Home > Blogs > Things that Pop into my Head > Permalink

Southern Spain Illegal Property

Blog: Things that Pop into my Head
Posted by: hazel eyes Tuesday 19th January 2010, 4:39pm
Last edited 19/01/2010 4:39pm by hazel eyes

British expats living in Andalucia have been told their homes are illegally built and have 3 months to demolish them before the bulldozers are called in.

After picking up your hire car from Malaga airport, off to the right at the San Miguel factory is the Costa del Sol - traditional destination for the British tourist. If you turn left, up into the mountains, it is a more traditional and rural way of life. An ideal place to build your dream home, that is until the Junta de Andalucia declare that any new property built on rural land and not designed for agricultural use had to come down.

But is this the true picture of Southern Spain? An expat says not:

Believe it or not, there are normal, real human beings that live to the right of the airport. Some of them even speak fluent Spanish...(fluent meaning almost as well as English, rather than just about being able to order a beer in Spanish and thinking that's all you need (this was the norm rather than the exception that I witnessed around the Axarquía)).

The Axarquía as authentic Spain? Slightly behind-the-times, rural and absolutely beautiful it most certainly is, but according to recent figures, your typical Axarquian town e.g RioGordo comprises c.15-20% foreigners. Most of whom can't speak more than a handful of Spanish and some of whom - as per the coast - are not to be trusted. That's \"authentic Spain\" for you, like it or not.

There are areas inland of the terrible coast that offer almost as much natural beauty as the Axarquía, greater flexibility and options for those of us unfortunate enough to have to work for a living; whilst I know of considerable planning abuse in these areas (largely by expats, as per the Axarquía), I know of nobody yet who is having their house pulled down.

These terrible instances that are being reported on a now daily occurrance by the press do exist, yes, but for each bad news story guaranteed to sell papers there are dozens where there is no abuse, no wrong to report.

So perhaps when we climb into our hire car in Spain, we wont judge the people by what turning they take.

Spread the Word

Flag as inappropriate
If you believe the content of this blog post is inappropriate and should be reviewed.

More posts from this blog...