The Latest Spanish Property News from Kyero.com

The provincial government in the Costa Blanca is changing the law because it claims elderly people who have made their home in the region are placing too high a burden on the health system.

The move has prompted fury in the expatriate community on the Mediterranean coast. It feels it is being victimised by the Spanish, following years of clashes with authorities over the country's planning laws.

Many people moved to Spain on retirement believing they would be covered by the country's medical system. Now they are being forced to take out expensive private insurance.

The decision by politicians in Valencia has caused uproar in the area and the British consulate in Alicante has been deluged with calls from concerned expatriates.

Bob Houliston, 71, a retired diplomat who is now president of the Claro political party, which represents the 20,000 expat residents of the Orihuela area near Alicante, said the move could have "serious consequences".

"The timing of this decision could not have been worse. Now is not the time to cause individual hardship and widespread uncertainty which can only add to the image problems the region has to contend with," he said.

"It should surely be possible for the United Kingdom and Valencia government authorities to find solutions for the relatively small number of British citizens living in Valencia who could otherwise face real hardship."

In 2002 the provincial government offered free healthcare to all expatriates of all EU nationalities in a bid to get foreign investment in the area's property market, which at that time was booming. The market is now experiencing a similar downturn to that being seen in the UK.

The ruling only applies to people who took early retirement and moved to Spain, mainly aged in their fifties. Older retirees and individuals on long-term incapacity benefit are unaffected, as they are covered under a reciprocal healthcare agreement with the UK.

A spokesman for the regional health ministry said: "It is costing us an extra €1bn (£790m) annually to look after a million new residents as well as long-stay tourists, and our services are at saturation point. Some come to Spain to have their heart operation or hip replacement here at a better standard and more quickly than in their own country."

The expatriates however, hope to fight the ruling. In France last year, expatriates successfully had a similar plan partially overturned, so it now only applies to new arrivals.

Full story from www.telegraph.co.uk

In a move that some have described as revolutionary for golf-happy Spain, the regional government of Andalusia recently approved a sweeping new law restricting the development of golf courses.

The regulations, approved in February after months of heated debate, dramatically limit the number of houses that a developer can build around a course and require new courses to use recycled water for irrigation.

Throughout the country regional governments are approving similar measures in what is largely seen as a backlash against rampant golf course development. More than 100 courses have been built in Spain in the past eight years, most accompanied by high-density residential developments targeting foreign buyers. “I don’t have anything against golf,” said Juan Area, editor of El Observador, a newspaper here. “But I think there are too many golf courses.”

In Andalusia – home to the popular Costa del Sol, which is sometimes called the “Costa del Golf” – there are 118 courses, accounting for more than a third of the courses in the country. Nine new courses opened in the past four years alone, according to data from Real Federación Española de Golf, an industry group.

Critics say the golf courses were used as a Trojan horse, employing fairways and greens as an excuse to build rows of villas on environmentally sensitive land. “Probably in the last 10 years there have been more houses than golf,” said Ramón Dávila, president of Promotur, a tourism group in Andalusia. “And the government wants to re-balance this relation between the houses and golf.”

Full story at the International Herald Tribune

Now that there’s detailed Spanish house price information on Kyero.com, we’ve taken the opportunity to streamline the pdf version of the Kyero.com Spanish House Price Index.

As you can see from the image above, it’s just 3 pages in length now – but there’s no shortage of information in there. There are average prices for 30 Spanish provinces and pricing trends going back to the last quarter of 2006.

We’ve also worked hard on the layout and presentation to make it easier to read, understand and digest – I hope you like it and that it proves to be a useful overview and companion to the detailed information now available throughout Kyero.com. Either way, love it or hate it, please let me know.

Martin Dell, Kyero.com

Buyers of illegal homes in Catral, Valencia, have high hopes for the future thanks to the AECU.

As homeowners on the Costa Blanca face bills for infrastructure, a consumer’s association has stepped in to save the day.

Torrevieja-based consumers’ association AECU has launched a bid to force the builders of 1,300 illegal homes in Catral to foot the bulk of the bill to install crucial infrastructure such as the installation of sewage systems and street lighting.

The AECU’s president Honorio Fernández say innocent property buyers should not be ones to pay up, stating that the people responsible for constructing the illegal homes should meet the costs.

“Our way defends the buyers who are the victims in this, and not the builders,” he says.

“We will be asking the mayor to fine the builders and in this way reduce the amount that the home owners have to pay.”

In 2006 regional councillor Esteban González Pons estimated that promoters had made €80 million in profits from the illegal building in Catral.

To date no builder has been charged with any criminal offence over the construction scandal, but as Sr Fernández continues to speak on behalf of the unfortunate British buyers, this could be set to change.

Full story from homesworldwide.co.uk

Last year, a Property Pulse subscriber sold an old town house in the Valencia region. Some time later, she was contacted by the estate agent, saying that the new owner had recently discovered that the beams in one of the bedrooms were rotten. He had spent money on repairs, and wanted her to share the costs, citing the law of vicios ocultos.

When the previous owner of the property contacted me , I asked experts, Mark Wilkins of The Rights Group and Campbell Ferguson of Survey Spain for their comments and advice. Here's what "vicios ocultos" means to you if you're buying or selling property in Spain.

The liability lasts up to 6 months after the sale. It appears that the seller of a property is liable even if the defects cannot be seen and they are unaware of them. However, if the buyer can be shown to have any property expertise (or perhaps if they employ a surveyor to inspect the property for them) then the buyer becomes responsible and the seller has no more liability. It appears much more relevant to buying a TV, heater, loaf of bread from a shop, but the act does not exclude property.

The seller is obliged to remedy, or compensate for, any hidden defect or flaw that the sold article could have if that defect makes it unsuitable for the use to which it is intended, if it diminishes that use, and that having the buyer known of their existence would not have bought it or would have offered a lesser price for it. If the buyer is an expert or a qualified person due to their job, occupation or profession, the seller would not be deemed as responsible for those defects or flaws either if they are evident or visible, or if they can not be seen, being that that person should have been able to recognize them easily.

The buyer could opt to annul the contract, being the seller obliged to pay the buyer all the expenses that they have incurred or to reduce an amount proportional to the price that should be ascertained by experts. Moreover if the seller knew about the hidden defects and did not warn the buyer regarding them, the buyer may claim for a compensation for the damages and harms if the buyer opts for the contract annulment.

If the article which had a hidden defect is lost for any fortuitous cause or because of the buyer's fault, the buyer might claim the price they paid for the thing, deducting any reduction in value that the article might have had when it was lost, plus damages and harms if the seller acted in bad faith. These provisions expire six months following delivery of the article sold.

As a seller, specific wording can be incorporated within a sale document which effectively excludes this liability and means that the property is being sold 'as seen'. As a buyer, watch out for this clause in the contract as a possible indication that the seller might be aware of defects which you haven't noticed.

Even though a property survey is not always required by the mortgage company, it makes sense to use a qualified surveyor before making any commitment to purchase a property.

Martin Dell, Kyero.com