Further to what has been said above - for the benefit of anyone who is currently thinking of retiring to Spain and especially the Almanzora Valley area { Arboleas / Albox / Zurgena / Al Foquia / Cantoria / Albanchez and numerous other places }
BEWARE.Things nowadays are
TOTALLY different than when we came out in 2000 - that year was the start of the Building Boom - and builders just ran roughshod over the very relaxed Building Regulations - hoping that within a few years - the problems they were causing by ignoring the rules - would be able to be overcome.
Unfortunately the Junta of Andalucia stepped in - in 2002 - and declared many 1,000's of properties as ILLEGALLY BUILT { it is estimated at 7,000 in the Almanzora valley alone - with 100's of 1,000's more in other areas of Spain - the problem
IS NOT confined to this area } and they will remain illegal properties until a solution is found to the problem - the solutions
have been under discussion since 2003.
Not much progress has been made in these years because the Junta's main line of reasoning has been that these people { The Brits } came out to Spain and totally ignored planning rules.
Forgetting that these Brits were told { LIES } by Sales Agents / Builders / Builder's Solicitors / Public Notary's - The Local Town Halls - that the properties they were going to buy were LEGAL - it was total collusion by everyone involved to sell properties - come what may - regardless of the consequences.
Most of the Agents & Builders have now done runners to various parts of the World with their ill-gotten gains - some of them may be living near you if you are in the Tiverton Area of Devon.
As Illegal Properties these are
not and cannot get connected to Water or Electricity supplies which makes life very difficult for those who have not packed it in and returned to the UK leaving their Spanish properties empty.
The one and only solution on offer from the Junta at present does not answer any of the problems - it is only going to ' Regularise ' the properties so that they can be connected to the main services - but only if the property owners pay on top of the connection cost for the supplies - towards the cost of ' Urbanising ' the estates their properties are built on.
This is estimated to be upwards of € 25,000 per property - this is causing uproar because Urbanisation cost were ' supposed ' to have been included in the original purchase price they paid to the Builders - who are no longer to be found along with the clients money for this purpose.
Those Builders who are still here - due to ' administrative problems ' have had to change their Companies names - and therefore now have no connection or responsibility for the problems they caused under their old names.
So
beware If you are considering a move - send me an e-mail - I am not a Sales Agent / Builder - just someone who has learned an awful lot during the last 11 years out here - I may be able to help you avoid making the biggest mistake you will ever make in your life.
There are still many Legal properties for sale in the area - and life out here is good - providing you are prepared to adapt to a totally new way of living - but be aware of any property built after the year 2000 - it may have inbuilt problems that cannot be overcome.
