James Bryce
A ‘DISGRACEFUL’ ruling has forced the Priors to wait even longer for compensation for the demolition of their dream home four years ago.
The Almeria couple have had their claim rejected as ‘premature’ on the basis that the legality of the original building licence remains in judicial dispute.
The Almeria court of appeal insisted that Vera Town Hall did not have to pay Helen and Len Prior 740,000 euros in damages as a result of losing their home in 2008.
The new blow has forced the couple to continue living in the garage of their former three-bedroom home.
“They are gutted by this latest setback,” said a spokesman for AUAN, an association of homeowners which is supporting the Priors.
“There is no sense of justice.
“This case is a disgraceful example of how the little people are being crushed by the inadequate, poorly implemented planning laws of Andalucia.
“It sends a very bad message to anyone considering investing here.”
The Priors built the 420,000 euro property in 2003 having apparently secured all the necessary permits and permissions via the town hall.
They will now have to take their case to Andalucia’s TSJA Supreme Court, which could take two more years.
An outsider can only wonder how people, first build illeagaly, in many cases they asked license for a toolshut or garage but in reality erected living houses, do request compensations and are talking about missing justice.
Don’t be silly Reni, the Priors have all the correct paperwork and your comment does not apply to them, or indeed to any of the other members of SOHA and AUAN and other organiations, all of whom have used all of the correct channels (Spanish lawyers, notaries etc). Are all the members of these organisations wrong too, Reni?
What is quite amazing is that the Spanish leave these cases to fester for years and years, which in turn produce negative news and articles, instead of dispensing quick justice to remedy the situation.
You won’t get any justice from Spanish courts they are more concerned with chasing criminals in other countries who haven’t even committed offences in Spain to deal with the real issues at home.
Spain has not intention of paying them anything. The Country is a disgrace.
Reni, they had full title deeds but the rgionla Government decided they did not agree with the local Council’s decison to issue the permit so they knocked it down. Even full title deeds in Spain are no good. They may have been treated better in Iraq.
Sadly I have to agree with a previous poster,that the Priors’ will never see a penny of compensation,either from Vera or the Government. The Spanish are not notorious for giving money to foreigners’, especially the British.
What is needed now is for the Priors’ to make sure that their name is out in the public domain,with their plight being aired again and again on every television channel and on every newspaper front page. I truly believe that this sorry episode has cost the Spanish government millions in lost property sales,and will continue to cost millions more.
They are just too short-sighted and pig-headed to see this though.
Homes From Hell is now being repeated most weeks and features the Priors. Spain’s PR department must be run from an asylum.
I believe that the Priors will eventually receive compensation, however at this rate of progress, I think it will be posthumous.
I agree with all commenters EXCEPT Reni of course whose bias words defy belief. Spain is now known to be more corrupt than the Eastern Bloc and I for one would advise anyone against buying a property in this country.It would draw a line in the sand IF, and I know it’s a big IF, newspapers refused to take advertisements from Inmobiliarias,Housing Sites and new Estates selling properties etc until the Government did something to SERIOUSLY put its’own house in order!
day after day after day, do all you people just live to moan about the spanish?
@philip – draw yr line in the sand and go back to the UK where no doubt you can pretend all is well and without corruption, oh aye, and pigs fly as well.
and can you show us all the research that actually shows a ‘state corruption’ league table so we can all see that what you claim is true?
get on with yr lives in spain or go home to yr little corrupt island, full of cheating politicians and bankers.
Pat D’s comments are amusing. Pat, we are getting on with our lives in Spain, living, running businesses, employing people, paying taxes, contributing to the local econonomies etc etc.
Are you really asking people from organisations like SOHA, AUAN and others like EQUO to just stop complaining?
pat d, com on read the daily Spanish news and you wont need statistics – there hardly isn’t a day without arrests or trials concerning corruption, the thing I miss most is “final” sentencing, don’t remember reading even one …. and trust me (just kidding) the Spanish press isn’t even close to what a citizen from a N. EU country is used to, so we probably only get half the news concerned because of cover ups and amigoism.
If they (Spain) wants to be in the EU – and evidently they like being a mayor net receiver – then at least they have to live up to the laws and become a so called democratic nation, where certain citizens rights for all EU citizens exist and not the corrupt Banana Rep congabonga BS it is displaying at the moment ……
and sure there is corruption everywhere but there is a big difference in the consequence for society when someone is stealing say 20% or everybody who can is stealing 99%.
a neighbor went to sell their home . until they found out just before signing that taxes would be based not on the actual sales price but tax ( catastral )value of the property.
had the sale gone through at 400 ,000 euros seller would have to pay 130,000 plus valia, buyer 150,000 based on the absurd tax value of 1.6 million euros and then the seller would pay the captial gains tax of i think 7% of 400.000.
i think mojacar has the highest taxes in andalucia as relates to these issues .
between the corruption, siesta and these absurd governmental policies how can spain ever recover or compete as a european nation ?