Sunday Business Post 02.08

Spanish Law may lead to Demolition of Coastal Homes
(February 2008)

Anyone contemplating a purchase in Spain should be aware of the demolition issue, writes Mr. Diarmaid Condon.
If you have completed or considered the purchase of a property in Spain, you will no doubt be aware of the ongoing discussions between the government and opposition parties on the demolition of illegally built property around the country.

Recently, there has been a lot of press about the illegal building of property close to the coastline. Legally, as defined by 1988 coastal law, the Spanish government controls a coastal strip of 100 metres, none of which can be dedicated to private housing. This is in addition to the first 6 metres from the high tide mark, which officially belongs to the central government.

Technically, any property built closer to the shore than 106 metres after 1988 - of which there are several thousand - could be earmarked for demolition. Even the owners of houses built before 1988 can merely be given the right to use the house for 30 years, with the option to extend this for a further 30 years, but with no right to sell the property. The current controversy has arisen because the Spanish environment ministry has predicted 15 metres of beach shrinkage will take place by 2050, and insists that the country's beaches need protecting.

The ministry commissioned a report from the University of Cantabria on the state of the Spanish coastline, which was released in October 2007 and which concluded that 32 per cent of the country's Mediterranean coastline and 51 per cent of its beaches needed restoration work or improvement.

The report recommended that more than 776 kilometres of coastline be cleaned, which, if implemented, would involve the demolition of property along the coast. The issue of coastal demolitions is enjoying a high profile at the moment, because cases involving illegally built property being demolished are increasingly hitting the headlines. One example is the demolition of a house in Vera in Almeria owned by a British couple.

Mark Stucklin of Spanish Property Insight pointed oui that illegal buildings have been demolished across Spain for a decade at this stage and he advised anyone looking to pur-chase in Spain to do a thorough legal search before entertaining the idea.

"There is growing concern among politicians and the general public about the damage caused to the environment over the years.This has created a climate favourable to the firm enforcement of the law," said David O'Donnell, of Tom McGrath solicitors in Dublin.

"We may well see some samlpe cases of demolition of coastal properties, but the rule will be applied selectively in the run-up to the Spanish general election on March 9."

As with many of the problems in Spain's property industry, the issue comes down to the state allowing autonomy to individual 'comunidades', or councils, which are free to regulate urban and rural planning - with town halls having control of building licenses.

Many of these licenses have been granted in areas in which the central government feels they should not have been granted. Widespread corruption in licence granting is also the source of investigations and demolitions. According to Spanish solicitor Alvaro Blasco, the demolition of coastal buildings will be a last resort, designed to be used primarily for empty houses or buildings constructed without relevant planning permission. "Demolition will occur only in extreme cases where there is damage to the environment," he said.

Spain's minister for the environment, Cristina Narbona, has said demolition will not take place without the agreement of the owners, who will be compensated. "Those facing such demolition have access to the Spanish courts," said Blasco, "and even in cases which go against them, there is a strong possibility that the court order will never be implemented, due to lack of adequate funds to engage private companies to carry out demolition."

Stucklin said there has been considerable debate over the seemingly arbitrary nature of the boundaries which Have been drawn up, as well as a lot of speculation about the use of influence to have the boundary include or exclude certain properties and areas.

Conor Wilde, of Spain and Property in Valencia, said potential buyers should be careful when dealing with property close to the coast. "We recently advised a client who wished to purchase a property that was initially built legally and sufficiently distant from the shore," he said.

"The waters had risen substantially due to work in the bay since the property was built, and it was now in contravention of the law. We advised our client that if he decided to purchase, he would have little more than the 'right to live in the property', and there was every chance he would never be able to sell it."

Adam Gale, of Duchy Estates in the Costa del Sol, said: "What we need to do is to ensure, alongside our lawyers, that.every development we sell conforms to planning regulations.

"If we have any doubt, we will not sell, it, full stop. What the Spanish government needs to consider is how the local authorities fund themselves If they hadn't been clamouring for every euro from developers to augment their budgets, maybe the coastline would be a lot less developed."