Tom Powell
AN expat couple are to appear on the latest episode of Channel 5’s Horror Homes after their dream villa in Vera, Andalucia, was knocked down.
Len and Helen Prior saw their home bulldozed in January 2008 over ‘planning irregularities’, as reported in the Olive Press at the time.
The couple, from Berkshire, initially received a call telling them that their home was to be demolished.
This was despite having the correct paperwork signed off from the town hall.
“This whole mess would be bearable if it made any sense,” Helen told the Olive Press on the fifth anniversary of the demolition.
They are still fighting for compensation and have admitted they will have to file for bankruptcy if they do not receive it soon.
The land, which they originally bought for 152,000 euros, is now practically useless as they cannot build on it.
Len says on the show: “We lost more than just money, we’ve also lost seven years of our lives from fighting this.
“I’ve been really angry day and night for seven years and we really want somebody to say ‘we made a mistake, it shouldn’t have happened and won’t happen again’.
“That would be the best thing.”
The programme begins at 8pm.
I watched it last night and my overall feeling is that the Priors are in a far worse situation than the other people featured in the programme and without trying to down play their issues, I am sure the Priors would happily swap problems with them.
I am glad that this story is being kept alive and I hope the Spanish authorities are aware of the negative impact this will continue to have on their property market.
“I’ve been really angry day and night for seven years and we really want somebody to say ‘we made a mistake”
Rule 1, the Spanish authorities never admit mistakes.
I don’t know how the Priors can have lived all those years in a country that does that to people. The house next to them is larger and still standing, belongs to someone from the Junta. How can one be deemed illegal and the other not. One of the reasons I wanted to sell was because I saw what had happened to so many British. They want to sell to the British but they don’t actually want us there. With all the negative publicity for Spain they have cut off their nose to spite their face.
The Bullingdon Boys could step in with some economic threats but the Priors are’nt part of their corrupt club so – tough s~#@.
Quite right Marion, in fact the Priors’ demolition will turn out to be the most expensive demolition in history – that single act killed the Spanish property market stone dead and the amount of lost revenue is immeasurable.
I didn’t know that the house next door was owned by someone at the Junta de Andalucia, that has been kept very quiet but thanks for the info, I will be using that in the future. What a rotten bunch of hypocrites.