Hi Jellybaby and Furrydoggie,

Well doe Jellybaby for 'taking the bull by the horns' I wish you all the best. Sorry to hear about your experience Furrydoggie, this is all familiar to me.
We were very lucky because I bought my land about 3 years before we moved out, I was fed the usual rubbish like we all were but thankfully by the time I arrived out there with my family it was already apparent that my dream of living on the finca would remain just that, a dream, and we could sense that something fishy was going on! We bought a village house and began to renovate it with all the permissions. We used reputable Catalan builders who had done a lot of work in the village and our street. We inspected their work at other houses and asked about so we knew they were reputable. This is really important as there are some cowboys out there ( British of course ) Of course the work cost more than a British cowboy would have quoted but for that you get a good job, not something that will fall apart in a few years, a roof that leaks and poor insulation. I'm not saying all the Brits out there are cowboys by the way, but some are so you will need to check their reputation, talk to previous clients and generally root around before you hand out your hard earned cash and get ripped off. Why do we let them get away with it?

There is huge corruption around the building industry in Spain, it has gone on for years and I have heard of similar stuff in the South of Spain so it is not just Catalunya. Now the authorities want to do something about it but it seems it is the victims who are paying the price not the perpetrators who have cashed in. We are not allowed to name and shame either and many are tight lipped so don't assume an Estate agent or builder etc.is ok because you haven't heard anything bad said about them. The ex pats are living in a very small community and if you piss someone off it can have negative consequences for you and your family.

If we had built on our finca we would have lost everything, all our savings from working bloody hard at difficult jobs. Thankfully we still have our house in the village which is worth something and can be sold once the situation improves in Spain.

As far as I'm concerned the Estate agents who have cashed in on peoples dreams and innocence are scum, predators, crooks, leeches and parasites who should be driven out of their webs and sent on their way.

I wish everyone luck, keep your eyes and ears open and arm yourselves with the facts, stay safe and don't hand your money to these crooks.