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Category: Real Estate

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Published on 2 Comments on Lawyers chase up British property owners in the UK to recover their unpaid community fees

A development of terraced houses on the beach front, with a swimming pool and spacious gardens. This sounds like a place in many people’s dreams, but for about 50 people who live in La Borboleta development in Manilva the maintenance of this residential complex is becoming a real nightmare.

Apartments 300x225 - Lawyers chase up British property owners in the UK to recover their unpaid community feesSo many people have failed to pay their community fees that, after already having had to cut back on the number of hours spent on maintenance work and gardening, the water supply could be cut off within a few days, says property administrator Rafael Mena.

Five British owners are responsible for the largest part of this debt, because between them they owe more than 25,000 euros. A debt recovery company in the United Kingdom is now looking for them so they can be brought before the courts.
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Published on Leave a comment on Spain: a land of opportunities for overseas investors?

If we go to early 2.000, during the years before the housing bubble burst in 2007, in Spain were being built in the vicinity of the 700,000 homes year, with a large speculative component, driven by low interest rates and ever-rising property prices, what homeownership turned into a very interesting investment option.

As of August 2007, there was a slowdown in demand has meant that much of the housing stock built and not sold, has become a major burden on the balance sheet of banks and savings banks, main financing actors of the projects.

Currently a new scenario is opened for visionary overseas profitable hunters
From a investor point of view, there are three benefits this situation bring in.

• Large brand new finished housing stock with high quality construction level
• Deep prices repositioning
• Favorable financing conditions

First, according to the Ministry of Fomento in its report of January 2012 stated an excess of 676,038 new homes in our country available for sale, where Andalusia, Valencia and Catalonia represent over 50% of the total. ...continue reading "Spain: a land of opportunities for overseas investors?"

Published on Leave a comment on The construction of luxury homes escapes the crisis and requires qualified workers

There is one construction-based sector where the machines have not stopped working and where at times it is difficult to find qualified staff to carry out certain jobs. With building cranes in hibernation and more than 200,000 people out of work in Malaga province that may be hard to imagine, but it is true. This sector is within in the triangle formed by Marbella, Estepona and Benahavís and last year it generated more than 250 million euros worth of business and about 4,000 jobs, of which 1,000 were direct.

Villa in Marbella1 - The construction of luxury homes escapes the crisis and requires qualified workers
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Published on Leave a comment on Alicante’s property market is finding salvation in Russian investors

In Alicante, the euros are flowing in from Moscow. Russians have become the saviors of the Mediterranean province's property market and tourism sector, and now that Cyprus - their former Eden - has been bailed out by the EU, Russians are turning to Alicante to lay down their money. First they come on vacation for a few days to check out the beaches and the climate on the Costa Blanca, and later they return to purchase a holiday home, cash in hand - no down payments, no mortgages necessary.

Alicante1 300x225 - Alicante's property market is finding salvation in Russian investorsClients from Russia have overtaken the British in the foreign home-buyer ranking. Half of the 7,000 residences sold to non-Spaniards in Alicante province last year went to Russian families, a market that represented less than five percent of the total just four years ago.

What with the Russians buying and the British selling, the area of La Vega Baja is experiencing a new property boom that places Alicante at the top of the Spanish list of existing home transactions. According to Public Works Ministry figures, the province topped the list of home sales to foreigners during the first nine months of 2012. Most of the total of 2,501 transactions involved Russian buyers. Málaga was a distant second on 1,111.
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Published on 1 Comment on Thousand properties could be spared demolition in Alicante

Approximately 1,800 Alicante properties could be spared demolition. They will be legalised following changes to the 1988 Coastline law due for debate in Spain’s senate later this month.

Alicante 300x201 - Thousand properties could be spared demolition in AlicanteThe news was welcomed by home-owners in Denia, Javea, La Albufereta, Serra Grossa in northern Alicante. Homes in Arenales del Sol in Elche, Guardamar, El Pinet and Santa Pola will also benefit from the amended legislation.

The existing law stipulates that a 100-metre strip of land above the high-water mark must be left free for public use. This is expected to be reduced to 20 metres, enabling the legalisation of pre-1988 homes.

