport infrastructure and that every new project improves the day to day life on the Costa del Sol.

“A lot of work needs to be done for this to happen and we need to be untied on this front.Marbella is a magnificent city that, despite everything, has maintained its brand. The city needs consolidation and I would like to ask you to defend Marbella as the town council works to improve the region. I am convinced that we have been through this difficult period and will recover.”

Felipe Martinez de Marmol, from solicitors Martinez-Echevarria Perez & Ferrero Abogados, explained in further detail the regulations surrounding Decree 218, passed in 2005, which requires all agencies selling property on the Costa del Sol to have a Documento Informativo Abreviado (DIA) and a Ficha Informativa (FI) - similar to the UK’s Home Information Packs (HIPS). De Marmol believes the need to be compliant with the Decree is becoming increasingly important as officials from local government have been conducting snap inspections of offices on the Costa del Sol recently. He added that buyers needed to be taught to ask for these documents, as well as agents providing them.

Javier Ledesma, President of AEGI, the Spanish estate agents association, who spoke about the future of the area’s property market leading up to 2020, acknowledged the concerns shared by several members of the audience surrounding Decree 218, however said it was a case of recognising it was there to stay and making sure individual firms were compliant.

“After two years we still haven’t taken Decree 218 seriously. While we might not agree with certain aspects of it, we must follow it. It is the law. Some 67% of real estate offices still don’t provide the mandatory information required by the executive order published in 2005 and we are in April 2008. People didn’t believe it before and thought it was a gimmick but it is not and we are in a delicate situation.”

Other speakers examined issues surrounding the Costa del Sol's property market, such as concerns over its environmental sustainability, the best way to promote residential tourism and more detail about the Marbella PGOU plan.

The LPA has another conference that will examine these and other issues, in more detail, later this year.

Article from Overseas Property Professional