holidays in the Costa Blanca

4:16pm Friday 30th April 2010 in Holiday Information

Bulldozing Ex-pats Homes Will Damages Spains Credibility

A Foreign Office minister has warned Spain that knocking down British expatriates' houses would hurt its economy.

Minister for Europe, Chris Bryant, was speaking yesterday while visiting south-eastern Spain to meet British expatriates who've been told that their homes will be bulldozed after Spanish authorities declare constructions illegal.

Local governments have always issued building licenses for the properties, but these were later nullified following court action brought forward by a higher regional government.

Mr Bryant said: "Everyone I've spoken to in Spain says they want to find a solution but wanting a solution and getting one are two different things.

"The housing market in Spain is not going to recover quickly if pictures of bulldozers knocking down expats' homes are appearing in British newspapers."

"Obviously it's not for the British Government to tell the Spanish what to do. But I'm pushing the message hard at all government levels that I meet here that they have got to put political willpower into these problems, whether it's an amnesty, whether it's a change in law, whatever the solution is that is needed. That is the point I am pushing."

He has spent the last few days in Andalucia, giving advice to expatriates on issues ranging from property rights to health care. He visited the capital of the Costa del Sol, Malaga, the town of Albox, where eight British families are still in the process of fighting demolition orders which were issued to them at the end of last year and the fastest growing town on the Costa Blanca, Torrevieja. Many British people moved out to live in Spain permanently after falling in love with the areas and lifestyle on their holidays in the Costa Blanca and other coastal parts of the country.

John and Muriel Burns, an elderly couple who emigrated to Spain in 2001, were one of the first couples in Albox to receive the demolition orders.

Mr Burns stated that he and his loving wife, Muriel, would chain themselves to the house after hearing that his home would be bulldozed,

"If this building comes down, then we will be underneath it," he said.

My Bryant warned: "People buying property anywhere abroad, not just in Spain, have to take twice as much trouble as they do at home to make sure everything is legal. It is so easy to go to a lawyer because he's cheaper.

"Then later you find out that he wasn't an independent lawyer at all, but was working all the time on behalf of the land developer and you are really stuffed."

So before you jump in head first, take your time not only doing your research on lawyers, but your research on the place you choose, because once you're there, you're staying put.

Say for instance you're looking at the gorgeous resort of Albir in the Costa Blanca, book late deal holidays in the Costa Blanca to keep the cost down and do an in-depth survey to ensure that it's right for you, before you make a big mistake.