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Vol. 4 Issue 95 www.theolivepress.es December 1st - December 14th 2022
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New law means owners will be able to legalise ‘illegal’ rural homes
Steps
The ambassador was not, however, able to confirm how much longer the remaining steps would take. Once they are taken people will have ‘six months to exchange your UK licence for a Spanish one. And during that time, you'll be able to drive using your existing valid UK licence,’ said Elliott. “Once those legal and political approvals are done, confirmation will be published in the BOE,” Elliott explained, in reference to Spain’s Official State Bulletin. “At that point, you will then have six months to exchange your UK licence for a Spanish one. And during that time, you'll be able to drive using your existing valid UK licence.” He added: ‘I know this hasn't been an easy time for those of you who've been unable to drive but I hope that this latest news gives you some reassurane.”
By Alex Trelinski
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“The property can be legally lived in and maintained forever, as well as local councils being obliged to provide the same kind of services as in builtup areas of a municipality,” explained John. OLIV “In return, home owners must PRESSE provide guarantees over avoidNOT AGAIN ing pollution to the sub-soil as well as minimising potential flood and fire risks in the area,” he added. ANDALUCÍA
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Vol. 15 Issue 370
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ress.es June 2nd - June
15th 2021
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EXCLUSIVE By Dilip Kuner
AN expat is facing prison for failing to demolish his home after he fell foul of a town faire’ planning rules.hall’s ‘laissez Gurney Davey, found out about aged 67, only sentence when a the six-month was delivered tocourt document a neighbour’s house. “I went straight to with it. They told Tolox town hall have received it me I shouldn’t yet,” he told the Olive Press. “They said they were going to be sending the notification to me once they had stamped it.” The news came as a massive bolt from the blue for Davey, whose wife has just which he believesdied of cancer, the stress of the worsened from case. He had never been told about the court case that a Guardia Civil followed on from denuncia for an ‘illegal build’. Davey’s two-bed 2004 - should home - built in built according never have been to the Malaga court.
British expat faces year home - and demolition of his 17 a spell in prison repeat of controver - in sial Priors case
Legalise
Easier
In 2016, and then again in 2017, Davey was ordered to knock down his house, with a neighbour,but, in common he waited for more details. While his Spanish neighbour, Irene Millan, 29, did eventually hear from the court again, she was given six months to ‘legalise’ her property was never given.an option Davey However, his neighbour’s apparent good luck turned into a poisoned chalice. Having spent €20,000 with the DEMOLITION: Expat Gurney town hall to legalise Davey is being the dwelling, forced to knock the court finally down his own refused to accept lan, whose name was on house and faces the new paperwork the deeds, six months jail provided by monthswas also sentenced to six cancer, at the age of 71, in April. the council. “We jail and handed a fine of thingthought we had done every- from legal firm Manzanares, told Instead, demolition €6 a day for them that planning right at the the smart thing which went ahead was ordered - Now Davey a year. to do. permission legal advice and time. We got would be applied is terrified he is last week. went through a To add insult for as an alma- “Why would we deliberately try cen - or ‘warehouse’. to injury Irene’s lose his home at any moment.set to lawyer in order to get permission to build illegally? It 54-year-old father, makes no sense It comes just two This way it would that we would Manuel Mil- his months since to build the home. wife Diana died “Diana fought breast remit of Tolox come under the in the UK and sell up everything from bowel six town hall, which risk it all.” years