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 THE PAIN IN SPAIN (MARBELLA CORRUPTION SCANDAL)
Article about property and corruption scandals in Marbella for The Sunday Times, 9 April 2006
Arrests last week mean corruption is being tackled on the Costas. But British victims are still fighting for their money, reports Mark Stucklin
It's a no-brainer." Those are words Robert Bowden-Smith will always
regret saying to his wife, Glynis, in September 2003, as they talked
themselves into buying off-plan in Elviria, just outside Marbella.
"I've had those words ringing in my ears ever since," says Glynis.
Work on their block never started -three years later, they are
waiting to execute their bank guarantee and recoup their cash.
The couple, in their fifties, from Haslemere in Surrey, thought they
were buying a E360,000 (Pounds 250,000) two-bed, two-bath flat on the
Costa del Sol. They had no idea they were sinking a deposit of Pounds
80,000 into one of 200 or so projects granted questionable building
licences by an allegedly corrupt town hall.
Goings-on in Marbella were front-page news again last week with the
arrest of its mayor, Marisol Yague, and more than 20 local bigwigs,
including lawyers and notaries, in all. Yague, her deputy Isabel
Garcia Marcos, and Juan Antonio Roca, the town-planning supremo, are
among those charged and facing prosecution.
Charges against Roca include corruption and money-laundering: he was,
allegedly, heading a gang that obtained Pounds 1.7 billion in bribes
and bungs for giving the green light to illegal developments, and
changing rules so he himself could launch developments.
It's the latest turn in a 15-year drama that started when the late
Jesus Gil was elected mayor in 1991. A developer-turned-politician,
Gil was initially popular: he spruced up the town, created jobs and
cut street crime. But he also ushered in a culture where anything
from building permits to municipal contracts could, allegedly, be
bought.
Last week's arrests largely concern alleged bribes for municipal
contracts. And while these have few implications for British buyers
caught up in illegal developments, the licences for which were mainly
granted while Gil was still in office (he left in 2002), the latest
headlines are a reminder of how serious a problem corruption is in
Marbella, and how illegalities inherited from the Gil era remain
unresolved.
Gil's most damaging legacy is his 1998 urban plan. More a "smash and
grab", it generated building licences that he and his cronies could
sell for briefcases of cash. As a result, some 30,000 properties,
including flats and houses, have been built illegally.
The Bowden-Smiths are among the thousands of Britons estimated to be
victims of the culture of greed and corruption in Marbella's
town-planning circles. They find their deposit frozen, because the
legality of the development they bought into has been contested by
Andalusia's Seville-based regional government. The legal proceedings
could drag on for years, causing them even more stress and anxiety.
The Bowden-Smiths bought into a project that was granted a licence by
the town hall to build more homes than the legal limit under the plan
parcial, or local urban plan. Such anomalies -either extra properties
or building in areas not zoned residential -were common in Gil's day.
By the time the Bowden-Smiths came along, investigations into such
planning irregularities were gathering strength. Seville will say
only that it's a continuing judicial matter.
The couple's bank guarantee, insurance from a Spanish bank arranged
by the developer, which ensures clients' payments are safe until
completion, means they should finally get their money back with some
interest, but it's little recompense for the anxiety and expense.
With 18 other disaffected buyers, they have formed an action group,
for support and to push for compensation.
Arthritis sufferer Barbara Wellsman, a fellow member, had sold her
home in damp Torquay and was renting ahead of her move to the Costa's
warmer, drier climes.
She, too, has a bank guarantee, but plans to sue for Pounds 80,000 in
damages, citing lost capital appreciation in her UK property and
rental expenses. British buyers who paid deposits without ensuring
the developers had bank guarantees in place are in a far weaker
position.
Meanwhile, buyers on some illegal schemes that have already been
built face the prospect of their homes being demolished, though some
experts think this is ultimately unlikely. Manuel Sanchez, a Costa
del Sol lawyer specialising in real estate, says: "In 20 years of
working in this business, I've only known of two buildings
demolished, neither of which had been completed." It will take time,
but Seville is expected to legalise most disputed developments in a
new Marbella urban plan.
The Costa needs its Britons: they are crucial to the economy. But
knowing this doesn't make the Bowden-Smiths and others affected feel
any better.
"We are very unhappy with the way we have been treated," says Glynis.
"If Marbella town hall had never issued a disputed building licence,
then none of this would ever have happened. There's nothing you can
do to protect yourself from a corrupt town hall."
Most property professionals in Marbella welcome the latest twist.
It's a clear signal that corruption will no longer be tolerated. A
fresh wind is blowing in Marbella.
CHECK LIST:
- Always use an independent lawyer
- Don't sign or pay anything, even a small reservation, until your
lawyer has given you the go-ahead
- When buying in Marbella, always check with the town hall that the
property conforms to the urban plan authorised by the regional
government of Andalusia
- Never buy off-plan without a bank guarantee
- Ensure your home has a "first occupancy" licence, allowing utility
connection and residency
© Mark Stucklin (Spanish Property Insight)
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