The media is a wonderful thing and I’m sure it is!
It has helped to create this global village and bring us all a little closer together and as we all know, it’s only the bad news that hits the headlines. So if we take Spain as an example, we have seen some fairly depressing reading in the UK press with headlines that quite rightly frighten even the strongest types with words like demolition, corruption, illegal builds, land grab, bureaucracy etc.etc. For those of us already living here we often wonder if it’s another conspiracy in an attempt to scare the Brits into staying at home in nice safe, crime free, have another cup of tea, Britain!
I live and work (cos I am in the property biz) near Alicante and I decided to write this after reading in the local press a headline stating that a local Town Hall had issued notices to some residents stating that in order to obtain their habitation licences, the residents would have to demolish all of the extensions that they had built onto their homes and without planning permission. There is now a bit of a “to do” because obviously no one wants to pull down their conservatory or enclosed porch etc, do they? But why I ask, did they think they could do it in the first place because they certainly would not have even attempted to lay a brick in the UK without permission?
This seems like trivia compared with other horror stories that we read about and I personally blame some corrupt lawyers, builders, property agents and general trades people but most of all the town halls and the ordinary citizen themselves.
Town Halls have allowed illegal properties to be built and have decided to turn a blind eye. Presumably to support the local builders who may or may not be related to the powers that be. They may wish quite genuinely to increase prosperity in the local area because the Brits who buy these properties, and they are in the majority, will spend their money locally. However, when the proverbial hits the fan it’s the illegal homes and their owners who have to wait for the axe to fall. My argument is this, how come they will notice the pallet of bricks you have just had delivered outside your gate and send in the police to check if you have a licence for whatever it is you plan to do with those bricks or be issued with a fine! However, they fail to notice the house that was built in the country, the urbanisation of 50, hundreds if not thousands of houses that are built in advance of licenses being issued. We as a company have had many approaches from promoters to visit their developments and start to market their properties as hundreds have been sold already what are we waiting for? When we ask if the development is legal they say don’t worry we have our own lawyers and everything will be alright, this is the way we do it in Spain, you English just don’t understand.
Yeah right and when our clients are having problems in the future with the town halls, with the water and electric companies where will you be then? Our advice is to be careful and when you ask – Are they legal? Do not trust it when you are told, don’t worry they will be, because that means they are not legal now and therefore may never be!
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