Property owners not impressed by Junta's decree on irregular property

 

The regional government’s plan to regularise the dozens of thousands of illegal properties is not proving successful. Owners of the properties are refusing to pay the costs of bringing their properties into legality. In most cases the regional council for public works and housing have offered a ‘recognition’ of the properties – a legal device to allow them to come out of limbo and gain access to power and water. But this needs the collaboration of the citizens, and their money. Many Town Halls have discovered the process does not get underway, and El País reports that two of the most interesting cases are in Córdoba and Chiclana in Cádiz. These two localities have about 25,000 homes build outside the regulations, 15,000 in Chiclana and some 9,000 in Córdoba. In both cases the property owners are refusing to meet the costs of the regularisation process; in Chiclana only 56 have applied. In Córdoba none of the 42 illegal urbanisations has brought itself into legality. Meanwhile in the Axarquía where many foreigners have purchased such property in good faith, say they are against the latest decree from the Junta last week. President of the Save Our Homes association, Philip Smalley, says the formula will just leave thousands of properties in the district in limbo. He says there is no judicial guarantee after the process because the Junta will be able to do what they want with the properties in the future. The Junta has identified 12,760 irregular properties in the Axarquía. In the Almanzora valley in Almería, again there are many foreign property owners affected. The AUAN protest group there says the decree does not help those with ongoing court proceedings against demolition. President Maura Hillen considers that only 16% of their members will benefit from the decree.