Valencia: Govt Suspends Demolition Orders

Expats who own homes in the Valencia countryside are overjoyed as demolition orders are suspended. Valencia’s regional government has announced that 40 demolition orders issued against illegal homes built in Catral’s countryside have been put on hold. In October 2006 former regional planning boss Esteban González Pons stated that 1,270 properties had been constructed without planning permission on land not designated for building, leaving hundreds of British homeowners fearing for their properties.

The issue of illegal buildings is being tackled directly by the Valencia government, who have stripped the local authority of town planning powers and issued demolition orders to a number of households during 2007

However the announcement that orders have now been suspended was the best Christmas present that many of the threatened homeowners could hope for. Despite the fact that the demolitions may still go ahead, many locals are viewing the suspension as a reprieve. The houses most at risk include properties that have been constructed inside and close to El Hondo Natural Park, and eight homeowners who bought properties inside the boundary of the park now face court charges.

Due to the fact that the builders of the properties recorded their status as the promoters of the houses on town hall documents, the buyers have been called to appear before an Orihuela judge on January 29 instead of the builders.

Last year former regional planning councillor Esteban González Pons stated that he would pursue the builders who had made an estimated €80m through selling illegal homes in Catral. At the time he said: “We are going to identify urgently those responsible for the construction of the illegal homes so we can move to embargo their capital and in this way guarantee compensation to people who have bought houses in good faith and who now find themselves with an illegal home which could even be demolished.”

However, to date no builder has been charged with any criminal offence over the construction scandal.