Cartagena council may legalise up to 100 illegal builds in Perin, Galifa and Tallante

Illegal builds in Galifa, Perin and Tallante may be legalised via land re-zoning

2010-03-11

Cartagena have announced today that they are working on plans to legalise around 100 properties which have been constructed illegally in the areas of Perin, Galifa and Tallante. 

The Concejal for urban development and the Director General of Patrimonio Natural toured some of the hamlets in the area yesterday to discuss various cases with residents, neighbours associations, local mayors and agricultural unions.

.The area in question, the Sierra de la Muela,  has been a big headache to  the council for several years. 

As the property boom of the last few years took off, many villagers in this area either built themselves weekend or holiday homes, or sold off completed properties and land to ex-pats, both the vendors and agents telling them the houses were legal , when in fact they were not.

Ironically, most of these agents have slipped into obscurity and are no longer trading or accountable for their actions, the onus on the buyer to know, rather than the agent to be honest.

This problem was compounded by the re-classification of land, changing some land from an agricultural classification, to an NUPP classification, which was a high level of wildlife protection, to ZEPA, which is the highest level of protection within Europe, and covers areas which have eagles and rare owls within their boundaries.Much of the area in question falls into this new ZEPA classification.

In ZEPA zones, planning regulations are very strict, and some were caught when classifications changed, the owners selling the land knowing full well that a change was imminent, and the purchasers being blissfully unaware of the impending change which would render their projects illegal.

For example, if a house still has some form of a roof, it can be deemed habitable and reformed, but if the roof has fallen in, then it is classified as a ruin and cannot be reformed.Many old spanish families allowed the rooves to fall in because they were then not liable to pay land tax on the dwelling, but did not change the registration in the catastral, so foreigners would buy a house that appeared to legally be classified as a dwelling, but when applying for licences would discover that they had bought a legal ruin.

Houses can also only be reformed exactly on the original footing, a metre either side or an amplification is illegal.

It's a legal quagmire. 

During the construction boom years, architects openly told ex-pats that although it was illegal to demolish an existing dwelling and construct  a new one, that the normal procedure was to say, "oh dear, we hit the wall with a jcb and it fell down of its' own accord, " and quickly dig a trench, bung in some foundations and put a new wall up before anyone from the council noticed the difference. In some cases the standard procedure was to knock  down half of the house, rebuild that side, then do the other half, all in plain view of the planners.

Other little tricks were to sell land telling ex-pats they could put a mobile home on the land, which many did, unaware that they could put on a mobile home, but NOT on concrete foundations to prevent their homes sinking into the mud, at which point the council would arrive , issue a hefty fine or, as in several of these cases, take the bewildered owners to court.

There are even cases such as the one involving C and D, a local ex-pat couple, who fought for 5 years to get their planning permissions, started the build only once they had all the legal planning and paperwork, then were stopped by the council half way through the build, telling them that their build was illegal. They produced paperwork showing the council that they were building exactly as per the plans, the council said the plans should never have been passed as the design bore no relation to the structure which existed previously,and was larger than it should legally have been, so  stopped the build and took them to court ,the stress of which has left them both with serious health problems, forced to live in rented accommodation in the UK, having every penny of their lifes savings tied up in a project which should have been a retirement dream home, but is now the nightmare which has cost them not only their health, but their comfortable retirement..

And the architect who designed a house that did not comply with the regulations  and pushed through the planning permissions which are now deemed to be illegal?

Well he's OK.

The first part of the case was heard in Cartagena court this week.

In other cases , a high ranking concejal was forced to resign following the divulgence of her husbands involvement in dubious property dealings and allegations that planning was given as favours by those using the restaurant which she co-owns, and although the concejal accused of issuing the permissions has now been cleared of implication, this all  has given the council an impetus to try and resolve some of the cases in this area. 

The scandals relating to property abuse have cost the Spanish economy billions of euros, widespread coverage of the Valencian Land Grab cases, the Almeria demolitions of property, particularly that of the Priors, which is still attracting massive media attention and which resulted in the scolding of Prime Minister Zapatero in the European parliament by a Spanish MEP who said she was ashamed to be Spanish, have all lead to the realization that cases such as this damage tourism, damage Spains reputation and lead to loss of confidence within the ex-pat community.

Spain earns many billions of euros a year through the contributions made to its' economy by ex-pats, and Cartagena council, ever aware of its' reliance on tourism revenue, is keen to resolve the issue of these illegal properties within its' municipality. 

To date the council have not actually demolished any of the buildings which have been condemned by the courts, an act which has lead in turn to investigation of their own responsibilities , the council also being held liable for having allowed the buildings to be constructed in the first place.

 

It is hoped that around 90% of the properties can be "legalized" by enlarging the size of urban hamlets, thus changing the land classification from rural to urban, legalizing most of the existing buildings.

 

Some of these properties are owned by ex-pats, and for them it would be the end of a nightmare in which some have lost everything they own, including their dreams.

And for the council, a sensible solution to end the conflicts in this area which have brought them so much bad press internationally.

 Quite what ANSE, the ecological group who have campaigned endlessly for the demolition of these illegal houses, and indeed were instrumental in the denuncias of some properties will have to say about it doesn't bear thinking about.

Politics!

 

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