At present owners of properties infringing the 100-metre strip were told they could occupy them only until 2018, after which they were to be demolished.
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Published on 1 Comment on Andalusia housing chief calls for national evictions summit

The Andalusian chief of public works and housing, Elena Cortés, on Thursday called on the central government to organize a conference involving all the regions to debate the burning issue of evictions.

She also hoped the conference would give the Andalusian regional government the opportunity to explain in detail the 1016200 2599486 1 300x225 - Andalusia housing chief calls for national evictions summitnew decree on social housing it approved on Tuesday, under which it plans to seize the homes of the needyiest families subject to eviction for up to three years.

Cortés said the central administration has a "golden opportunity" to advance in the same direction by passing the Popular Legislative Initiative on evictions presented in Congress by the Mortgage Victims Platform, which supports dation in payment — canceling a mortgage by handing back the keys to the bank — social housing, changes to mortgage laws and civil lawsuits, and the halting of eviction procedures.

Cortés explained the region's new social housing decree would come into effect on Friday, allowing eligible families to apply for a temporary seizure of their home at one of the housing protection offices it opened in Andalusia's various provincial capitals last October.
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Published on 6 Comments on The government wants Russian tourists to enter Spain without a visa

Russian tourism is the type that has grown most on the Costa del Sol during the past year. It has become a strategic market and its importance could rise still further if one of the bureaucratic processes which burdens it could be eradicated. The government wants to cancel the requirement for tourists from Russia to have visas and it is working hard within the European Union to achieve this objective.

Marbella2 - The government wants Russian tourists to enter Spain without a visa

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Published on Leave a comment on Popular Party blocks key elements of draft eviction bill

The Popular Party (PP)'s refusal to back a popular initiative for the concept of dation in payment, whereby a homeowner unable to meet mortgage payments can cancel the debt with the bank by handing over the keys, was met with indignation by the Mortgage Victims Platform (PAH).

Flats - Popular Party blocks key elements of draft eviction billOn Tuesday the government presented its amendments to the so-called Popular Legislative Initiative, which reached the lower chamber on a wave of public support that included 1.5 million signatures.

The rest of the parliamentary groups accepted the basic points of the proposal: universal and retroactive dation in payment; a halt to evictions; and the creation of a glut of social housing to support those who have lost their homes.

The PP, though, stated that "not now, nor during the parliamentary process" of amending the proposal will it entertain universal dation in payment. "It is an insult to the people affected," said PAH spokeswoman Ada Colau on Wednesday. "The PP has caved to the bullying of the banks." The government, she added, has destroyed the spirit of the bill by quashing its main objectives.
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Published on Leave a comment on Spain’s property market attracting a growing number of Scandinavians

There has been a large rise in the number of Scandinavian people buying new property in southern Spain, particularly the Costa del Sol.

Costa del Sol 300x187 - Spain's property market attracting a growing number of ScandinaviansOne leading house builder has seen a 311% increase in Scandinavian purchasers and they now account of a fifth of all buyers.

One reason is that the Scandinavian countries have in weathered the financial storm better than most and more potential buyers are able to invest in property.

The firm believes that the trend seems set to continue into 2013 with January sales figures already up 300% on those for the same month in 2012 and the cumulative February sales up 500%.

The interest from Scandinavian markets continues to boom as buyers take advantage of favourable exchange rates and reduced Spanish house prices to purchase their dream second home abroad.
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Published on Leave a comment on European Court rules Spanish mortgage law is abusive

The European Court of Justice have ruled that Spain’s mortgage law is incompatible with a European directive on abusive practices in consumer contracts, opening the door to more legal protection for households facing eviction from their family home.

mortgage news 300x219 - European Court rules Spanish mortgage law is abusiveThe ruling comes in response to a question posed by a Barcelona court in connection with the eviction of Moroccan immigrant Mohammed Aziz from his home in January 2011, after he failed to meet mortgage payments on a 138,000-euro loan granted to him by savings bank CatalunyaCaixa in July 2007.

The ruling will apply to all eviction cases now being processed across Europe but might not be applied retroactively, as pressure groups have been calling for. Amendments to the mortgage law, which is more than a century old, are now going through parliament, and it appeared as if the government was waiting for the Luxembourg-based court’s judgment before proceeding with the passage of the draft law.
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