Jan's Update

From Valencia Life 29.10.05
A DAMAGING REPORT
A recent report by the holding group for all the tourist companies in Spain has found that the massive building programme that is currently being undertaken in the Valencian Community, under which thousands of new homes are created, is completely unsustainable, both from an economic and an environmental point of view. The report adds that the average foreign tourist on the Costa Blanca, in an hotel, or in a camping site or legally renting a flat spends on average 114 Euros a day - 123% more than aResidential tourist. The report also adds that the Mediterranean coast of Spain after 40 years of almost uncontrolled expansion and building is heading straight for the same sort of crisis that hit France and Italy in the 60s and 70s. The report found that the Valencian Community headed the autonomies with the most apartments that were rented without undergoing the right legal procedures. It estimated that 87% of the apartments that are rented are not under the control or supervision of the Valencian Government that appears powerless to do anything about the situation that has been growing since the 90s. In another part of its findings, the report revealed that there were 50 municipalities that had building plans that were close to or above the largest cities in Spain, and added: "The financial stability of the various Town Halls should be established in another way rather than to be based on a building programme and the rates these new buildings will becharged."

Meanwhile, at a well-attended Town Hall meeting in Calpe yesterday, Mayor Javier Morato explained that the creation of 2,200 dwellings around the Salt Flats in buildings 50 metres high would not affect the perimeter around the Flats. However, the words of the mayor, who was accompanied by Municipal Architect Juan Antonio Revert did not convince either the Socialists or the Calpe Environmental collective ACEC, who issued a statement to the effect that the protection offered to the Flats by the Town Hall was not a guarantee that something could not happen tomorrow, and called for the Salt Flats to be named as a Natural Park

Valencia Life 20.10.5
LRAU REFORM: STILL CAUSING CONTROVERSY
With the new Valencian Land laws just weeks away from being debated in theValencian Parliament, both the Socialists and the Partido Popular yesterday gave press conferences at exactly the same time to outline their own plans for the reforms. The Socialists presented an alternative text to the one proposed by Rafael Blasco, the Conseller for the Territory. Which the PP termed 'a bad copy of the LRAU'. The PP for its part, presented its proposals that would amend 109 points in the new law in order to make it conform to the rulings of the European Union. Meanwhile, a closer look at the Socialist proposals has revealed that twelve Town Halls ruled by the Socialists inside the Valencian Community have already undertaken actions that do not conform to the Socialist proposals.

