Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Times of London 2.10.5
End of the dream as Spaniards pull down expat homes
From Edward Owen in Madrid
DOZENS of British families living in Spain are to have their homes demolished after being lured into buying houses that were built illegally. At least 20 British families expect to lose their homes and their life savings, and many more are also at risk. They say that they are the victims of fraudulent developers who have taken advantage of lax planning laws to produce thousands of illegal "dream homes" for credulous North Europeans. The increasing demand among Britons for second and retirement homes in Spain has helped to fuel an epidemic of illegal construction on the Costas. In Alicante province alone, where the British victims of the latest alleged fraud live, there are 150,000 illegally built houses, according to the province's territory department. The land is designated rustic land and therefore not for construction, but developers have continued to build without attempting to get planning permission, which would never be granted. The Britons bought into the promises made by the Prever 2002 project, which is run by Belgians in La Marina, Elche, south of Alicante. A typical advertisement for Prever 2002 on The Villa Finder.com website, run from Bristol, still hawks "luxury villas in dream locactions [sic] close to the sea". By accepting the developers' own lawyers, rather than hiring independent legal experts, buyers were prevented from learning that the development was illegal. Lynn and Robert Mail are expecting the bulldozers at their £200,000 home any day now. "Last week Elche council told me they were coming to demolish our home," Mrs Mail, 45, from Hammerwich, Staffordshire, told The Times. "Mylawyer says that really it's too late to save everything we have. There are another 19 British families here who expect the worst. We are all worried sick." Mrs Mail, a former residential care assistant, and her husband Robert, 53, who was general manager of a Birmingham metal company, moved with their daughter Michaela, 13, to the new development last year. "We had been impressed by what English people in the first phase had said. Last year we moved in and we were very happy, with our daughter at a local school and my husband in part-time work. Then suddenly in October 2004, Prever 2002 said we would have to make our own legal arrangements concerning a problem with the local council in Elche. "This summer the council told us all our villas had been built illegally and would be demolished without compensation. We sold up to come here and now we'll have to start again. At our age, how can we?" Another couple received their demolition order just two months after they took possession of their home in March 2004. Dick, 62, a former company director from Lancashire advised by his lawyer not to give his full name, said: "Elche council could have stopped building from the moment they started digging the foundations but they did not do so until the houses had been finished, we'd moved in and their builder friends had got their money."The Mails' lawyer is appealing to the Ombudsman in Alicante, the provincial capital. The Mails have charged the developers with fraud. A Spanish architect consulted by The Times suspects Prever 2002 could only have spent two years building on land designated as rustic if someone in Elche town hall was either grossly incompetent or corrupt. The Elche councillor responsible for planning infractions, Jose Manuel Sanchez, denies any wrongdoing. "We tried to stop the building from the beginning," Señor Sanchez said. "We took all the legal steps we could. We stuck up red posters saying "Illegal Construction", we taped off the building sites. But the builders repeatedly broke the tapes." He said the only legal action he could take against illegal developers was for making false declarations in order to obtain title deeds for the properties. He denied any friendship between the mayor and the builders and, unprompted, said he had not taken bribes. "The mayor does not have friends like that," he said. Nicolas Hellebuick, director of Prever 2002, said that until recently the company had had "a very good relationship" with the planning department in Elche. "It all went wrong when there was a change of personnel in the Elche planning department," he said.
HOW TO AVOID THE NIGHTMARE
Believe nothing. Check everything. Only pieces of paper, not spoken words, count Use a Spanish lawyer. It should not cost you more than 1 per cent of your purchase price. If you buy off-plan, make sure you see the developer's building permit If you buy in an existing housing estate, you want to see their plan parcial authorised by the town hall and an official council report assuring you a building permit You get these papers from the town hall, not from the estate agent or the seller If you buy a re-sale property from a private seller, you need to see his public title deed You need a nota simple from the property registry. This is an extract of the deed and shows any mortgages or liens against the property Never pay any deposit directly to the seller, only into an escrow account which is blocked until all conditions are satisfied.
