Andalucia Announces Amnesty on Illegal Homes
Andalucia Announces Illegal Building Amnesty
José Antonio Griñán, the President of Andalucia, announced the news that all foreigners with property in Andalucia in the south of Spain wanted to hear. He said that that illegally-built homes in Andalucia will be legalised by decree. He stressed that this isn’t an amnesty, but it sure looks like one to all commentators on the industry.
Sr. Griñán said to the Andalucian parliament: “In some cases it will be a regularisation that answers to town halls through town plans, and in other cases it will come at the request of individual owners.”
The only homes that won’t be legalised, he said, are those built on specially protected land and areas at risk of flooding. According to the Junta, there are 300,000 homes with planning problems in Andalucia, but others, including the left-wing party Izquiera Unida, say that this figure is more like 400,000.
Griñán claims that there will be no more problems in future because it is now “practically impossible” to build illegally in Andalucia. Josefina Cruz Villalón, the Minister responsible for housing, recently blamed British owners in Andalucia for much of the problem with illegal building. The claim was backed by a dramatic u-turn when the same minister asked Britons not to forsake the Spanish property market.
Spanish commentators claim the move will go down badly with many voters, who are outraged that law-breakers are being rewarded for their bad behaviour.
It is, however, difficult to see how this problem could have been solved in any other way. This amnesty is the only solution to a problem the government should never have allowed to grow into such a large one.
You can read the full report on the Spanish Property Insight website.
