Lenox says on his blog (link) that:
I received an anonymous five-page letter today in English entitled: ‘When will the truth be told about the Prior’s and the illegality of their house in Vera?’ adding ‘Will your newspaper continue to print incorrect facts?‘ (sic).
The letter (posted in Garrucha by ‘a fed up Brit’) takes the view that the Priors knew all about their house being illegal, but carried on regardless and that the huge media frenzy following their house being demolished has put home prices in Almería down into the doldrums – far worse than in other Spanish property resorts.
Well, I’m more inclined to blame the fact that you brought an overpriced badly built apartment in a previously nice area that will, if the Junta gets its way, will shortly be an inner city ghetto of a city the size of Seville. But hey. If you want to blame the Priors (and, while I don’t disagree that they have been treated as pawns by the politicians, by staying outside the system they prevented themselves from appealing at the correct moment) for your bad investment, go ahead.
But good news beckons!
Fotocasa.es, the online estate agency, has an interesting graph of average prices in Almeria (this is the provincial average of closed sale prices via their network):
As you can see, in January the average house price of m2 in Almeria WENT UP BY 6€!!! Almeria is the 3rd strongest province in Spain, with an increase of 0,2% in monthly prices, after Leon (0,8%) and Murcia (0,21%). Have we hit the bottom of the market? Are the people who didn’t buy in the last 6 months finally deciding that prices won’t drop any further and are buying? Are government bailouts starting to take effect? Should I take the plunge and buy a house??????? Stay tuned!
PS- Just be glad you aren’t in Ourense. House prices dropped by 7,5% last month. Must be the nationalists, eh Colin?
I wish that people who do not know the facts about our case would stop printing such ……..
When we bought our plot in June 2002 the local Mayor granted our reputable Spanish builder a building license which he was entitled to do at that time. Our house was built, we received all the necessary paperwork incuding first habitation etc. We paid all our taxes, and, we did not pay ‘black money’ unlike most We first heard their was a problem in May 2006. Before this we did not know there was anything wrong. Why would we, surrounded as we are by other houses all with the same criteria. We did not know our case had been heard IN A SECRET COURT HEARING. Only the Mayor of Vera and the Junta De Andalucia were present. We immediately appealed (after hiring two Madrid based Barristers) to the Constitutional Court in Madrid to have the demolition stopped. Three separate petitions have been placed before this Court, only the first claim to have the demolition stopped has been heard so far (6 months after the house was demolished) the other two are still going ahead.
It is worth stating at this point that we sat on our verandah and watched ten more houses being built on the same area of land. They have not been demolished or are under threat. How can 99 houses on rustic land be OK and one house be illegal. Will the Junta demolish the other 99. I hope not, especially as we had all our documents and some of these houses do not even have building licenses. If we are finding compensation difficult to get how will they?
Every Spanish person in the street knows this whole saga is political, why are the English finding it so hard to grasp?
Helen Prior
I agree with you 100% Helen. But the sad situation is that the average Brit is completely unaware of the way local and regional politics work in Spain. And most could not, frankly, care less – they see it as a difficult subject that does not impinge upon their cosy lives.
And hearing you say that “it was politics that cost us our house” is a phrase that the average Brit expat is unable to comprehend. It is simply so far out of their personal experience and knowledge that it sounds like an excuse or a rant – not the harsh truth that it is.
Your battle is not only with the State – it is with the Spanish political experience, and the indifference of the British public.
The average Spaniard in the area -and believe me, I have spoken with many about your case over a few beers- have nothing for sympathy for you and your husband. But they also shrug, and say that locals have also been affected by the same way, and that no one person is stronger than PSOE.
The harsh reality is that we cannot vote here, we have no say or vote, and unless we can organise a “vote by proxy” with our spending euros the far off politicians in Almeria city and Seville will continue to ignore the expat.
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