Interesting article about the Spanish Government doing a road show in the UK because nobody is buying........hhhmmmmmmm!!

The Spanish government has launched a direct appeal to Britons to help kick-start Spain’s faltering economy by buying some of the country’s 700,000 unsold houses.

Beatriz Corredor, the Spanish housing secretary, promised new planning laws to end the confusion which has led to some British home owners being ordered to knock down their properties deemed to have been illegally built.

“Come here calmly, and trust in the system that we have and the transparency we provide,” she said.

“There is a very attractive offer on the table here, with prices significantly lower than two years ago, and you will certainly find what you are looking for.”

Her plea reflects growing alarm in Spain at the huge stock of newly built homes waiting to be sold – of which 400,000 are near the coast – since the country’s economic crisis began. Prices have tumbled by up to 40 per cent and banks and construction firms are desperate to recoup some of their investment.

In recent years, Britons have bought one third of all Spanish properties sold to foreigners. But many have recently been put off by horror stories of planning permission being retrospectively revoked and other complications, and the number of British buyers has slumped.

According to government figures, 100,000 homes built around the coast during the last decade face unresolved planning problems, and residents say the true number is even higher.

“The British are our highest priority and are those about whom we are most concerned,” Mrs Corredor told The Sunday Telegraph. “It is true that there has been… an image problem. Now we want to reassure the British, and all foreigners, that we are doing everything possible to put the details clearly on the table.”

As part of a package of legal reforms to be steered through the Spanish parliament this month, for any property being sold the local council will be obliged to provide a document stating clearly its boundaries, the category of land on which it stands, its access to services including water and electricity, and details of its planning approval.

If someone buys a house with all the correct paperwork, Mrs Corredor said, they could be assured of its legality. “If there is not any mention of legal proceedings on the document, the person who buys the property through the correct channels will then know there is judicial support.”

An estimated one million properties are currently on the market across Spain, including homes that have already been lived in by at least one owner.

The Spanish government’s hope is that a return of British buyers will give a boost to the ailing economy by injecting much-needed liquidity into the banks, creating work for those involved in fitting out homes and helping to draw a line under free-falling property prices.

Over the next few weeks the Spanish government will also embark on a “roadshow” around Britain and other northern European countries to promote the Spanish property market. House prices have fallen on average by 24 per cent in the Malaga area and by 19 per cent in Tenerife, Mrs Corredor said. “They are very attractive reductions, especially in properties of high quality. They are properties that are worth the trouble.”

John Heyes would agree. From his beachfront apartment on the Costa del Sol near Estepona, which he bought just over a month ago for €161,000 (£136,000), a full €100,000 cheaper than its original price, Mr Heyes, 66, urged others to seize the moment.

“There are hundreds of thousands of properties around, all at seriously discounted prices. Do your research and take your time, but it is a great opportunity.”

Nick Stuart, a British estate agent who runs the website Spanish Hot Properties, said: “There are huge bargains to be had there, such as villas in Marbella that are almost at half their previous prices.

“Get a decent independent lawyer and make sure that the property rights and bank guarantees are in place. Ninety five per cent of these horror stories could have been avoided.”

But others are not so sure. And in the golf resort of Villamartin, near Alicante in south-eastern Spain, the scale of the problem facing Mrs Corredor becomes clear.

There are 120,000 empty new homes in the wider region, and in Villamartin rows of whitewashed houses sit empty, waiting for an owner. Signs hung over the balconies offer cheap sales for properties repossessed by the banks.

Sun-bleached billboards along main roads, advertising in English and Russian, offer dream holiday homes, but the empty streets, with just the occasional car with British number plates, tell a different story.

Robin Barton, 65, has lived in Villamartin for 10 years, and sitting outside The Stray Sod Irish bar, he said it would take more than a slick marketing campaign and technical changes in the law to bring back the British and end falling prices.

“The simple fact is that the Spaniards built too many homes,” he said. “There is just not the demand for all of these houses, and with the rest of the EU in crisis too, nothing the Spanish government does is going to make people buy them.”

He pointed to the shell of a half-built block of flats, its exterior walls complete but the building uncompleted inside. “That’s been there for years. And no one will finish it. It just proves the lack of planning that caused all this mess.”

Gabi Baischer, managing director of In Sun Properties in Villamartin, has not sold a single property to Britons in the last month. Flicking through her records, trying to recall the last time that British clients came to buy homes rather than sell, she said there were now only Scandinavians and Russians.

She drove around the winding roads of Villamartin, circling the golf course and past the Irish pub, pointing out the most heavily discounted properties. Everything is being sold at a vast reduction. On Thursday she sold a two-bedroom whitewashed townhouse for €107,500 (£90,700) — less than half the initial price.

A British family is selling their villa with a swimming pool, originally bought for €320,000, for €260,000. A third property, a pretty three bedroom semi-detached villa with views down to the coast, is on the market for €205,000 — €120,000 less than its original asking price. It too is being sold by Britons.

