twitter: 19th 8.30am still no phone or Internet. Will be in marina later so will spend couple hours catching up. Orla still not 100%

Expats And Demolitions

January 28th, 2008 - Sandra Marshall

Today I read yet another article, about the dreadful situation some British expats are in, with their homes threatened with demolition due to illegal building which they knew nothing about. This follows on from previous posts the last of which was:

Expat Homes Threatened

What makes this sad story all the more interesting to me, is that it is happening right here in Andalucia, in Vera not far from Almeria. One villa has already been demolished, leaving the owners living in a caravan on the site, and 4 other homes in the same development have demolition orders on them. This is happening after the regional government of Andalucia revoked what it considered to be an illegal building licence which had been issued by the local mayor.

The first demolition “caused shock waves across the Spanish costas where many British expatriates have homes that have now been declared illegal.” and protests are breaking out.

“Hundreds of British expatriates have taken to the streets in the small coastal town of Vera in southern Spain to challenge the Spanish government over plans to demolish their homes.”

This is a definite war between regional and local governments that the British expats have innocently got caught up in:

“In 2006 Antonio Vercher, the official in charge of protecting Spain’s environment, ordered prosecutors throughout the country to be relentless in pursuing demolition orders and said that some 10,000 properties had been earmarked for destruction.” Meanwhile locally “Paco Vazquez, the head of planning at Vera Town council, said everything was being done to persuade the regional authorities not to pursue further demolition orders but to seek other solutions to problem developments.”

He believes that the demolitions are an injustice and local people support this view. They are also concerned that the problem may affect some Spanish properties, and about the message this situation is giving out to would be investors and the effect it may have on the struggling Spanish economy if the British decide to spend their money elsewhere. What a mess!

For more comment click below:

Full Article

About Almerimar

Almerimar is located in the region of Andalucia, Spain. The nearest airport is 30km away in Almeria. Other airports that are within 3 hours include Malaga, Murcia, Granada, and Alicanti. Other holiday resorts in the region include Mojacar , Aguadulce and Roquetas de Mar

Almerimar is a great place to live as an expat amongst the expats, or to work amongst the Spanish. There are all kinds of properties including villas, apartments and town houses for rent or sale. It is a very traditional part of Spain, with traditional Spanish foods so if you plan to travel to Spain either to look for jobs, for your company to trade with companies in Spain, or to learn Spanish and enjoy the Spanish weather then come and take a look.

If you are interested in purchasing a property in Almerimar please visit our sponsor Mirror of the Sun

Almerimar is also one of the largest marinas in Spain with over 2,000 births and excellent boatyard facilities.


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This entry was posted on Monday, January 28th, 2008 at 5:04 pm and is filed under Property in Spain. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.



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One Response to “Expats And Demolitions”

  1. Chris Marshall Says:

    Would be really interested to hear a Spanish perspective on this …… Alberto :-)

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