Dream homes on Spanish coast turn into a nightmare
Thousands told their properties are sitting on state land and therefore don't belong to them
VALENCIA - MILLIONS of Europeans fear their dream of owning property on the Spanish coast will become a nightmare, as Spain starts to get tough in enforcing a much-neglected 1988 law.
Spain, the world's No. 2 tourism destination, is the most popular choice for northern Europeans seeking a second home, with British residents alone believed to number nearly a million.
But many of them are now finding themselves falling foul of a widely ignored law classifying the strip of land on the coast as public domain, as the Socialist government starts telling thousands of house and apartment owners their properties do not really belong to them.
'Out of the blue we've been told the house we have owned for more than 30 years is no longer ours,' said retired British electronics engineer Clifford Carter, 59, who lives with his Spanish wife in La Casbah, a beach-side complex in eastern Spain.
'The house was built legally, but now they say we can only live here until we die but can't sell the house or leave it to our children.'
Along the Spanish coast, a protest group formed in January claims it already represents 20,000 people, and says up to half a million others - apartment and villa owners and restaurant and hotel proprietors - could be affected.
'This is the single biggest assault on private property we have seen in the recent history of Spain,' said group spokesman Jose Ortega, who is also a lawyer for many of those affected.
He says that at best, owners are being given 60-year concessions to live on the property or operate businesses, while others are threatened outright with demolition.
The government says the claims are exaggerated but insists the coast has to be saved.
'We're taking the law seriously,' said the Environment Ministry's coastal department director Jose Fernandez.
'Previous governments didn't think it was important, while we have made it a priority.'
The government is finishing the process of drawing the line designating what is state- owned and cannot contain private property along Spain's 10,000km coastline, with many people finding themselves on the wrong side.
And it is not just affecting individuals. The massive five-star Hotel Sidi lies a stone's throw from the shoreline, and last December its owners were told it was built on dune land protected by the 1988 law and must go.
They are being offered a 60-year operating concession, after which the hotel falls into the hands of the state.
'We're afraid that they'll take away the property. It was built legally with all the papers,' said Mr Roger Zimmermann, the hotel's Swiss managing director.
PRECARIOUS PERCH: Although buildings like this apartment block south of Valencia were built legally, owners are now given leases or threatened with demolition. -- PHOTO: AP
EastLiving.com.sg
Contact Stuart Chng: (65) 9691 9907
Email: stuart.chng@eastliving.com.sg
EastLiving - Singapore Property and Real Estate DB
No comments:
Post a Comment