HOUSE TAX HUNT

Tax office investigation shows Marina Alta has twice as many properties as inhabitants and off-the-radar pools, extensions and houses would fill a town the size of Pedreguer

A HUNT for 'cheeky' properties in the Marina Alta has uncovered enough undeclared buildings to repopulate the whole of Pedreguer or Ondara.

Houses, extensions, outbuildings, swimming pools and full structural renovations kept deliberately under the radar by their owners to avoid paying the extra IBI tax have been found after the land registry office, or Catastro, went on one of its famous airborne 'treasure hunts' over the northern Costa Blanca.

These must now be registered and the owners charged up to four years' IBI arrears.

Teulada has the most undeclared properties – 4,175, of which half are extensions and a third are swimming pools – followed by Dénia with 3,060, of which nearly three-quarters are extensions.

Calpe and Benitachell have 1,521 and 1,578 respectively, whilst Pedreguer has 1,094, Gata 850 and Jalón 606.

In some cases, the proportion of undeclared builds per inhabitant ranges from 10% to 50% - a total of 471 have been exposed in El Verger, 451 discovered in Alca- lalí, 403 were found in Pego, 391 in Beniarbeig, 390 in Benidoleig, 375 in Parcent, 299 in Llíber, 231 in El Ràfol d'Almúnia and 151 in Benimeli.

Some of these towns have fewer than 1,000 residents.

The 'cheeky construction chase' has even shown that the Marina Alta has twice as many residential homes as inhabitants.

Calpe has over 43,500 apartments to fewer than 19,600 residents, whilst Dénia has around 71,320 properties to barely 41,500 people living in the town.

Now they have been caught, the owners will not be fined, but will have to pay the standard €60 fee to enter their pools, extensions or houses on the Catastro registry.

Under Spanish law, they can only be charged for the last four years of unpaid tax.