before bowel cancer for would give permission Now cancer - I and later avoidDavey’s first thoughts are to serving the jail am sure the they could ‘legalise’ the property. stress brought The language of one legal letter, He said: “My lawyer is sentence. trying seen by the Olive it on.” Press, suggests get the sentence suspended.” to this would be a mere The couple, But the formality. property never got originally from Flatten legalALL AREAS COVERED Suffolk in the ised. In the meantime In fact, the Tolox UK, mayor of spent forced to ask the he has been town hall for € 1 5 0 , 0 0 0 time, Juan Vera, has since the permission 4G UNLIMITED been jailed to and knock fined building their his own scheme to allow for his part in a property down. INTERNET property. up to 350 prop- “I will IDEAL FOR “It came as a erties to be built on land classified a JCB do it myself. I will borrow from someone and STREAMING TV package - a as ‘rural’. flatten my home of the past plot with a new In most cases he had used 17 the will not let the town hall years. I very same ‘lax’ ALSO IPTV, home on it.” procedure of do it and charge me more SATELLITE TV money.” Davey admits plying to build an ‘almacen’ ap- He added: See page 5 & 15 “I’ve no idea where he and his wife try to keep the prying eyes of to live to afterwards. But the were perhaps Junta authorities away. the land is tel: (0034) 952 763 still mine - maybe 840 I can live in a naive to follow “We thought that was the tent.” info@theskydoctor. the advice of things worked in Spain,” way Tolox com said Ayuntamiento refused Davey, a retired www.theskydoctor. their lawyer. com to comment, citing “We went to see builder. data protection The a lawyer lawyer, advice. laws. It turns out that and got was not Opinion
He also pointed out that a property with an MIT licence would inevitably be easier to sell if and when the time comes. “MIT licences present a new path towards the social and economic integration of expats within their communities as well as for whole municipalities affected by such properties,” Kirby concluded. International CHOOSE TO CHALLENGE Valencia’s Women’s Day Agency for OLIVE the ProtecPRESS v a l i d
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How these two women- an expat and a local apart did two centuries
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10th - March ress.es March
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To celebrate International Women’s Day, we hear the inspirational stories from over a dozen expats from around the country
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THE seven month nightmare being suffered by residents of Spain who hold UK driving licences might nearly be over, according to British ambassador Hugh Elliott. The top diplomat has said that the ‘two outstanding complex issues’ that were still being negotiated between the two countries have been resolved. “We'll now take forward the remaining steps including legal checks, securing ministerial approval on both sides – which for Spain, is by the Consejo de Ministros, the Spanish Cabinet – and the necessary treaty processes and formal exchanges,” he added.
HUNDREDS of thousands of homeowners who lived under the threat of having their property demolished have been thrown a lifeline. New Valencian Community licences have been introduced to help owners of rural homes built without appropriate permission prior to 2014 planning laws. An estimated 350,000 homes constructed on green-belt land in the Valencia region fall into the ‘illegal’ category. Impact Minimisation Licenses (MIT) can be applied for at local town halls by owners wanting legal recognition of their properties as well as banishing any fears of demolition. John Kirby is working for the Valencian government to explain the changes. He’s lived in Spain for 28 years and worked for Alborache council as a municipal architect. Kirby told the Olive Press: “The sheer number of illegal homes means that a large part of the region is affected, but MITs will be a real opportunity for change while protecting the environment.” He emphasised that getting an MIT doesn’t automatically mean that your rural home would become legal, but it does give you some key things.
