Property policies

Benitachell February 7 There is much difference between ALL EU states, in particular relating (In Spain) to property legal processes and legalised money grabbing by the state with each region having its own continuously changing property policies.

A good example is the Valencia region where apparently there are more than 500,000 illegal homes, and remember, it’s only illegal if the authorities say it’s illegal.

We bought a 15 year old house in Benitachell 9 years ago when we appointed a solicitor and went through all proper process.

We are now told there were several ‘infractions’ outstanding when we bought the property.

One would think that, as part of the process and cost of the notary, an ‘infraction’ audit of the property would be part of the completion of sale, but no, that’s far too simple and obvious.

We recently added a new bathroom simply replacing the old one and this is another ‘infraction’.

In the UK it would be called ‘an improvement’, but there is an opposite view by the local authority in Jávea where the council see an ‘improvement’ as a taxable income stream. So I am being made to pay to clear the ‘infractions’ including fines and backdated rates which I expect to amount to some €25.000.

Anybody thinking of buying a home in Jávea/Spain my recommendation would be to employ a good architect and ask them to redraw the plans and then to compare with those lodged with the council to understand what ‘infractions’ there are outstanding.

As a footnote, I have just installed a new large outdoor swimming pool at my home in the UK and I didn’t need planning consent nor did I have to asked anybody for permission to install it nor do I have to pay any additional taxes.

Tony Nicholl