Exmayor's illegal property extension faces demolition
DAYA Nueva town hall has been ordered to demolish an illegal extension to a house built on rural land – one which happens to belong to an exmayor of the municipality.
An investigation was started by the regional antifraud agency ( AVAF) in response to a complaint it received from a member of the public who supplied evidence that the town hall was not enforcing town planning law.
This investigation discovered that the procedure to restore the building to a legal situation should have been started in September 2016 but still had not been completed four years later.
According to the AVAF file, the town hall not only failed to carry out any inspections, it also unjustifiably delayed processing the case.
Local planning law allows buildings that predate the legislation to remain, as long as work is not carried out to consolidate, extend or modernise them.
Only small repairs that are required to maintain the building’s hygiene, safety and appearance are permitted. In May 2015 the owner presented a declaration of responsibility for some ‘ maintenance and conservation’ works.
However, the works did not coincide with this description and consisted of constructing an extra floor on the building, a porch, a swimming pool and an annexe.
The AVAF said the town hall should have checked that the works carried out coincided with those specified in the declaration of responsibility, as if it had it could have stopped them before they were completed.
The procedure to restore the building to its legal state was started in September 2016 but the town hall then took no action to pursue the case, which resulted in it expiring. In the town hall’s response to the AVAF on October 8 this year, mayoress Teresa Martínez claimed that they lacked the personnel to carry out inspections, since the position of secretary had been filled by temps since 2018.
Furthermore the town hall does not have its own town planning technician and has to rely on one from the provincial government one day a week ‘ when possible’.
The town hall nevertheless assured that it would ‘ take all the appropriate measures to carry out the demolition of the illegal works’.
In its ruling, the AVAF said the town hall is obliged to act and order the legal state of the building to be restored within the legal timeframe.
This includes demolishing the extra floor ( and replacing tiled roof in its the original form), as well as the porch, the swimming pool and the annexe.
It must also arrange for all utility supplies to be cut off and entrances closed up, and report the restoration order to the land registry.
Thirdly, the local authority has to find out whichever civil servants or politicians were responsible for the unjustified delay and inform the AVAF why it had happened.
The council must present a plan to implement all this within a month and prove it has been carried out within three months otherwise it has to fine the owner, or carry out the demolition and bill the owner, or take court action to enforce the action, notwithstanding any potential criminal charges.
Finally, the town hall has to present documentation proving that the legal situation has been restored within eight months or explain why this was not possible.