23rd 2021
Torn down FREE
Vol. 14 Issue 364
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Owners demolishto their own homesfines escape massive as the Junta finally gets tough on illegal construction By Dilip Kuner
to homes have started massive OWNERS of illegal to try and escape tear them down tough fines of over €600,000. Junta finally got Palmar Landscape It comes after thedoubling the number of DANGER: El illegal development on illegal homes, tripling its prosecutions threatened by and Helen Prior and (right) Len inspections and speculators. against unscrupulous for the environment, sun. dream home in the of victims of illegal In a landmark year the number of inspections Andalucia has had dozens – who bought their there were double in 2020. expats later flathomes – including around Andalucia 2019 were probed, villas in good faith only to see them over by the PP in Some 1,087 constructions ...with an introduction Junta was taken were launched into tened by bulldozers. British cou- the problems are being created. while 75 investigations less more inspecfrom our British to cash in from holiday The most famous case involved who bought their Indeed, in 2020 there were 95%more probes developers looking schemes. from Helen and Len Prior 300% consul in Andalucia, rentals and joint ownership voluntarily ple which had planning permission later tions undertaken and owners far €4million that rise the It was developers, with so getting villa So sharp was Charmaine Arbouin properties before council in Vera (Almeria).down by the into shady knocked knocked down theirof Andalucia’s eight prov- their in fines levied. is benefitting is El deemed illegal and fined in ‘almost all’ land zoned as agricultural One key seaside town thatfines of more than Junta as it was on in Cadiz, where inces. owners have been voluntaribefore the re- Palmar, have been slapped on the in use only. as well A number of homes as 10 years of court battles com- €600,000 with a prefabricated house. in El Palmar, ly knocked down Rio, Iznajar and Algatocin, It tookcouple finally received €236,000 area of of any plot tired affected when an effecin 2018. Oria, Alcolea del this week. was from Vera councilillegal properties The area was badly our of agricultural landof plots berevealed the Junta seen as vital to stop dodgy pensation ...and introducing an estimated 300,000 years 500 hectares into hundreds The move is being they can sell on the prop- With region, the Junta has in recent subdivided tively speculators. by new Digital Editor, a in the introduced measures tween 500sqm and 1,000sqm against peodevelopers before people looking for cases were launched for sale on to help victims legalerties to unsuspecting Fiona Govan, in plots The A total of 16 ise their homes. have ple advertising development tracked down Madrid majority though ‘legal agricultural land. Most were social media. on a in many left been down left via online adverts, finally clamping hotel limbo’ with many “It’s great they are said local total agreement,” Califa group in All inside our unsaleable. new and I’m in the At least under since owner James Stuart, from International edicts brought in nearby Vejer. lido not have Women’s “So many houses just does not cences and the area Day special to supLONG WAY I have the right infrastructure supplement TO GO port it all.” are there He added: “Thankfully still totally unquite a few areas See inside ALL AREAS COVERED touched by development.” of DevelopThe Junta’s Minister stressed she ment, Marifran Carazo,the prolifera4G UNLIMITED is determined to fight INTERNET tion of illegal buildings. of passing a deIDEAL FOR “What is the pointirregular housing STREAMING TV cree to legalize limbo for decades See page 6 - 32 that was in legal new types of illeALSO IPTV, if we allow these are not going to SATELLITE TV gal building in. We allow it.” 840 tel: (0034) 952 763 com info@theskydoctor. Opinion Page 6 A special four-page pullout
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March 2021
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CAPTION TO GO HERE FOR INTERNATIONAL WOMEN´S DAY...
Important day
One in five Spanish women gave up work due to the COVID crisis, while they are also poorer and harder working than men, writes Olive Press Digital Editor Fiona Govan
N previous years March 8 was a day when I would meet up with a group of friends and we would hit the streets of Madrid joining tens of thousands of others to mark International Women’s Day. We would don purple items of clothing and join in the protests that attracted people from all walks of life and across the generations – both men and women, boys and girls. There was a carnival atmosphere as people of all ages, from
grandparents to toddlers hoisted on shoulders, came together in a sea of purple brandishing signs with powerful slogans to show that modern Spain means equal opportunities, whatever gender you are. But the demonstrations also underlined how much there was still to do; women may now be fully accepted in the workplace but they are still penalised by a gender pay gap, which is not improving fast enough. Meanwhile violence against wo-
Pics are on the wall
A SMALL village in deep inland Malaga has enlisted the skills of two local artists to transform the whitewashed walls into a tribute to rural women across the ages. In a project entitled ‘Saucedeñas’, Ronda photographer Ana Becerra and artist Selector Marx have taken to Villanueva del Rosario. Residents awoke last week to large scale black and white collages of images of local rural women emblazoned on walls of municipal buildings. “The women on the photographs are women who are entrepreneurs, who cultivated creativity or who had a history of self-improvement” said Becerra.
