Costas land grab fight goes on

4.06.00pm GMT Wed 24th Mar 2010

Ex-pats from the South-West and second home owners in the sun continue to suffer with their homes being bulldozed through an 'interpretation' of Spanish Coastal Law.

Speaking after a meeting of the Petitions Committee in the European Parliament in Brussels which dealt with the matter, Graham Watson MEP, the Liberal Democrat who is regularly contacted by current and former constituents on this issue said:

"Many people are in the same situation. This issue has been going on for years and people have become increasingly desperate."

"Whether they bought their property as an investment, a holiday home or for retirement, European citizens are being faced with the prospect that their property could be taken away from them or their ownership is limited to 30 years. There are serious doubts as to the adequacy of the Spanish government's offers of compensation.

"Although the Coastal Law was passed in 1988 it is now being implemented retroactively and, it seems, quite arbitrarily. For example, one gentleman explained yesterday that the law is now being implemented to cover houses built in the 1960s alongside man-made sea water canals. To me the whole thing offends against everything that is European.

"The Spanish Presidency of the EU has given us a new dynamic for addressing this injustice, and yesterday Liberal Democrat MEPs were able to confront the Spanish Minister present at a meeting here in Brussels. Although not yet positively resolved in the way we would like, at least the case is going to remain open and the Commission has to go away and look at the new position post Lisbon Treaty."

"My advice to potential buyers of properties along the Spanish Costas would be that the law remains unclear, so it is a case of 'buyer beware'."

NOTES:

1. The Spanish land grab issue has arisen in instances where citizens have purchased properties in southern Spain in accordance with local law, after which regional authorities have informed them that any new property must be designed for specific purposes e.g. agricultural use. Home owners are then required to bulldoze their own properties, otherwise the regional government will do so and charge them for the cost

2. The European Parliament resolution of 26 March 2009 on the impact of extensive urbanisation in Spain on individual rights of European citizens, on the environment and on the application of EU law, based upon petitions received (2008/2248(INI))- the Auken Report: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&language=EN&reference=P6-TA-2009-0192