Illegal Villas Spain

Illegal Villas Spain

Information, advice and forums

Here is our scenario !!! We purchased two plots of land on the outskirts of Cartama, through an Estate Agent , used a Solicitor, who spoke good English,whom we trusted to advise us on the Laws in Spain, and were told everything was as it should be, the ground survey was most impressive, and we even got to see the previous work of the builders that built our houses. It was only after the houses had been built,which was approx 7 months after the purchase of the land, that we received the first piece of paperwork informing us that we were going to get a 600 Euro fine, still nobody official told us the dire circumstances that we were in, but it soon become obvious after receiving more paperwork and engaging another Solicitor !!
We have built on Rustico Land,well the builders did, (along with 5 Spanish families , and similar to most stories one of those was a policeman, and 5 British couples )and for one you cannot build on Rustico Land so therefore no licenses were issued , why did the Estate Agent not pick up on this - obviously he did but did not tell us, did the Spanish Builders not ask to look at the license before they built, as they are a reputable firm here in Cartama, and one would think aware of the building regulations, it would appear they were not.
On signing the escritura we were told that the segregation licence would be through soon, we found out after many months of tooing and throwing that it is not possible to get a segregation license, and the land is still in the name of the previous owner! Where does that leave us you wonder, well we can not get a straight answer from anyone, we just have to sit and wait, but wait for what ? surely we can do something to save our homes.
Also on our parcel of land, in June 2005, a house belonging to a young Spanish couple was demolished, we demonstrated but to no avail, they came in the early hours of the morning, giving no one any notice of their intention, with an authentic army of Police, and a bulldozer to flatten this young couples home.
So you can imagine on our parcel of Land we are all living on tender hooks wondering who is going to get the next demolition order, we go to the Town Hall regularly to ask the question, and today we found out that 5 demolition orders have been issued this week .
Who signs the demolition order one asks oneself, but we all know who does dont we ?
In Cartama and Cartama Estacion there are allegedly 3,500 Illegal constructions , who has the power to decide which houses shall be knocked down and which houses shall be left standing, and not necessarily ever going to be made legal..
The story goes on and on , we want this to stop happening to innocent people, am so glad that we found this forum, and hopefully can help each other .
Good luck to you all out there with Illegal Houses,and we understand how it happens , even when you think you have everything covered, those books on buying in Spain take up a whole shelf !!!!! lets hope they find solutions not demolitions.