DAVID SEARL
End of the dream as Spaniards pull down expat homes
From Edward Owen in Madrid
DOZENS of British families living in Spain are to have their homes demolished after being lured into buying houses that were built illegally. At least 20 British families expect to lose their homes and their life savings, and many more are also at risk. They say that they are the victims of fraudulent developers who have taken advantage of lax planning laws to produce thousands of illegal "dream homes" for credulous North Europeans. The increasing demand among Britons for second and retirement homes in Spain has helped to fuel an epidemic of illegal construction on the Costas. In Alicante province alone, where the British victims of the latest alleged fraud live, there are 150,000 illegally built houses, according to the province's territory department. The land is designated rustic land and therefore not for construction, but developers have continued to build without attempting to get planning permission, which would never be granted. The Britons bought into the promises made by the Prever 2002 project, which is run by Belgians in La Marina, Elche, south of Alicante. A typical advertisement for Prever 2002 on The Villa Finder.com website, run from Bristol, still hawks "luxury villas in dream locactions [sic] close to the sea". By accepting the developers' own lawyers, rather than hiring independent legal experts, buyers were prevented from learning that the development was illegal. Lynn and Robert Mail are expecting the bulldozers at their £200,000 home any day now. "Last week Elche council told me they were coming to demolish our home," Mrs Mail, 45, from Hammerwich, Staffordshire, told The Times. "Mylawyer says that really it's too late to save everything we have. There are another 19 British families here who expect the worst. We are all worried sick." Mrs Mail, a former residential care assistant, and her husband Robert, 53, who was general manager of a Birmingham metal company, moved with their daughter Michaela, 13, to the new development last year. "We had been impressed by what English people in the first phase had said. Last year we moved in and we were very happy, with our daughter at a local school and my husband in part-time work. Then suddenly in October 2004, Prever 2002 said we would have to make our own legal arrangements concerning a problem with the local council in Elche. "This summer the council told us all our villas had been built illegally and would be demolished without compensation. We sold up to come here and now we'll have to start again. At our age, how can we?" Another couple received their demolition order just two months after they took possession of their home in March 2004. Dick, 62, a former company director from Lancashire advised by his lawyer not to give his full name, said: "Elche council could have stopped building from the moment they started digging the foundations but they did not do so until the houses had been finished, we'd moved in and their builder friends had got their money."The Mails' lawyer is appealing to the Ombudsman in Alicante, the provincial capital. The Mails have charged the developers with fraud. A Spanish architect consulted by The Times suspects Prever 2002 could only have spent two years building on land designated as rustic if someone in Elche town hall was either grossly incompetent or corrupt. The Elche councillor responsible for planning infractions, Jose Manuel Sanchez, denies any wrongdoing. "We tried to stop the building from the beginning," Señor Sanchez said. "We took all the legal steps we could. We stuck up red posters saying "Illegal Construction", we taped off the building sites. But the builders repeatedly broke the tapes." He said the only legal action he could take against illegal developers was for making false declarations in order to obtain title deeds for the properties. He denied any friendship between the mayor and the builders and, unprompted, said he had not taken bribes. "The mayor does not have friends like that," he said. Nicolas Hellebuick, director of Prever 2002, said that until recently the company had had "a very good relationship" with the planning department in Elche. "It all went wrong when there was a change of personnel in the Elche planning department," he said.
HOW TO AVOID THE NIGHTMARE
Believe nothing. Check everything. Only pieces of paper, not spoken words, count Use a Spanish lawyer. It should not cost you more than 1 per cent of your purchase price. If you buy off-plan, make sure you see the developer's building permit If you buy in an existing housing estate, you want to see their plan parcial authorised by the town hall and an official council report assuring you a building permit You get these papers from the town hall, not from the estate agent or the seller If you buy a re-sale property from a private seller, you need to see his public title deed You need a nota simple from the property registry. This is an extract of the deed and shows any mortgages or liens against the property Never pay any deposit directly to the seller, only into an escrow account which is blocked until all conditions are satisfied.
DAVID SEARL
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