Foreign investors in andalucia facing housing demolitions says auan

Buyers in the Andalucian town of Albox, Spain, have been given “the devastating news that the courts have again decided that they must face the bulldozers despite the fact that their home was constructed with planning permission from the local council in 2002 and possesses all of its necessary paperwork,” John Hillen of local protest group AUAN told OPP this week.

The news comes as independent figures reveal that January 2012 was the worst the country’s month for home sales since the Spanish housing crisis started four years ago.

The demolition order first appear in 2010 after police served notice that their homes were to be bulldozed after their construction was declared illegal. But, says Hillen, “having overturned the demolition orders on the basis that they had not been informed of the proceedings, the homeowners vowed to fight on. Since then they have engaged in a protracted and expensive court battle to try and defend their homes.”

According to AUAN, “lawyers acting for the regional government (the Junta de Andalucía) successfully argued that the property risked provoking an urban nucleus. The revocation of the building licence was upheld and the retired couple were ordered to pay costs. They are now faced with the prospect of an expensive appeal.”

Source: OPP.org.uk