Question: Hello,
It has been a dream of mine to buy and live in Spain. It has taken a long time to get my sceptical husband to agree. Then, last night we watched a programe on TV (Selling Homes Abroad) a retired coulpe who have lived in Spain for many years now find that their villa was built by the developer, illegally, and they could lose everything. You can imagine my "sceptical husbands" reaction on hearing this!!!!!
He is also worried about land grab, as am I.
Can you please advise on these issues and lay any concerns to rest?
My son, daughter-in-law and their two sons also want to relocate to Spain. We are very "green" and need as much advise as possible.
Thank you for your time.
Answer: I can certainly understand your husbands reaction to the programme and others like it. There is no denying that there is a problem with the so called “land grab” – which is what it sounds like the programme was about.
The situation with the “Land Grab” is complicated and you could write a book about it, so I am afraid that there isn’t space here to discuss it in great deal, but I will try and explain as briefly as possible.
When a law is introduced in Spain each region will bring that law in in a slightly different way. In the Valencia region the way that a certain law was introduced has allowed greedy developers to abuse the system to their advantage and allows them to build on property that is not theirs.
What should happen is that the owners of all the land get together to vote on whether they are going to build on it or not. In practice the developer manoeuvres themselves so that they have the majority and can outvote the rest of the owners and therefore vote that the land is going to built on.
Having said that, if the land is going to be built on all is still not lost as there are things that you can do;
1. You can lobby the planning department to have the plans overturned – although you have to be quick to do so and still may not be successful.
2. You can sell your property to somebody else. Who would want to buy it? The developer! – although he will only pay the value of rural land
3. Keep the property, pay your share of the construction and take your share of the profits of the construction.
The law in Valencia has been changed and is now better than it used to be, but still doesn’t go far enough.
In summary this is a problem in a certain part of Spain (Valencia), but one which has seen some “exaggerated” reporting in the press and one which does have potential solutions (although admittedly they may not be particularly attractive solutions).
More information on this subject can be obtained from the group set up to lobby against this law – www.abusos-no.org which has loads of useful information on the subject.
If you decide not to buy in the Valencia region because of this please write to the Valencian Government and tell them why you have decided to buy somewhere else.
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