British Expats In Andalusia Facing Reversal Of Ruling Legalising Properties

The Spanish government is reputedly considering reversing an Andalusian legal ruling allowing over 300,000 illegally built homes to receive AFO status.

The scandal of thousands of expats duped into buying or having built properties connected to electricity and water but illegal under Spanish law had a disastrous effect, not just on those who’d been duped but also on Spain’s expat property market in general. However, a later Andalusian ruling allowed a good number of expat homeowners to register their properties and have legal use of essential services.

Over 300,000 properties were granted AFO status, with the legislation applying to homes over six years old which weren’t constructed on land at risk of flooding or on protected land. It also permitted owners of illegally constructed properties to undertake environmental and territorial adaptions. The ruling itself took years or campaigning and negotiations to be set in place, but is now under threat of a legal reversal.

According to a lawyer from the National Coordinating Committee for Justice in Planning, a Spanish government decision to reverse the decree would violate expats’ basic human rights to own a home in which they may live their lives. He added retired owners who don’t have these rights are dying even now as the legalities drag on, with others having their homes demolished or their electricity cut off. Others in Andalusia are still being forced to wash in contaminated water, as usually only happens in the third world.