Marbella demolition started

[Jool]

From Typically Spanish

The unoccupied building is one of 34 in the Golf Rio Real area of Las Chapas

Marbella Town Hall has issued a statement confirming that work to demolish a home built illegally in the municipality at Golf Río Real, by the promoter Naviro Inmobiliaria, has now started.

The building, which is one of 34 at the site, lacks a municipal licence, was unoccupied, and considered impossible to include in the PGOU Urban Plan.

The demolition is being carried out by Naviro to comply with a municipal order passed on September 9 last year and has an estimated cost of 47,500 € which it must pay. Naviro is owned by the Granada businessman, José Ávila Rojas, who is himself indicted in the Malaya corruption case in the town.

The PGOU first showed the plot as green land and then with the revision for public services.

Another building in Lindavista Alta is in the same circumstances.

[katy]

Just window dressing. One was even halted by the previous crooked Mayor. Most are just empty shells. In today's Sur the Junta says that Marbella must demolish 11 as agreed under the new town plan and regrets that Marbella has not acted quicker. All are unfinished structures.

Whilst all the posturing is going on an area of pine forest was being ripped up this week (near Cabopino) and builders flags in place

[Jool]

That is unbelievable......despite the new legislation announced etc the corruption continues quite blatantly. More and more I am thinking of finding another sunny dry place to live rather than here as it is really getting me down, the total lack of honour in business and the bias in the legal system is beyond words, ethics, morals and human decency.

[julian]

where are you off to Jool??

[Lavanda]

EXTREMADURA!!! Sounds like you are at the stage I got to three years ago, Jool.

[Chrissie]

Extremadura is very appealing I must say. I still have Euros in Spain from the sale of my house and am dithering about whether to send them back here to the UK (and make some money on the transfer), or buy again in Spain. By the time I've decided the property prices will have increased again and the £/Euro rate will be unfavourable

[Jool]

I don´t know yet.........its not just Andalucia I don´t trust its the rest of Spain too - are politics and the legal system really so different in Extremadura Lavanda?

[Julie]

They are probably totally different in your part of Almeria to bit too

[frog]

I still have Euros in Spain from the sale of my house and am dithering about whether to send them back here to the UK (and make some money on the transfer), or buy again in Spain. By the time I've decided the property prices will have increased again and the £/Euro rate will be unfavourable

thats the gamble,do you dither or no dither

bhudda,i hate noel edmonds but i like the word dither

[Lavanda]

Hi Jool,
Yes things are different here. Most autonomous regions have different laws and rules and regulations and different levels of paperwork. Here, we are about 50 years behind the CDS in terms of crime; having to lock doors, car doors, etc. We have corruption but that consists of bending the rules and subsidies as regards to EU money - and so no one cares about that much. As far as I can tell locals do not rip off other locals, or foreigners. We also have plenty of work as we live in an area dependent on agriculture. Everyone eats. We do not have the unemployment problems of other areas - yet. Local Ayuntamientos have released urban land plots for housing to keep the builders happy and these plots are being bought up and individual houses are going up, as normal. The whole construction industry (from suppliers, builders, plumbers, electric people to solar power, interior decorators, painters, etc.) is busy, as normal. The recession is, currently, passing us by and that means that people are still happy, comfortable, nice and relaxed.

On the other hand the paperwork here is incomprehensible. As there are so few foreigners we do meet with problems as no one knows what to do with some of our requests. The on-going E106 saga, for instance. I gave up on that thread as none of you will believe what's going on here ...

[katy]

Extremadura has always been known as one of the poorest regions of Spain, what has changed?

Are you an estate agent

[Lavanda]

No, not an estate agent. Extremadura has always been poor in comparison to other areas. People have adapted their lives, wants, aspirations, etc. to a poor economy. A certain amount of contentment can be achieved by living within one's means, I guess. That has not changed. In comparison with regions with soaring unemployment, a collapse in property values, discontented people, rising crime, etc. Extremadura now looks in good shape - wealthy even - by that comparison.

If a person judges a place only on material wealth, how are you all doing in Andalucia now that it's gone for so many people there? Not so nice, I guess?

A five bedroomed, two bathroomed house here might be €100,000 and that might be considered 'poor' by Andalucian standards. However, the people here own their own houses with no mortgages. There's 'poor' and there's 'poor', I guess.

[katy]

Put that way it sounds different but uou indicated that there is plenty of work.

http://www.extremadura24horas.com/juan_ ... 11584.html

I recall the Unions had a large demo there recently and unemployment was about 18%

[Lavanda]

You may be right, Katy. Extremadura is a huge place and I only know my part. I am writing about the area that I live in and what I can see here, within a 250 sq km area. I know that building projects have stopped in both Mérida, the capital, and in Cáceres, the provincial capital. However, this is not endemic. Unemployment might be high right now as it's after the fig and olive harvests but before the tomato one. Seasonal unemployment is up and down in all agriculturally dependent areas. I remember the 'Vale of Evesham' so many years ago ...

[Lavanda]

Oops! I meant 2500 sq km. I can't multiply 50 kms by 50 kms.