Antonio Banderas actor and his wife Melanie Griffith have had a demolition order served on their luxurious Marbella beach house.
But it is only one wing of their home La Gaviota, in Los Monteros, that is in for the chop.Their appeal against an original 2003 ruling to demolish the newer wing, which impinges on public beach land, has been rejected.Now their neighbours are insisting that the sentence of the High Court be carried out. The celebrity pair were accused of encroaching on public land despite having received planning permission for the extension in 1995 from Marbella town hall. At the same time more than 300 residents of Mijas have joined together to fight demolition orders on their homes.The group, who number a few expatriates, has been threatened with fines of up to 180,000 euros.In total some 3000 fines have been issued by Mijas town hall.Some of those affected are old and unaware of the latest demands of urban planning laws in the area. Many have also failed to get their projects signed off by either the Junta or water board.A number, such as one man in the Macorra area, built a small home despite being refused permission by the town hall many times.Juan Antonio Ruiz applied to build a tool shed next to the house his father owned in 1996.But, like many homes, built with this type of licence, it turned into a fully-fledged home.
In 2000, he received the first of three official complaint against the home and he has finally been ordered to knock it down, at a cost of 12,000 euros.He is also awaiting confirmation of the fine he will have to pay, but it is likely to be around 65,000 euros.At the same time a large group of illegal houses is to be demolished in the village of La Chorrosquina, near Algeciras.The 30 houses have been built without proper paperwork on the outskirts of the town.The moves have come after new rules were agreed at a high level Junta meeting in November.
The regional authority is now even beginning to carry out the forced demolition of homes built with permissions from local town halls, which have later been found to be illegally built on protected land. Hundreds of miles of illegally built houses face demolition in Spain with many of them belonging to British owners. The illegally built developments are on 480 miles of Mediterranean coast from Barcelona in the north to Marbella in the south, including the Balearic and Canary islands.
It is anticipated that over one million Britons live in Spain for part of or all of the year, having purchased tens of thousands of holiday homes along the shoreline.
Spanish law says beaches are public property and construction is banned within 100 metres of the coastline, however, this has clearly been ignored by builders and local authorities. Government officials are to negotiate with home owners and regional authorities over the sale of illegal properties rather than expropriate them.
There is uncertainty over whether homes are safe as the government has refused to give details. One government official said mass demolition will not take place, it will be done on a case-by-case basis.
Officials still need permission of Spain’s powerful regional governments and town halls, however, there are concerns that the plans will hurt British investment in the area.
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