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2010-04-16
Marbella Fiasco
The Marbella fiasco
The Marbella fiasco started during the boom of the early part of this century when builders and local officials colluded to avoid planning laws and when the corruption was exposed in 2006 almost 20,000 properties were found to be illegally built. This was widely reported in the Spanish and English speaking expat publications and caused a confidence loss for the Spanish property market.
On 29th January 2010 Marbella’s local authority and the regional planning authorities agreed an amnesty for most of the illegal developments around the Marbella area. This still left a number of developments where UK and Irish investors have property in limbo. Legal action is being taken by some owners and developers but the authorities are retaliating by threatening to demolish the sites, not part of this new amnesty. The issue could continue to put a cloud over the Spanish property market for years to come.
Does this mean that the tale of the Marbella property fiasco will finally come to an end and all those with illegally issued building licences, who have been worriedly waiting to hear whether or not their properties have been legally recognised, will be shortly put out of their misery? It is understood that developers have had to pay compensation to the regional government but the amount is undisclosed. The Marbella local authority had said that only property developers would be expected to pay and that expats who had bought properties in good faith would be exempt. However, the regional government is reported to have said that all owners of the illegal properties would have to pay.
Other news for the Marbella area includes the announcement that Taylor Wimpy is to invest over €8m in a new development in the area. This will provide in excess of 50 homes and is targeted for completion by 2012. Wimpy state they sold a total of 175 new homes on the Costas last year which is why this new development is surprising, when developers and sellers are struggling to find buyers. Is the the first sign of recovery in the Spanish property market.
Recent statistics on property enquiries puts Spain in first place with nearly 20% of enquiries according to a leading property portal’s research. France came second with 14%.
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