“Over 90 per cent of our business three years ago was British people buying,” she said, “and now, it’s maybe two per cent. It has totally dried up.”

Meanwhile those who have become ensnared in complex legal disputes of the kind that have been a bugbear to foreign buyers – with some cases ending up in the European Court – warn that not even Mrs Corredor’s change to the law will solve the problem for new buyers.

“The government in Madrid can give all the assurances it wants, but without it enforcing the laws nothing will ever change,” said Charles Svoboda, whose Valencia home has been the subject of legal wrangling for the past eight years. His support group for property owners taking court action currently has 30,000 members in Valencia alone.

“The problem is that housing is often dealt with at a regional level, and national rulings make no difference whatsoever. And in small towns, there is often no one who is technically competent to enforce these laws.

“I wish the government all the luck in the world with these new proposals, and am sure they are well intentioned. But here it is like Alice in Wonderland. The housing rules may look the same, but actually everything is totally backwards.”

Maura Hillen, 46, bought a home with her husband John near the town of Albox, 130 miles south of Alicante, only to discover too late that it had not been legally approved. She is sceptical about the impact of the new law, which in any case will not apply retrospectively to cases like hers.

“I look out of my kitchen window and still se

This is a bit of an old chestnut, or would that be a hazelnut, why is it that it would appear only to be the Brits or I guess other foreigners who get ripped off?  Why don't any of the locals get ripped off?  Are the estate agents just biased?  They hate foreigners especially? 
I would suggest not, an estate would rip anyone off given the chance if they are that sort of agent.  No, I would tend to think that it might have something to do with the fact that when people come over here they tend to leave their common sense behind.  In the Uk who would EVER buy a property without searches, lawyers, or just by trusting the word of a local estate agent? 
There are sharks everywhere but fools as well.

I honestly don`t think anyone here is more dishonest than anyone else elsewhere.

But in your own reply you have said it, the locals know the system... their is no secret school for local people, they just follow through with all the steps the same way any Brit would do in the UK system.

If people haven't left their brains at the airport then what is the difference? 

The locals also bought land that was rural and had no cedula and no legal planning permission possible, built and then legalised it after a three year period by going to Tarragona and jumping through the hoops there.  That was the way everyone did it.  All the chalets you see around villages here have been built in the same way.  No one was corrupt then they were just using the system to get what they wanted.  My own parents bought here and chose not to go down that road because they feared the precarious legal position it left you in, their choice.  The fact that now you can't get away with that is a pain but a pain for everyone, locals and foreigners alike.  I know Catalans who have pieces of land they always assumed they would build on one day and yet now they now are useless for construction.  Everyone is affected in the same way. 

Ok so yes there has been retro legislation but it isn't correct to present this in a way that makes out that it has been done to predjudice only foreigners.  Governments have a habit of doing this sort of stuff the world over, Spain or Catalunya is no different.  Lots of people came over here and left their brains at home, lots of people bought properties over the net, sight unseen, with no legal investigations, acting only on good faith and a misplaced trust in a friendly voice on a telephone.  Those who remain are probably the ones who indeed didn't leave their brains at home but equally that doesn't mean that all these well publicised cases of Brits having their mansions demolished are necessarily real cases of either corruption or any other dubious sorts of action by authorities.

The sale of so many empty properties now in the hands of the banks here in Spain is the hangover from the property boom that our wonderful free market economy sponsored and encouraged.  Now the bubble has burst and all these properties are now toxic debt the banks are trying to get rid of them.  I really do think Jools' original post has a point, it is a great moment for buying.  But should anyone want to, for God's sake do it the right way and don't skimp on any of the steps.  You have the same possibilities of being hung out to dry as anyone else who might be called Gonzalez or Fabregeus.

I would be inclined to agree with Huw, I know of a few Catalans who have been evicted from their houses which they bought from "reputable" estate agents and were approved for mortgages by spanish banks.  The problem arose when certain areas were found to be zoned differently.  I think if proper due diligence was followed and searches conducted they might not have fallen foul of the authorities because in at least one case I knew that the group of houses were due for demolition - it was a matter of public record.  If the right questions are not asked, you won't be in possession of the full facts.  I don't think it's fair to say that the aim of the local people and authorities is to fleece foreigners while ignoring local transgressions. 

I know of a few people (both natives and foreigners) who chose to ignore the writing on the wall.  In matters relating to property and escrituras, a casa is a casa and an almacen is simply an almacen.  Pumping hard earned cash into what is a shed and transforming it into a perfectly habitable home doesn't change what it is until the escritura reflects this.  The same goes in Ireland and the UK I imagine.  For example, my local councellor might come out and look at a proposed site and nod and wink in all the right ways and declare that he can see no problem with the proposed project but until I apply for and receive full planning permission to construct the dwelling it can never be legally recognised as such. Indeed in Ireland houses have been demolished because they didn't have planning permission or were not constructed in line with the permission given.

Introducing retrospective legislation though is a nightmare I admit.