LAND GRAB REPORT DISAPPOINTMENT
Leaked document not tough enough
By Tom Cain
Charles Svoboda, the president of Abusos Urbanísticos No (AUN), has said the eagerly awaited report into land grab abuses in the Valencia region preparedby EU commissioner Janelly Fourtou does not go far enough in its condemnation of the contencious LRAU land law. Mr Svoboda said that although the document has some tough language in it, rather than being a hard-hitting report into the thousands of cases of landgrab abuses, the document appears to be more of a proposed resolution. He was particularly concerned over the fact that the findings of the visit were meant to be kept secret until they were presented to the petitions committee, yet by as early as Wednesday last week they were leaked to the press and were available, in French, on the EU parliament's website.
BRUSSELS TO TAKE ACTION
The European Commission has stated that while it applauds the Valencia government for introducing a new land law, it does not consider the LUV to be sufficiently robust and it needs more work on it in order to comply fully with EU regulations. The commission repeated that it sent a letter to the Spanish government several months ago informing it that legal proceedings have been started over the way procurement contracts for certain development projects have been awarded by some councils in the Valencia Region using the LRAU land law to break EU rules governing the awarding of public contracts. Rafael Blasco, the head of the regional housing and territories council, announced on Wednesday that the new LUV land law would include all of the recommendations from Brussels and that the time frame for proposing amendments to it has been extended to October 18. Sr Blasco's announcement has been met with some scepticism with many people expecting the Valencia government to shrug off the petitions committee's findings and carry on as normal with the LRAU and its substitute law theLUV. Following the leaking of the document, the head of the Socialist Party inValencia, Jaun Ignasi Pla, reiterated that there would be no agreement between the socialists and the Partido Popular over the new LUV land law bill that is soon to be debated. He added that the decision was irrevocable. As Costa Blanca News went to press the newspaper received a copy of the changes which MEP Michael Cashman is proposing the Valencia government make to the new LUV law which will replace the notorious LRAU. Mr Cashman insisted that the document, which he hopes will serve as a preamble to the law, is currently only in draft form and will have to be reworded. MEPs will be studying the draft document this week. It states: This law shall be without prejudice to the rights and obligations arising out of national, European and international treaties and agreements. Where a 'plan' or 'urbanisation' is proposed it shall be published for one year during which submissions, objections and proposals may be made to the municipal authority or the 'protectate'. A protectate shall be a body made up of representatives of the local community, the construction industry, and a representative of the mayor's office. At the end of the one year period if over 50% of landowners object to the plan or urbanisation then it shall be deemed rejected. No further plan maybe submitted within 5 years from the date of rejection unless the submission is from more than 50% of the landowners. When a plan or urbanisation is accepted then landowners shall become shareholders of the development company in proportion to the amount of land ceded to the development. Infrastructure costs of the plan or urbanisation shall be subject to shareholder scrutiny and agreement. Where a landowner objects to the development or is unable to pay infrastructure costs he shall be compensated in the following way: He shall receive a percentage of the development project in proportion to the land ceded He shall be paid the market rate for "urbanized" land which he has to cede. Consolidated houses shall not be a part of any development unless agreed inadvance by the owner. Furthermore they shall not be expected to cede land norcontribute to any infrastructure costs unless prior agreement is give. There must be objective criteria for the "UTILIDAD PUBLICA". A compensation package shall be constructed which shall accrue contributions pre tax from any current or ongoing development. All participants in the developments shall be required to contribute. A special panel to assess claims of those past victims of abuse of the LRAU shall be constituted. It shall consist of representatives of the construction industry, the developers, local and regional politicians and representatives of the "victims". Any monies accrued within the compensation fund which remain unspent within three years of the completion of a development may be givento the municipality for the benefit of the local community. tomcain@costablancanews.com

Charles and Lisa Svoboda recently visited Brussels to take part in the discussion concerning the Valencian land problems by the European Parliament - Fo a report on what happened, please see President´s Blog.

from Valencia Life.
MORE PROPOSALS PRESENTED
It has been revealed that as the new urbanizing law - better known as LUV -goes to be debated in the Valencian Parliament, the various political parties have presented close to 800 amendments. 360 of these have come from EU and its allies, whilst 200 have come from the Socialists and 258 have come from the Partido Popular. PP spokesman Rafael Maluenda added that these amendments would probably increase following the demands made by theEuropean Union for alterations to the LUV.

A British TV company have recently advertised in the Costa Blanca News for people to contact them with their stories if they are having difficulty with, or trying to sell, their property in Spain. If you are willing to relate your story please contact housetrapped@richochet.co.uk

Valencia Life: 14.10.05
BLASCO DELAYS PASSAGE OF LUV
Rafael Blasco, the Conseller for the Territory, yesterday stated that the time would be extended for those who wanted to present an official stance against the new Valencian Land Law, better known as LUV. The Conseller added that the time had been extended specifically to accommodate the recommendations made by the European Union. It has also been confirmed that the Conselleria has received an official letter from the European Union over the land laws, and that it intended to answer next week - one month prior to the deadline set by the EU Regulations. The Conseller added that he understood that the European Union had 'appreciated' that it was necessary to do away with the LRAU that had been in existence since 1994 and that the new Law was the result of a lot of hard work and investigation by the actual Government of the Valencian Community.
Meanwhile, a statement from the European parliament added that members are considering a proposed draft of the preamble for the LUV, which has been circulated by Michael Cashman, who headed the fact-finding mission last June to the Valencian Community.

