[Meras]

HELP! I am a Bristish citizen who bought an apartment on the first line in Platja d’Aro, Catalunya in 1997 (it was built in the 1960’s) and at the time was completely unaware of the Ley de la Costas and not surprisingly, the vendor, Real Estate Agent and the vendors’ Notary did not advise me of it! Only in the last few years did I happen across an article and start to realise that maybe I had a problem. Since the reform of the original 1988 law in 2013, the seafront and town of Platja d’ Aro was said to be exempt, but I now understand that to have been rescinded after consultation. I visit the property with my wife and family every year for several  months during the summer months and despite several trips to the Town Hall planning and legal department, am none the wiser about the law or how it affects me. I am especially concerned now as it seems the PP who were in favour of protecting the rights of property owners, having lost power in the recent General Election, have left me at the mercy of the PSOE and other left wing and green parties or a coalition of them that will likely repeal all of the 2013 reforms and revert back to the 1988 law. Does anyone plaese have any up-to-date information as trying to find anything current is confusing and contradictory at best and non exisitent at worst.

[Mark Stücklin]

Meras, are you sure your property is affected by the Ley de Costas? What makes you think so?

You can find out more about this law and the latest situation here: Ley de Costas – Spanish Coastal Law

I have not yet updated that page with the news that the PSOE has announced it will undo the latest reforms if it forms a Government. However, as things stand today, it’s still unclear who will form the the next Government. We’ll have to wait and see what happens.

[jp1]

Meras, I simply would not lose sleep over this issue and forget that the law even exists!!

As a bit of background I have owned my apartment in Almerimar for 13 years and my wife is Spanish.  Now when I bought my apartment I was very young !! Well in my early 30’s, I knew nothing about Spanish life and relied on my wife’s family (hopefully) to point out to us if we were making a mistake. I soon realised that my new Spanish family really didn’t know a great deal about a lot of things you and I would take an interest in, the Ley de Costas being one such issue.

My apartment is front line and I researched the law quite extensively, I have forgotten a lot of it’s finer details now. What I soon realised is that if I was to be affected by this law, then thousands of other individuals in my resort, mostly Spanish would also be affected. Considering it further hundreds of thousands of properties along just a small region of the coastline of Andulacia  would be affected.

I have stopped worrying about the laws in Spain. As Brits we have a pretty fair society and planning laws, civil laws and generally upheld. People, including those in office are held accountable for their actions and this means in general houses are built according to the law. You can’t apply this logic to Spain, it is vested interests that win the day in Spain. The upshot is that these laws are almost never invoked, only to gain political favour or target an individual.

You have a property that  has been built for over half a century!!!!!!  The builders in my resort are just finishing off the luxury (take that statement with a pinch of salt) apartments that were put on hold at the start of the financial crisis for which I believe the developer killed himself no doubt for going bankrupt. These apartments end on the sand line of the beach!!!

I don’t see the local council building inspectors skimming through the Ley de Costas guidelines!

Forget about this particular law and enjoy life like the vast majority of Spanairds.

But of course having an apartment for nearly 20 years you knew this..

 

 

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