British couple watch on as their illegal house is demolished in Almería


British pensioner, 63 year old Len Prior, collapsed onto the ground as demolition men moved in to knock down his home in the La Loma area of Vera, Almeria on Wednesday. He is known to have a heart condition. He and his wife purchased the retirement property in Vera unaware that they were entering into a network of corrupt builders and lawyers who allegedly paid backhanders to local officials.

The Priors were told that their home had planning permission, and Mayor of Vera, Félix López, agrees they were given permission in 2002, but the Junta de Andalucía insists the building was erected illegally on rustic land, and the Judge agreed with the regional government and ordered demolition. The local Mayor told the local Ideal newspaper that he is very angry at what has happened, saying it has made Vera the illegal development scapegoat in Almería province.

The Councillor for Public Works of the Junta, Luis Caparrós, said that the Andalucian Government had respected the order of the judge which was firm, and that by doing so legality had been restored. A total of 17 homes in La Loma de Vera face demolition.

A little bit more with pictures.

www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23431848-details/More%20British%20dream%20retirement%20homes%20to%20be%20demolished%20in%20Spanish%20planning%20row/article.do?expand=true#StartComments

Unfortunately, more to do with politics than anything else, with real people caught in the crossfire.

My parents are gutted as Len & Helen have been their very good friends for more than 40 yrs, they didn't deserve this and they were very thorough in going through ALL the laws and planning regulations in full.
Len and his father used to work for my Grandfather's family old removal business in the 60's & 70's called G Howarth & Sons in Harrow.
I hope they get full compensation because all these types of things always happen to the good people in this world, i hope they can come through and get back to some sort of normality.
I also have a friend i used to play darts with whose in the area with a newly built home, with news of a further 11+ houses to be demolished makes me worried for his too.

Depressing Times !