THE STATE STEPS IN
The Coastal Department of the Madrid Government announced yesterday that it was stepping in to try and save some of the coastline of the Valencian Community from further building. According to Vicente Martinez Castello, the Coastal Director for Alicante, the state would have the right to step in should any owner of any beachfront property put it up for sale. However, he added that his department would not seek to dislodge anyone from their homes, merely try and protect the coast by possibly intervening or buying properties.
from Valencia Life 14.10.05

Re: National Law: Ley 3/1995 de 23 demarzo, de Vias Pecuarias.
There are some intriguing possibilities in this law that could be used to block the rapacious plans to cover the entire Valencian coastal area with cement. Citing the law, the courts have found in favour of some protesters on the grounds that the Ley de Vias Pecuarias protects their property . This is key, since this may provide another a chance to appeal against some development schemes on additional grounds. The law (cited above) does not seem to be under challenge locally, regionally, or at the higher levels. " Vias pecuarias " relates to paths used historically by cattle, sheep , etc. The point is that they need to beprotected , and if they aren'tquiite heavy fines can be applied. The main thing is to find out if there are any such paths in a given area. There is supposed to be a national list as well as ones in the various regions. The town hall is required to have a list of these . CVS

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

World News The Times June 08, 2005
Costa Britons face million new homes on their doorstep By David Sharrock
ONE million new homes and 90 golf courses are expected to be built on the Costa Blanca, Britain's favourite Spanish region for holidaymakers and second home-buyers, under massive expansion plans over the next decade. The developments are likely to affect even more British homeowners, thousands of whom have already fallen victim to a controversial "land-grab"law that property developers are using to buy up land for building. The environment and water resources of the western Mediterranean coast will also come under unprecedented pressure. Government bodies in Valencia have just released figures that reveal the extent of construction being planned over the next ten years. The plans reflect the demand for accommodation by Northern Europeans wanting a holiday home. However, an estimated half a million homes in the region already lie vacant for the majority of the year. The supply of prime coastal real estate has almost been exhausted, so developers are turning their attention inland. One of the developments is slated for Sanet I Els Negrals, north of Alicante, where Francisco Roig, a Valencian entrepreneur, plans to build a golf course with 1,500 houses on five million square metres of land. But whether non- Spaniards will continue to buy homes on the Costa Blanca is in doubt because of the Urban Development Activity Act (LRAU). More than 15,000 home- owners - the majority of whom are British - have been affected by the law, introduced by the Valencian regional government in1994. It allows land and property to be seized for development, its owners paid only derisory compensation and then charged for "infrastructure improvements". The LRAU has been criticised by the European Commission for breaching European property laws and human rights. The commission has threatened sanctions and the suspension of subsidies. A second mission in 12 months to Valencia to study the problem has just been completed by the Petitions Commission of the European Parliament. Charles Svoboda is president of a group of mainly expatriate Valencian homeowners that has become a thorn in the side of the Valencian government. The retired Canadian diplomat's rural home in Benissa is under threat from plans to build a housing complex. The law was allegedly introduced to prevent speculators from sitting on plots of land waiting for its value to rise and preventing the construction of low-cost housing. However, developers only need to buy more than 50 per cent of an area zoned for development and present their plans to the local town hall. In many cases the town halls retrospectively change the land's status without the knowledge of owners of rural homes, leaving them at the mercy of the developers. Stung by Mr Svoboda's success and the growing concerns of the EuropeanCommission, the Valencian government has proposed reforms to the LRAU. Yet none of the 15,000 people already affected would be given a reprieve, since development plans already approved will still go ahead.
FEELING THE HEAT
More than 600,000 Britons live in Spain
40 per cent of properties on Valencia's costas owned by Britons
15,000 owners have suffered from urban development "land grab"
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(note. It is not just British affected, all nationalities are caught in the land grab and the number of families suffering grows daily !!!)

FIRST THE GOOD NEWS
From Valencia Life 1.10.05
SALINAS PROTECTED
The Calpe Salt Flats - Salinas - received a breath of fresh air earlier this week when the Madrid Parliament approved declaring them a protected area, meaning in effect that no buildings may be erected within 100 metres. According to the Socialist members of the Town Council, this in effect meansthat the current plans to build at least 2,200 homes in apartment blocks of50 storeys high, must all be stopped as they are too close to the Salinas.

Now for the not so good news as obviously this will mean people losing land.
ONE SATISFIED MAYOR
Juan Bautista Rosello, the Mayor of Benissa yesterday voiced his 'delight and satisfaction' that a by-pass for his municipality had been included in next years budget by the Socialist Government in Madrid. He added that the necessary expropriations had not yet been undertaken, but that in all probability the bypass would be reached via the access road to the AP-7 motorway, and emerge in a roundabout to be created where the road to Jalon reaches the N-332 main road.