women in managerial positions remains around a third of that of men with the numbers dropping even further as careers progress. Spain’s female executives earn 15.1 percent less than their male counterparts, although this is just below the EU average salary gap of 16 percent according to the latest EU data from 2017. This inequality is highlighted in men is still recognised as a major the run up to Women’s Day this the statement issued by Spain’s problem in Spain and the we are year revealed that 7% of women government on March 8: “Wowitnessing the rise of the coun- had suffered physical or psycho- men in Spain work more than try’s political far right and with it logical abuse from men during men today, but 2020. a denial of gender inequalities. they are poorer.” This year with Spain still in the And most alarOf course there grip of the pandemic, there mingly of all, acFIVE LINERS are still reasons are no mass protests with au- cording to the lato be positive xxxxxxx thorities banning gatherings to test data, women and to celebrate avoid potential super-spreader made up 93% of xxxxxxxxx just how far woevents, but the health crisis has those who gave men have come xxxxxxxx highlighted and even compoun- up employment in Spain. ded some of the inequalities in during 2020 in Spain may not xxxxxxxxx Spain... citing casociety. have had a feWorking from home has seen a ring for minors, male prime misteep rise in mental health issues elderly or sick renister but it has the largest share with women bearing the brunt latives as the main reasons. of women in any European leof the burden of childcare and That is one in five women, accor- gislature with women represenhousework as they try to balance ding to a survey by online com- ting 47 percent of elected MPs, work life with home-schooling munity MalasMadres. a bigger proportion of female and care for their elderly relati- During the second quarter of last lawmakers than even Sweden. year, a period that coincided with ves. More than half of Pedro SanWhen Spain went into lockdown Spain’s strict lockdown 61,000 chez’s cabinet comprises woa year ago, gender violence women gave up their jobs to men – each one impressively soared with the authorities re- care for others compared to just qualified for their role – with woporting an 18% rise in calls du- 6,500 men. ministerial poAnd when it comes to the wor- men holding key ring the first fortnight alone. sitions including Foreign Minister A survey conducted by DYM in kplace itself, the proportion of and Health Minister. We’ve come a long way since the end of the dictatorship when a woman had to have her father’s or husband’s permission to travel and couldn’t open a bank account. But there’s no room for complacency, we still have a long long way to go.
Charmaine Arbouin, British Consul for Andalusia, Canary Islands, Ceuta & Melilla. Based in Malaga she covers the region of Spain that has the largest concentration of British residents
“International Women’s Day is an opportunity to celebrate the achievements of women - both past and present; those who have shaped and transformed our world, whether that be politically or in the fields of science and culture. But it’s also a moment to reflect on what still needs to be done and that’s why this year’s theme of Choose to Challenge matters. We must all choose to call out bias and inequality, so that we have even more great female achievers to celebrate in the future.”
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ANGUISH: The Priors watched as their house was torn down
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DEFIANT: Gurney demolished his own home tion of the Territory late last year Last year, the Olive Press reported threatened to demolish homes built the shocking story of Brit Gurney on unapproved land around the Davey who was forced to knock down community. his own home in Tolox. The authorities threatened to start The then 67-year-old received the sending in bulldozers on properties court order despite having built the considered illegal from the start of home by following all the instructhis year, but the new permit re- tions of legal advisors. moves that prospect. The Olive Press also followed the It’s a problem that has plagued dramatic story of an elderly British homeowners across Andalucia, but couple who were forced to live in a the region introduced a new law in garage since their dream €400,000 2019 that allowed some 327,000 villa was demolished 14 years ago. illegally built properties to be environmentally and territorially Access adapted. Under the legislation, homes old- Len and Helen Prior had been living er than six years and not built in the garage for four years and a half on protected or flood risk land - they powered it with a generator were able to gain assimilado al and used bottled water. regimen de fuera de ordenacion But after they were finally granted AFO status in 2021, they got access (AFO) status. It allowed homeowners to access ser- to mains water and electricity. vices legally and register their prop- Property owners in the Valencia community nervous about their erty at the Land Registry. It also allowed some of the many ex- homes being demolished could see pats, duped into buying what they a similar fate with the new MIT lithought was a normal home, connec- cence, but only if their home was built after 2014. tion to water or electricity. However, it was too late for some Opinion Page 6 homeowners.
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