Probe into Costa Almeria Building Licences
By Sue Brown, 20 Jun 2005
Lawyers representing buyers at a high profile Spanish development have sent a “Stop Selling” notice to agents and brokers after they discovered there was no building licence and that “under no circumstances will one be given”.
The regional, Diputación de Almería has launched an investigation into all building licences granted by the Mayor of Cuevas del Almanzora because, it is feared, they do not conform to urbanization regulations. The highest profile development in the area is Almanzora Country Club, where scores of homes have been sold off-plan and local property lawyers have found there is no licence and there never will be, despite claims by the developer involved.
According to the law firms, the powerful planning authority, Diputación de Almería has confirmed that “under no circumstances will the license be given”. In a circular, the lawyers are urging agents and brokers in the UK and Spain to “accept our advice and stop the sales in Cuevas del Almanzora until further notice. Based on this situation, we suggest to STOP from all the sales in this development and not to advertise it in the UK anymore. As solicitors we cannot accept any more clients buying here.”
An increasing number of Spanish solicitors are supporting the Legal Surety scheme, pioneered by PropertyInSpain.Net which has an independent solicitor making an eight-point check of the developer, finances, land ownership, planning consents and the building licence. Increasingly there is a planning obligation for water supply and this is often included in the Legal Surety.
The key document is the building licence from the local town hall or regional planners and, once granted, it sparks an important piece of Spanish consumer protection for off plan buyers who are handing over large sums in deposits and stage payments.
Spanish consumer law protects this (Law 57/68 reinforced by Decree 5151/89) situation and calls for the builder/developer to provide a special guarantee for the return of any money paid over in the event he goes bust or otherwise fails to complete the property. Banks or insurance companies demand the building licence before they provide the guarantee.
For the PropertyInSpain Legal Surety, the independent Spanish solicitor wants to see this Certificado de Guarantia) which guarantees return of monies paid plus 6% interest. No guarantee, no Legal Surety.
A PropertyInSpain.Net spokesman said: “We have never offered this development in our listings, so none of our buyers are involved in this directly through us. But sometimes investors buy on multiple developments and one current buyer mentioned they had also reserved at Almanzora Country Club just last week.
“There is a good firm of property lawyers in Mojacar who can provided independent advice to buyers in the Cuevas del Almanzora area, but it looks serious if solicitors are warning firms to stop selling.”
Spanish Property News